Key Facts Of The Day 10/20

Hurricanes

• Over 75 million Americans were under frost or freeze alerts as the cold weather moved south on Wednesday.
  • The temperature in Jacksonville, Florida, reached 42 degrees on Wednesday, with a wind chill that brought the temperature down to 37 degrees Wednesday morning.
    • This was the earliest recorded wind chill value in the 30s in Jacksonville’s fall season.
  • On Wednesday morning, dozens of records were tied or broken:
    • Austin, Texas, hit 38 degrees; Jackson, Mississippi, reached 30 degrees; Charlotte, North Carolina, tied its record low of 30 degrees; Kansas City, Missouri, dipped to 25 degrees; and Cedar Rapids, Iowa, hit a low of 16 degrees.
  • In the Great Lakes region, heavy snowfall combined with leaves still on trees caused many branches to fall on power lines leaving thousands of customers without electricity.
  • Around 18.1 inches of snow fell in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan on Monday and Tuesday, breaking the 2-day snowfall record.
• After Hurricane Ian caused devastation across Florida and other parts of the East Coast, communities deal with the aftermath and start recovery efforts.
  • At least 127 people in Florida have died due to Hurricane Ian.
  • Three people are still missing from a Florida county weeks after Hurricane Ian slammed into the state as a Category 4 storm, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
  • The Lee County Sheriff’s Office has responded to 4,866 well-being checks as of Sept. 27.
  • The causeway washed out by Hurricane Ian that links Sanibel Island to the Florida mainland reopened with temporary repairs on Wednesday.
  • Seniors in Florida are struggling after Hurricane Ian and some won’t rebuild their shattered homes.

Wildfires

• As of Thursday, there are currently 71 large active wildfires that have burned 657,999 across CA, ID, MT, OK, OR, TX, and WA. As of Thursday, 56,710 wildfires have burned 7,022,627 acres across the country.
• In California, 1 fire has burned 76,788 acres as of Thursday.
  • The Mosquito Fire has burned 76,788 acres and is 95% contained as of Thursday.
• In Oregon, 6 fires have burned 333,213 acres as of Thursday.
  • The Cedar Creek Fire has burned 126,222 acres and is 50% contained as of Thursday.
• In Texas, 1 fire has burned 483 acres as of Thursday.
• In Washington, 16 fires have burned 52,865 acres as of Thursday.

Extreme Heat

• In Alaska, the cities of Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, Yakutat, Haines, and Skagway have all had their warmest start to October on record.
• The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for parts of Southern California, with temperatures rising into the mid-90s from San Diego to Anaheim Wednesday afternoon.
  • Los Angeles International Airport saw a high of 93 degrees, tying a daily record set in 1981. Long Beach tied its daily record of 95 degrees, also set in 1981.
• Bodies of water all over North America are drying up due to drought and climate change.
  • Decreasing water levels along the Mississippi River, one of the most important trade routes in the country, have been causing ripple effects worldwide.
    • The Mississippi River at Memphis, Tennessee, hit its lowest level in recorded history on Monday.
  • The Great Salt Lake, the largest saltwater lake in the world and largest terminal lake in the Western Hemisphere, is continuing to lose its volume at alarming rates.
  • The Platte River in central Nebraska, which is fed by snow melt from the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming and Colorado that feed into Lake McConaughy, has not had a chance to replenish as less and less snow falls over the winter.
  • As the megadrought in the West persists, the reservoirs providing water to households and the vast agriculture industry are getting dangerously low.
• The Gila River Indian Community announced plans to conserve up to 750,000 acre-feet over the next three years in Lake Mead.
  • The Gila River Indian Community is taking advantage of the $4 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act that was designated for drought mitigation work in the Colorado River basin.
  • Water levels in the nation’s largest reservoir are at record lows, and a supply-demand imbalance along the Colorado River is driving them even lower.
  • A two-decade-long megadrought, fueled by climate change, has prompted urgent calls for water conservation around the arid Southwest.
• The Florida Department of Health in Sarasota County is notifying the public of elevated levels of red tide detected at area beaches.

New Reports and Data

• An October 2022 poll found that climate change is now equally as important as abortion, immigration, and gun violence, to midterm voters and voters of color.
• An October 2022 report found that from 2017 to 2021, annual losses from billion-dollar disasters totaled $765 billion in losses and more than 4,500 deaths.
• An October 2022 study found that the international community needs to be six times more ambitious than it has been in the past year if it wants to avoid catastrophic climate change.