Key Facts Of The Day 11/15

Hurricane

• 30 million people are impacted as some states across the Plains and Northeast see November snow.
  • Cold air has set the stage for snow to fall, as a pair of storms will create a wintry scene in the Great Lakes and interior Northeast.
  •  On Monday, the on-and-off snow conditions in Minnesota were part of a climate where 322 vehicle accidents occurred.
  • Snow is forecast to begin across Michigan and into Ohio Tuesday morning, and then across portions of Pennsylvania by the afternoon.
  • Snow is expected to spread northward into New England through Wednesday.
• In the wake of Hurricane Nicole’s damage to the Florida coastline, state Department of Transportation crews tried to act quickly to haul out massive mounds of sand that washed upon coastal roads during the storm’s considerable surge.
• According to data from the Daily Erosion Project, rainstorms over three days in mid-May washed away up to three tonnes of dirt per acre in two dozen Minnesota counties.
  • Rachel Schattman, assistant professor of sustainable agriculture at the University of Maine, said the U.S. Midwest and Northeast were especially vulnerable to land erosion because they were receiving more extreme amounts of rain than normal.

Wildfires

• As of November 11, there are currently 19 large active wildfires that have burned 11,358 across AZ, GA, KY, NC, OH, TN, TX, and VA. As of November 11, 61,390 wildfires have burned 7,251,835 acres across the country.
• In Arizona, 1 fire has burned 808 acres as of November 11.
• In Georgia, 1 fire has burned 115 acres as of November 11.
• In North Carolina, 1 fire has burned 105 acres as of November 11.
• In Texas, 1 fire has burned 1,500 acres as of November 11.

Extreme Heat

• With the ongoing drought, some Arizona farmers are switching to growing more water-efficient crops like guayule.
  • Guayule could be used for several products, such as natural rubber for tires. It requires only about half the water of cotton, alfalfa, and corn.
• With the drought getting worse, a new Nevada law bans all ‘nonfunctional’ turf by 2026.
• A coalition of local farmers and the city of Huron, California are trying to turn former hemp and tomato fields into massive receptacles that can hold water as it percolates into the ground during wet years.
  • This project aims to capture floodwaters that would otherwise rush out to the sea, or damage towns, cities, and crops.
  • Capturing runoff will also help protect the city of fewer than 7,000 people from catastrophic floods.
• According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization, soil erosion could lead to a 10% loss in global crop production by 2050.
• Higher ocean temperatures are expected to be detected in the Pacific Ocean by 2030, four decades earlier than previously predicted.
  • The increased variability in El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events will also make extreme weather events, such as droughts, fires, and floods, around the world more severe.
  • Some of the most extreme weather events around the world in recent years, such as the droughts in the U.S. and Australia and heat waves around the world, have been spurred by ENSO events.

New Reports and Data

• A November 2022 study found a possible pathway toward full decarbonization of U.S. aviation fuel use by substituting conventional jet fuel with sustainably produced biofuels.
• A November 2022 study found that on average, about half of trees planted in tropical and sub-tropical forest restoration efforts do not survive more than five years.
• A November 2022 study found that climate change could alter lightning patterns across Europe.
• A November 2022 poll found that 59% of Americans believe safe drinking water is a top concern nationwide.