Key Facts Of The Day 11/16

Hurricanes

• Communities in western Canada and Washington state are forced to flee homes after record downpour leads to severe floods and mudslides.

  • Helicopters were dispatched on Monday to rescue about 275 people, including 50 children, who had been stranded on the road since it was blocked by a mudslide late on Sunday.

  • More than 158,0000 customers were without power in western Washington at one point on Monday.

  • A state of emergency was declared over the weekend for the town of Hamilton, Washington, and residents were urged to evacuate as soon as possible.

• The Quileute’s tribal village, home to about 400 people, is now threatened by the Pacific’s rising waters due to climate change.

  • Storms are getting more severe and pushing dangerous debris into town and consuming the tribe’s land.

• Floods have plagued many North Jersey communities for decades, and due to more intense storms caused by climate change combined with continued development, aging stormwater infrastructure and the forbiddingly high cost of flood mitigation projects, the problem will only get worse.

• Lake-effect snow to quickly return to the Great Lakes and interior Northeast.

• Demand for standby generators is surging as the pandemic has led to more people working from home.

• Since Luma took over in June to fix Puerto Rico’s outdated electrical grid, blackouts have become noticeably more frequent and prolonged for many customers on the island.

Wildfires

• As of Friday, there are currently 3 large active wildfires that have burned 106,656 acres across CA and MT.

• Wildfire forces immediate evacuations in Estes Park, Colorado on Tuesday.

• While firefighters may have gotten a handle on the Alisal Fire, marine mammals, a few of its victims, are still recovering from it.

• Pacific Gas & Electric tests AI cameras to spot wildfires in Northern California.

Extreme Heat

• Increasingly intense and frequent spells of humidity linked to global heating may exacerbate mental health conditions.

  • Heat waves can also exacerbate existing mental health disorders like anxiety and schizophrenia, while also causing strain on mental health services.

• Since Miami-Dade County only has about 20.1% of tree canopy cover, the county has been planting more trees for protection from extreme heat.

• A small farming community in the San Luis Valley, Colorado is racing to secure rights that will protect the acequias, a centuries-old irrigation system they need to survive.

• Over the past two years, more and more Utah farmers have signed up for a state program that helps fund projects to increase their water use efficiency and adapt to climate change.

• Scientists find a link between climate change and red tide expansion in the Arctic.

• Ithaca, New York, has pledged to decarbonize all 6,000 of its buildings, including homes, businesses, schools and churches, before the end of the decade.

New Reports And Data

• A November 2021 study found that Climate change is altering familiar conditions of the world’s oceans and creating new environments that could undermine efforts to protect sea life in the world’s largest marine protected areas.

• A November 2021 study found that wildfires are accelerating forest changes.

• A November 2021 study found that climate change will have altered up to 87% of ocean environments by 2060.