Key Facts Of The Day 12/1

Hurricanes

• The 2021 hurricane season officially ended on Tuesday, November 30th.

  • Hurricane season ended with 4 major hurricanes, 21 named storms and Ida among the costliest in U.S. history.

  • Climate factors, which include La Niña, above-normal sea surface temperatures earlier in the season, and above-average West African Monsoon rainfall were the primary contributors for this above-average hurricane season.

• Parts of western Washington state and British Columbia are dealing with renewed flooding as the latest in a series of atmospheric rivers bombards the region.

  • Seattle recorded its wettest autumn on record, with over a foot and a half of rain from the onslaught of atmospheric rivers.

  • Flood watches are up again across northwestern Washington, where an additional two to four inches of rain or more are possible.

  • The heavy rain is also bringing an elevated concern for dangerous mudslides and landslides, which could further sever routes.

• As winter weather starts approaching, Illinoisans brace for higher heat bills.

  • According to the Citizens Utility Board, natural gas that cost around 35 cents per therm last year is now going for 70 cents per therm.

• Texas regulators passed a rule aimed at preventing natural gas producers from having power cut off during future winter storms.

  • However, natural gas companies likely won’t be required to weatherize their equipment until 2023.

Wildfires

• As of Friday, there are currently 4 large active wildfires that have burned 90,810 acres across AL, CA, and MT. As of Friday, 52,729 wildfires have burned 6,631,430 acres across the country.

  • As of Friday, the KNP Complex fire burned 88,307 acres and was 80% contained.

• Proposed developments in Conifer and Colorado Springs, Colorado have raised concern over wildfire preparedness as fires become more intense and the state continues to grow.

  • The communities already face evacuation problems, which will only increase with proposed developments.

• 450,000 acres of Nevada have been treated for wildfires in the past 2 years.

• Dry weather is causing concerns about wildfires in Virginia.

  • Officials in Danville have already asked people to avoid setting fires outdoors until conditions improve.

Extreme Heat

• Rio Verde Foothills residents worried as Scottsdale, Arizona gets ready to cut off their water access.

  • Scottsdale Water will be restricting water hauling to only residents within city limits, due to the water supply shortage on the Colorado River and the activation of Stage One of the city’s drought management plan.

  • Many residents of Rio Verde Foothills have no plan on how they can get water, and some say they will be forced to move if they cannot get access to water.

• Santa Ana officials this month have proposed the idea of bus discounts for residents to drive up public transportation use in town and to stem the quality-of-life impacts of climate change and rising temperatures.

• Drought and intense heat waves scorched hundreds of thousands of acres’ worth of Oregon trees this summer.

• Due to the planet’s warming temperatures, parts of the Arctic could become dominated by rain rather than snow during certain seasons by 2060 or 2070.

  • Ice vanishing more rapidly could quicken sea-level rise along coastlines.

  • Melting permafrost could release massive amounts of planet-heating gases such as methane and carbon dioxide.

  • The “greening” of once-frozen landscapes could provide fuel for ravenous wildfires that spew more greenhouse gases into the air and further warm the atmosphere.

• The summer heat dome in the Pacific Northwest caused widespread ecological fallout.

  • A billion shellfish and other intertidal animals baked to death on the coast of British Columbia.

  • The Portland Audubon Society declared a “hawkpocalypse” as it tended to scores of sick and injured birds.

  • Eastern Oregon state officials estimated that tens of thousands of sculpin, a bottom-dwelling fish, perished in streams already throttled by drought.

• Air conditioning is not a sustainable solution to rising temperatures.

• Texas A&M AgriLife research aims to improve the economic value of tropically adapted beef cattle amid rising environmental temperatures.

New Reports And Data

• A November 2021 report found that Afghanistan, Burma, Colombia, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iraq, Nicaragua, North Korea and Pakistan are likely to face a slew of extreme weather episodes that pose threats to energy, food, water and health security.

• A November 2021 study found that vehicles may produce a lot more molecules of ammonia than federal and state regulators have believed.

• A November 2021 study found that the North American monsoon is generated when the jet stream collides with the Sierra Madre mountains, which diverts it southward and upward, condensing moisture laden air from the eastern Pacific into torrential rains.

• A November 2021 study found that due to climate change, ocean habitats could be remarkably different by 2060.