Key Facts Of The Day 12/13

Storms and Flooding

• Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Illinois, Missouri and Mississippi were struck by dozens of tornadoes Friday night and Saturday morning.

  • As of Sunday, at least four EF-3 and five EF-2 tornadoes had been confirmed in Missouri and Illinois. An EF-3 twister is considered significant or severe with wind speeds reaching between 111 mph and 165 mph.

  • One tornado stretched 227 miles as it blasted from Arkansas northeast into Missouri and Tennessee before cutting a swath of destruction through northwest Kentucky. Tornadoes are rarely more than 15 miles long and generally last less than 10 minutes.

  • This unusual tornado outbreak was created, in part, by unseasonably warm temperatures.

  • At least four tornadoes hit Kentucky, including one with an extraordinarily long path of about 200 miles.

    • In Kentucky, the series of tornadoes uprooted trees, tore down homes and infrastructure, and killed at least 70 people.

    • Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear cautioned residents that more deaths could be announced in the coming days as responders sort through rubble.

    • Search and rescue efforts remain in effect throughout western Kentucky after many communities were left destroyed.

    • Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear said more than 1,000 homes were destroyed and thousands of people have been left homeless.

    • As of Monday morning, more than 26,000 customers are still without power in Kentucky.

  • The National Weather Service confirmed that at least seven tornadoes touched down in Middle Tennessee early Saturday morning.

    • The towns of Bowling Green and Saloma and the area between Cayce and Beaver Creek were also likely hit by an EF-3 tornado.

    • A state of emergency remains in place in Tennessee as responders continue cleanup efforts.

    • Four people were killed in Tennessee.

  • At least 14 people were killed in Illinois, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri.

    • Six deaths were confirmed at an Amazon facility that was ripped apart in Illinois.

    • At least one person was killed at a nursing home in Arkansas.

    • An 84-year-old woman was killed in Defiance, Missouri, when her home was blown off its foundation and a young child was also killed in the state.

• After Saturday’s powerful winds, more than 130,000 customers are without power in Michigan.

• Wisconsin Public Service continues to restore power after Winter Storm Amelia.

  • As of midday Sunday there were still 1,800 customers waiting for their power to come back on.

Wildfires

• As of Friday, there are currently 13 large active wildfires that have burned 105,279 acres across AK, CA, KY, MT, NC, OK, and WV. As of Friday, 54,350 wildfires have burned 6,802,729 acres across the country.

• California lawmakers push for new funding for more wildland firefighters.

  • Many firefighters are working 40 days or more at a stretch without any time off leading to burn-out, family stress and mental health issues.

• La Niña is partly responsible for droughts and wildfires across the Carolinas.

Extreme Heat

• Extreme heat was the main factor in the death of an Omaha South High student who collapsed during a high school football practice on Aug. 10.

• At 84 degrees, Houston, Texas’s hot December just broke a record set in 1939.

• Amid Arizona drought, one tribe seeks to offer water for lease through the Colorado River Indian Tribes Water Resiliency Act of 2021, another moves to conserve more.

  • Colorado River Indian Tribes plan to offer water saved from fallowing some fields, moving to less water-intensive crops and installing more efficient water delivery systems.

  • Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen Roe Lewis said his tribe does not support the bill as written because it would give CRIT an unfair advantage over other tribes in the Colorado River basin.

  • Gila River and other Arizona tribes with river allocations have turned to conservation protocols to forestall more drastic shortage declarations.

• A regional warming and drying trend in Western U.S. continues to intensify concerns about water and energy security.

New Reports And Data

• A December 2021 study found that global warming could intensify cool-season thunderstorms and tornadoes in the future.

• A December 2021 study found a way to develop systematic tools to learn optimal energy usage for electric vehicles.

• A December 2021 study found that Philadelphia sees more abnormally warm winter days with nearly five degrees warmer compared to 1970.