Key Facts Of The Day 12/16

Storms and Flooding

• As of Wednesday, around 100 million Americans from the West Coast to the Great Lakes were under weather alerts including tornadoes, wildfires, and wind gusts up to 100 mph.

  • Severe thunderstorms spawned a derecho and several reported tornadoes from the Central Plains to the Upper Midwest on Wednesday.

  • The storm has also produced high winds over a broader area of the central states not associated with thunderstorms, from the Front Range of the Rockies to the Great Lakes.

  • Early Wednesday, wind gusts of 100 MPH or more were clocked near Colorado Springs, at Taos Ski Area in northern New Mexico and at Russell, Kansas. A peak gust of 107 mph was measured near Lamar, Colorado, Wednesday.

  • The storms forced the temporary evacuation of the main air traffic control tower at Kansas City International Airport.

  • In Iowa, transportation officials shut down bridges and warned drivers to stay off roads.

  • At least one person was killed in Iowa when a tractor-trailer was blown over by the storm.

  • In Iowa, where schools closed early and some areas saw wind gusts of up to 90 MPH, high temperatures reached the lower 70s. On average, high temperatures in December throughout much of the state are in the 30s.

  • A rare winter thunderstorm possibly whipped up two December tornadoes in Minnesota Wednesday night — an unprecedented event in recorded state history.

  • The entire state of Minnesota has never seen a tornado in December since at least 1950.

  • Some non-thunderstorm gusts in the High Plains topped 80 MPH and whipped up dense clouds of dust that led to near-zero visibility, at times, in eastern Colorado, western Kansas, southern Nebraska, and parts of the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles.

  • As of Thursday morning, hundreds of thousands were without power in multiple states across the central U.S. after a dynamic weather complex unleashed extraordinary wind gusts, dust storms, and multiple tornadoes.

  • More than 240,000 customers in Michigan lacked electricity on Thursday, and about another 150,000 in Wisconsin. In Iowa, nearly 50,000 customers were without power.

• In the aftermath of the devastating tornadoes that ravaged Kentucky over the weekend, a Puerto Rican factory worker－who was trapped under five feet of rubble for two hours－lost everything including car, home, and job.

• 8 feet of snow is possible in the mountains as a powerful storm lashes California with rain, wind, and snow.

• A Kentucky man suffered a fatal heart attack while cleaning up storm debris at his daughter’s home.

• Biden says feds will cover 100% of the cost to clean up from the Kentucky tornado for the first 30 days of recovery.

Wildfires

• As of Dec. 3, there are currently 13 large active wildfires that have burned 105,279 acres across AK, CA, KY, MT, NC, OK, and WV. As of Dec. 3, 54,350 wildfires have burned 6,802,729 acres across the country.

• The high winds and dry conditions fueled wildfires and forced evacuations in Oklahoma.

• The storm system generating tornadoes in the central United States on Wednesday also spawned 100 MPH high winds in Kansas that knocked over power lines and caused several wildfires.

  • At least one home was destroyed.

  • Two blazes in Russell and Ellsworth Counties merged into a massive fire that appeared to be 40 miles long.

  • The smoke had already gotten so bad that it could be detected in neighboring Nebraska.

  • The strong gusts from Wednesday windstorms are likely bringing smoke and dust from wildfires in Kansas to Iowa.

Extreme Heat

• Record December heat leading to ‘unprecedented’ extreme weather threat.

  • There is a severe fire risk over the Southern and Central Plains. This is the first time such risks in these locations have ever been issued in December.

• The University of Arizona’s cool pavement program aims to beat Tucson’s extreme heat.

  • As of Wednesday, crews with the City of Tucson started applying a solar-reflective surface treatment designed to reduce roadway temperatures and neutralize vehicle emissions.

• The average temperature in the winter months in the Mid-South continues to climb.

  • The average winter temperature in Memphis, Tennessee has warmed by three degrees in the last 50 years.

• In the summer months of 2021, temperatures climbed to near 120 degrees in Washington and Oregon in an unprecedented heatwave that killed over 100 people.

New Reports And Data

• A December 2021 study found that naturalized alien plants are causing a worldwide decline in the uniqueness of regional floras.

• A December 2021 study found that forever chemicals latch onto sea spray to become airborne polluting the air in coastal areas.

• A December 2021 study found that loss of nature threatens America’s best defense against climate change.