Climate Impact Report – 2/6

Quick Facts

As of Monday morning, parts of the West and Rockies will likely see snow, and potentially severe thunderstorms will begin to form in Texas.
- Thunderstorms could begin Tuesday morning in the eastern part of Texas and are expected to turn into severe thunderstorms by Tuesday midday.
- Since the storm is expected to move northeast Wednesday toward Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee, several areas near rivers in the affected states are under flood warnings throughout the week.
While the south recovered from last week’s winter storm, more than 30,000 customers in Austin, Texas, remained without power on Sunday night.
- Over 13,000 homes and businesses also reported power outages in Arkansas.
On Friday night, the coldest wind chill in U.S. history was recorded in Mount Washington, New Hampshire, at minus 108 degrees Fahrenheit, thanks to a temperature of minus 46 degrees Fahrenheit and wind gusts of 127 MPH.

As of February 3, there are currently 0 large active wildfires that have burned 0 acres across the country.
As of February 3, 1,688 wildfires have burned 12,882 acres across the country.

Although California is snow-capped and soggy from a series of atmospheric river storms, the region remains under a drought emergency declaration from the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California.
- About 6 million people around Los Angeles remain under mandatory water restrictions.
- According to MWD General Manager Adel Hagekhalil, January’s burst of moisture was characteristic of climate change, which is driving huge swings between bouts of extreme wetness and extreme dryness.
Even with this winter’s above-average snowpack in the Rocky Mountains, water officials and scientists say everyone in the Colorado River Basin will need to plan for low reservoir levels for years.
- Lake Powell has declined to just 23% of full capacity and is approaching a point where Glen Canyon Dam would no longer generate power.
- Lake Mead is about 70% empty.
- Scientists have found that higher temperatures have caused roughly half the decline in the river’s flow, and climate change is driving the aridification of the Southwest.
- Research has shown that for each additional 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit), the river’s average flow is likely to decrease by about 9%.

An updated 2023 U.S. Census Bureau survey found that natural disasters and extreme weather displaced 3.4 million adults in 2022.
A February 2023 study found a link between the adoption of electric vehicles with less air pollution and improved health
A February 2023 study found that more than three times as many houses and other structures burned in Western wildfires in 2010-2020 than in the previous decade.