Key Facts Of The Day 3/23

Storms and Flooding

• A bomb cyclone barreled through California this week, spawning two rare tornadoes and pounding the state with flooding rain, intense wind, and severe thunderstorm.
  • A tornado was seen swirling over Montebello late Wednesday morning.
    • The tornado damaged at least 17 buildings and even more vehicles, and forced buildings in the area to evacuate.
  • On Tuesday, an EF0-strength tornado touched down in Carpinteria and damaged about 25 homes.
  • At least five fatalities are blamed on the storm, including at least three due to powerful winds blowing trees over and landing on occupied vehicles.
  • So much snow has accumulated in the mountains that the California National Guard has had to airlift hay and starving cattle that cannot eat grass trapped under deep snow.
  • At the height of Tuesday’s wind storm, a massive tree toppled into Oakland Zoo’s aviary, and six exotic birds escaped.
  • In the Salinas Valley region known as America’s Salad Bowl, crop damages could climb as high as $500 million, and the broader economic impact to the region could reach $1.2 billion.
  • Officials in Santa Cruz County estimate $88 million in public infrastructure damage and $49.5 million in crop damage from the storms so far.

Wildfire

• As of March 17, 8  large active wildfires have burned 5,090 acres across the country.
• As of March 17, 5,972 wildfires have burned 77,759 acres across the country.
• In Florida, 4 fires have burned 4,032 acres as of March 17.
• In North Carolina, 1 fire has burned 150 acres as of March 17.

Extreme Heat

• Earth’s ocean temperatures have risen so fast in recent weeks that one indicator shows surface waters have already reached their highest temperatures on record.
  • Around mid-March, ocean-temperature monitoring data shows that average surface water temperatures surpassed 70 degrees Fahrenheit around the globe, excluding polar waters, for the first time since at least 1981.
  • Climate scientists expect that 2023 will be among the planet’s warmest years on record and think there is a 65 percent chance it ranks in the top five.
  • The planet’s average temperature also increased from 0.2 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average in January to around 0.6 degrees above that level in mid-March.
• Climate change is destabilizing the insurance industry, driving up prices and pushing insurers out of high-risk markets.
  • Insurers face a “crisis of confidence” as global warming makes weather events unpredictable and increases damage.

New Reports and Data

• A March 2023 report found that electric cars and light-duty trucks will make up 65% of new sales globally by 2030 and 85% by 2035.
• A March 2023 report found how the average global temperature has changed across generations — with each generation born into an ever-warmer world.
• A March 2023 report found that 26% of the world’s population doesn’t have access to safe drinking water, and 46% lacks access to basic sanitation.