Key Facts Of The Day 4/18

Storms and Flooding

• Late season winter storm dropped up to 22 inches of snow in parts of Wisconsin Sunday night into Monday morning.
  • The latest accumulation left the Twin Ports area of Duluth and Superior just short of an all-time record.
  • Bayfield County hit a record of 171.6 inches for the season.
  • On Monday,  the Menominee River was observed at 18.44 feet,  more than 3 feet above flood stage.
  • On Monday, the Wisconsin River reached 18.82 feet, nearly 2 feet above flood stage.
• Flooding begins as record-setting snowfall melts into Minnesota rivers.
  • Cities across Minnesota are bracing for floods this week as rising rivers are expected to crest sometime in the next few days.
• Thousands of acres are underwater in California, and the flood could triple this summer, threatening the surrounding communities and costing billions in losses.
• A series of atmospheric river storms and widespread flooding this winter hit California’s small-scale immigrant farmers especially hard.
  • Many lack property and crop insurance and are struggling to access emergency aid and navigate government systems and bureaucracies set up to favor large corporations.
  • Undocumented farmers who built up their enterprises without government subsidies or support are mostly ineligible for disaster relief.
  • Even those who do manage to apply for aid often cannot afford to wait months for the money to come through.
  • Without immediate emergency aid, many small farmers risk losing their leases and businesses.
  • One family lost their entire spring harvest, farm equipment, pet dog, and bees.

Wildfire

• As of April 14, 20  large active wildfires have burned 24,230 acres across the country.
• As of April 14, 11,246 wildfires have burned 302,755 acres across the country.
• In Arizona, 2 fires have burned 1,648 acres as of April 14.
• In Michigan, 1 fire has burned 303 acres as of April 14.
• In Oklahoma, 8 fires have burned 5,491 acres as of April 14.
• In Pennsylvania, 1 fire has burned 387 acres as of April 14.

Extreme Heat

• Around 59% of Texas’ surface area was under drought conditions, with the Panhandle’s drought worsening.
• Increasingly warmer weather patterns in the Corn Belt could increase the growth of the toxin, aflatoxin, that would swell farmers’ losses and threaten an important food source over the next two decades.
• Plains bison are in danger from rising temperatures.
  • Temperature and extreme drought can drive movement among herds of Plains bison.
  • Continued increases in temperature and extreme drought, combined with the reality that most bison herds are now confined to significantly smaller areas than they once roamed, could present challenges in managing this iconic species.
  • Indigenous peoples used bison as a vital food source and cultural touchstone. Bison were also a keystone species for many other plants and animals.

New Reports and Data

• An April 2023 study found that the EPA has underestimated methane emissions from oil and gas production by an average of 70%, or 6.1 million tons, over the past decade.
• An April 2023 study found that gas flaring worldwide fell in 2022 despite an uptick in global oil output, but greater effort is still needed to curb the practice.
• An April 2023 study found that wildfires would have been California’s third highest source of methane in 2020, accounting for nearly 14% of the state’s target emissions.