Facts Of The Day 9/1

Extreme Heat

• Extreme heat is a concern in New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Ida knocked out power to the entire city on Sunday, with the hardest-hit parts of the city likely having to wait weeks for electricity to be restored.

• The aftermath of Hurricane Ida, which left at least 1 million homes in Mississippi and Louisiana without power possibly for weeks, shows that electric grids around the United States are unprepared to handle extreme weather events from climate change.

• Hot and dry weather increases the survival chances of grasshopper nymphs and adults and can be pests due to the damage they can do to wheat crops as well as feeding on desirable forage that livestock normally consume.

• Wheat crops in Idaho may be down as much as 50% for the normal winter yield and 20% to 25% of the normal spring yield due to the drought.

• Drought conditions in Arizona have forced one farmer who normally grows crops such as pistachios, lemons, and dates to consider switching to tomatoes.

• Guilford County Schools in South Carolina sent students home early after having problems with air conditioning that have been exacerbated by excessive heat and supply chain issues delaying parts for maintenance.

• Riverbank High School in California had to cancel a football game last Friday due to excessive heat and smoke from wildfires.

• Climate change has forced Montana fish stocking to begin in June instead of July or August because extreme heat may make it too difficult for helicopters to fly safely.

Wildfires

• As of Wednesday, there are currently 86 large active wildfires that have burned 2,678,196 acres across CA, CO, ID, MN, MT, NV, WA, OR, UT, WA and WY. This year to date, 43,017 wildfires have burned 4,946,000 acres across the country.

• Controlled burns in the Southeastern region of the United States, including Florida, are now being adopted by Western states as a way to manage wildfire risk.

• One new fire sparked in California on Tuesday – the Pond Fire burned 491 acres and was 45% contained.

• In California, the Caldor Fire burned 199,632 acres and was 18% contained as of Wednesday.

  • The Caldor Fire is California’s 17th largest wildfire on record as of Wednesday.

  • As of Wednesday morning, the fire threatens more than 34,000 structures, damaged 40 structures, destroyed 491 homes and 12 businesses and injured 5 people.

  • About 20,000 South Lake Tahoe residents evacuated on Monday.

  • Parts of Douglas County, Nevada, were ordered to evacuate Tuesday afternoon in anticipation of the Caldor Fire.

• One fire was contained in Oregon on Tuesday – the Black Butte Fire burned 22,445 acres.

• One new fire sparked in Wyoming on Tuesday – the Black Mountain Fire burned 393 acres.

Hurricanes

• Preliminary data suggests that Hurricane Ida was the 5th strongest storm ever to make landfall in the continental United States.

• At least 5 people in Louisiana and Mississippi have died in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida as of Wednesday morning after a woman was found dead in her home in Lafitte, Louisiana.

  • 2 million people in Louisiana continued to be without power for a 4th day as of Wednesday.

  • Power restoration is expected to take a significant amount of time due to damage across the region.

  • Louisiana residents have been scrambling for food, water, gas and relief from excessive heat .

  • The barrier island of Grand Isle took the full brunt of Ida and is currently considered “uninhabitable” as every building is damaged and there are numerous reports of levee breaks and strong odors of gas.

  • A levee in Jean Lafitte, Louisiana overtopped due to Ida, leaving almost every home damaged by floodwaters.

  • All or parts of several Louisiana parishes, including Ascension, Lafourche, Livingston, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Charles, St. Helena, St. James, St. John the Baptist, St. Martin, Tammany, Tangipahoa, Terrebonne and Washington parishes do not have clean drinking water due to Ida knocking out water systems as of Wednesday morning.

  • The Jefferson, New Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Tammany, St. Bernard, Terrebonne, Lafourche and St. Charles Parish School districts remain closed as of Wednesday morning.

  • St. John the Baptist Parish still does not have 911 service, running water and no estimate for when power might return.

  • All students still on Tulane University’s campus were evacuated to Houston, Texas, beginning Tuesday morning.

• Much of New Orleans, Louisiana remains without power as of Wednesday morning due to Ida.

  • Entergy, Louisiana’s largest utility provider, did not report how many customers in New Orleans have had their power restored.

  • Solutions for power restoration in New Orleans could include restoring certain critical transmission lines that tie the great New Orleans region to the electric grid or create an island that would temporarily isolate the Greater New Orleans region from the power grid.

  • Parts of Eastern New Orleans saw power restored Wednesday morning, but thousands continue to remain without power or water.

  • Officials announced 70 buses would serve as cooling centers and provide food, water and ice distribution centers throughout New Orleans.

• Mississippi escaped the worst of Ida’s wrath, with reported damage including downed trees and power lines and local flooding.

  • Mississippi hospitals reported little interruption in care and service, with damage from Ida limited to broken windows and leaky roof, which required only 1 patient to be moved.

  • A tree fell on a house in River County, Mississippi, destroying the front door, damaging a truck parked outside the home and taking out several power lines, leaving the couple inside unharmed but without electricity.

  • Part of the wall at the St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Picayune, Mississippi fell on the neighboring rectory, damaging the roof and rear rooms of the building but no one was hurt.

  • Pearl River County, Mississippi received 37 reports of homes or buildings being damaged due to Ida with most of the issues being minor and usually involving roof damage.

• 2 utility workers were killed on Tuesday morning while performing power grid repairs outside of Adger, Alabama in the aftermath of Ida.

  • Alabama saw a string of tornado warnings from Tuesday afternoon into the evening and survey teams have been dispatched to assess the damage.

  • The Taylor area reported damage to a home, outbuildings and trees on Tuesday.

  • Ida caused 2 tornados on Monday in Southeast Alabama.

    • One EF-1 tornado with top wind speeds of 105 MPH in Saraland and Creole in Mobile County caused 3 injuries.

      • The tornado touched down at about 12:20 PM local time near Saraland at the intersection of Highway 158 and Highway 43 and traveled about 10 miles.

      • The tornado damaged 2 hotel roofs where one of the injuries occurred and flipped an 18-wheeler which caused another injury.

      • The tornado also uprooted multiple trees.

    • One EF-1 tornado with top wind speeds of 105 MPH was reported in Clarke County.

      • The tornado touched down at about 1:25 PM local time near Choctaw Bluff and traveled about 3.5 miles.

      • The tornado rolled a mobile home and ripped the roof off another home but did not cause any reported injuries.

• The remnants of Ida is expected to bring rain from the central Appalachians into New England, with some places seeing up to 8 inches from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts on Wednesday.

  • Ida remains a tropical depression as of Wednesday with sustained winds of 30 MPH possible through Wednesday night.

  • The mid-Atlantic states could see tornadoes on Wednesday.

  • Flash flooding from Ida could be possible in parts of West Virginia through New Jersey, particularly in the Monongahela, Potomac, Susquehanna, Delaware, and lower Hudson river basins.

• Multiple oil producers including Valero Energy Corp., Marathon Petroleum Corp., Royal Dutch Shell PLC may have to wait weeks for power to be restored before they can come back online.

• Tropical Storm Kate was downgraded to a tropical depression on Tuesday with maximum winds of 35 MPH.

  • Kate continues to be poorly organized as of Wednesday morning and is forecast to remain over the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean as it moves north on Wednesday and Thursday.

  • There are no coastal warnings or watches in effect for Kate as of Wednesday morning.

• Tropical Storm Larry formed overnight Tuesday, was located about 175 miles south of the Cabo Verde Islands as of Wednesday, and is expected to become a hurricane by late Thursday or Friday.

  • Larry has maximum sustained winds of 45 MPH and was moving west at MPH as of Wednesday morning and is expected to strengthen over the next few days.

  • Larry could become a Category 3 hurricane with a wind strength of 120 MPH.

  • Larry is expected to travel west to west-northwestward over the open waters of the Atlantic through the weekend.

Climate Studies