Facts Of The Day 9/10

Extreme Heat

• June through August 2021 was the hottest on record in the United States and exceeded the Dust Bowl summer in 1936.

• California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah had the hottest periods of June through August in recorded history.

  • 16 other states had their top five warmest summers on record.

• Several schools in the Denver Public School District in Colorado would dismiss or close early on Thursday and Friday due to excessive heat.

• Proso millet, which is a type of grain grown in Colorado and is the 3rd largest crop in the state’s Washington County, is expected to have a terrible harvest this year due to the drought.

• The city of San Francisco sued its home state of California last week, claiming the State Water Resources Control Board does not have the authority to suspend the water draws of senior water rights holders

• Toxic algae blooms sent more than 300 people in the United States to the hospital between 2017 and 2019.

• California’s main grid operator has requested the federal government declare an electric reliability emergency so the state can turn to fossil fuels to avoid blackouts.

• Despite promises that its power plant would provide energy in the wake of a devastating storm, utility company Entergy has been unable to bring back power to many New Orleans, Louisiana residents as of Wednesday night.

• Grocery prices have increased in Texas because drought in the United States has hiked the prices of wheat and barley.

Wildfires

• As of Thursday, there are currently 77 large active wildfires that have burned 2,984,526 acres across CA, CO, ID, MN, MT, NV, WA, OR, UT, WA, and WY. This year to date, 43,997 wildfires have burned 5,266,550 acres across the country.

• The 2021 wildfires have been so severe that complex computer algorithms that are intended to model the wildfire spread to aid firefighting are unable to keep up.

• Researchers in California and Washington state are examining how West Coast wine growers can adapt their grapes to wildfire smoke.

• As of Thursday, 12,752 people in California have been evacuated with 94 people in 7 shelters statewide.

• In California, the Antelope Fire burned 98,627 acres and was 77% contained as of Friday.

  • On Thursday, the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office issued evacuation orders for parts of Medicine Lake, California, and areas south of the city of Dorris.

• Two fires were contained in Montana on Thursday – the Crooked Creek Fire burned 4,141 acres and the Goose Fire burned 7,522 acres.

• Wildlife advocates have urged Nevada’s state officials to call off this year’s annual bear hunt as wildfires are forcing bears to undergo a forced migration and may disrupt the social dynamics of the animals.

• Victims of the Almeda Fire in Oregon, who include low-income families, migrant workers and members of the Latino community continue to struggle with recovering after the fire on top of a housing shortage.

• Washington wildfires are becoming bigger due to factors including stressed forests, and diseased trees that are also infested with insects.

Hurricanes

• People looking to buy cars after Hurricane Ida may find car dealers are struggling to maintain an inventory for sale due to an ongoing chip shortage.

• An estimated 25% of homes in the Lafourche Parish of New Orleans, Louisiana are considered uninhabitable due to the damage from Hurricane Ida as of Thursday evening.

  • As of Friday morning, about 418,000 in Louisiana remain without power in Ida’s aftermath.

  • As of Tuesday, 51 water systems that serve anywhere from 25 to 20,000 people in Louisiana remained shut down due to Ida, leaving about 642,000 residents in total who do not have access to clean water.

    • 242 water systems in Louisiana remained underwater advisories as of Tuesday.

  • Louisiana’s most vulnerable areas will need fundamental changes in how they are protected in the aftermath of Ida.

  • Baton Rouge, Louisiana restaurants already hit by labor shortages and the coronavirus pandemic have had to delay openings due to Ida’s destruction and supply chain issues.

  • New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the football team New Orleans Saints should return to the Superdome for the team’s game on October 3rd.

• At least 1,000 in New Jersey sought help from a resource fair earlier this week for assistance with everything from federal aid applications to replacing cars to finding permanent housing after Hurricane Ida.

  • As of Wednesday, 27 people in New Jersey died and 4 remained missing in the wake of Ida.

  • Princeton, New Jersey emergency dispatch center received 393 calls between 10 PM on September 1st and 8 AM on September 2nd, 2021 with reports about abandoned cars and people trapped in cars and homes during Ida.

  • On Thursday, 1 body was recovered from Passaic River near Kearny, New Jersey just north of Newark, and another body was recovered from the same river where it passes through Newark.

  • As of Thursday, New Jersey officials are still searching for a woman who has swept away during a failed rescue attempt.

• Flooded basements due to Hurricane Ida in New York may contain dangerous bacteria and have led to at least one diagnosis of e.coli and norovirus.

  • New York’s Department of Motor Vehicles warned consumers Friday morning that cars damaged from Ida’s flooding and rain may be up for sale.

  • Flooding caused by Ida has likely drowned millions of rats in New York City due to being unable to escape the quickly rising waters, although the rodent population is expected to rebound within months.

• Hurricane Ida impacted more than 1,200 homes in Pennsylvania as of Friday morning.

  • Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, has a total of 46 homes that are considered a complete loss and another 260 that need major repairs.

• Hurricane Olaf made landfall near San Jose del Cabo, Mexico late Thursday as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 100 MPH.

  • About 20,000 foreign tourists were hunkered down in hotels while residents in low-lying neighborhoods were evacuated as of Thursday.

  • Ports and schools were closed, nonessential workers were told to stay home and COVID-19 vaccinations in Mexico were suspended on Thursday.

  • As of Friday morning, Olaf was located about 35 miles west-southwest of the state capital, La Paz, with maximum sustained winds of 80 MPH and is expected to weaken further as it moves out into the Pacific.

• Mindy was downgraded to a tropical depression early on Thursday and became a post-tropical cyclone Thursday night.

  • Mindy dumped rain on parts of southeast Georgia and coastal South Carolina on Thursday.

  • As of Friday morning, Mindy was moving away from the United States.

  • Mindy was a short-lived storm after it formed in the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall about 4 hours later at St. Vincent Island in the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday night.

• Hurricane Larry weakened to a Category 1 hurricane on Thursday and as of Friday morning, was located 650 miles southwest of Cape Race, Newfoundland with maximum sustained winds of 85 MPH and moving north-northeast at 26 mph.

  • Larry is expected to bring dangerous rip currents and swells on the East Coast of the United States and Canada for the rest of the week.

  • On Friday, Larry is forecast to bring rain to southeastern Newfoundland, Canada, and weaken over the weekend.

Climate Studies