Key Facts Of The Day 9/22

Hurricanes

• A weather system moving across the Atlantic Ocean is expected to become a tropical storm before it reaches the North Carolina coast Friday.
  • As of Friday morning, the system is located about 250 miles east-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, and is moving at 14 MPH, with maximum sustained winds of 50 MPH with higher wind gusts.
  • Almost 7 million people along the coast are under a tropical storm warning.
  • About 3 to 5 inches of rain should be expected across eastern North Carolina into southeast Virginia through Saturday.
  • The remaining portions of the mid-Atlantic into southern New England could see 2 to 4 inches late Saturday night into Sunday.
  • Tornadoes are also possible beginning Friday night through Saturday for parts of the mid-Atlantic.

Wildfires

• As of Friday, 53 large active wildfires have burned 440,958 acres across 11 states: AZ, CA, CO, ID, LA, MS, MT, NM, OR, UT, and WA. This year to date, 44,011 wildfires have burned 2,342,143 acres across the country.
• In Arizona, 3 fires have burned 6,636 acres as of Friday.
• In California, 5 fires have burned 153,809 acres as of Friday.
• In Colorado, 4 fires have burned 7,134 as of Friday. 
• In Louisiana, 2 fires have burned 38,414 acres as of Friday.
• In New Mexico, 1 fire has burned 12,841 acres as of Friday.
• In Oregon, 12 fires have burned 127,518 acres as of Friday.
• In Washington, 7 fires have burned 17,666 acres as of Friday.

Extreme Heat

• Globally, there’s a 95% chance this year will be the warmest or second-warmest on record.
  • There’s also a 70% chance of a strong El Niño starting in November and continuing through January of next year.
• Seattle Public Utilities asked about 1.5 million customers in the Seattle area to use less water as drought conditions continue throughout most of Washington.
  • Residents were asked to stop watering their lawns, to reduce shower time, to only run full laundry machines and dishwashers, and to fix leaking pipes and running toilets.

New Reports and Data

• A September 2023 study found that over the past two decades, air quality improvements have slowed or been reversed in most of the country, eroding about a quarter of the recent gains.