Facts Of The Day 9/8

Extreme Heat

• Cooling centers had been activated in the Las Vegas, Nevada area for Monday and Tuesday due to excessive heat.

• Some schools in New Jersey will make mask-wearing to combat the COVID-19 virus optional due to the hot weather.

• Black bears have been increasingly sighted in Minnesota as drought has made it difficult for them to find food to prepare for hibernation.

• Drought has dried up trout streams in Wyoming, as warm water carries less oxygen and can be especially harmful to trout, which could impact outdoor recreation in the Rocky Mountain region.

• Drought forced a New Mexico rancher to sell off more than 100 of her herd since 2019 and now finds cows that once went for $700 now goes for twice as much due to increased demand.

• Phoenix will provide 12,000 acre-feet of water and Scottsdale, Tucson and Peoria. Avondale, Chandler and Goodyear will provide 5,000 acre-feet of water each to Arizona farmers struggling with the drought.

• Extreme heat and days of rain may have led to a fish kill in Biscayne Bay in Florida.

• Federal data shows worker heat deaths have doubled in Texas over the last decade, and many workers were people of color working in construction, trash collection, mining and fossil fuel extraction.

• Hurricanes can put people at higher risk from extreme heat due to the inability to use electricity to cool themselves or forcing them to use generators that are fire risks.

• The California Independent System Operator has called for a Flex Alert in the state starting Wednesday at 4 PM to 9 PM local time due to extreme heat in the state and the West.

• Hurricane Ida did more damage to Louisina’s power grid than Katrina, Delta, Zeta combined.

• As Texas consumes the most energy of any state in the nation, officials are looking to find ways to cut demand to ease the stress on the state’s power grid.

Wildfires

• As of Wednesday, there are currently 79 large active wildfires that have burned 2,805,380 acres across CA, CO, ID, MN, MT, NV, WA, OR, UT, WA and WY. This year to date, 43,729 wildfires have burned 5,115,981 acres across the country.

• In California, The Caldor Fire burned 217,007 acres and was 50% contained as of Wednesday.

  • As of Wednesday afternoon, about 22,000 people who evacuated due to the Caldor Fire have returned home.

• One new fire sparked in Oregon on Tuesday – the Cougar Peak Fire burned 1,300 acres and was 0% contained.

Hurricanes

• At least 72 people have died across 9 states due to Hurricane Ida as of Tuesday night.

• The Louisiana Department of Health revoked the licenses of 7 nursing homes after 7 residents died after being evacuated to a warehouse that was described as “inhumane.”

  • Dozens have died while under nursing home care or in senior housing and had to contend with the heat and power outages while also suffering from mobility and health issues.

  • As of Tuesday night, 400,000 people in Louisiana still do not have power.

  • Louisiana’s election chief has called for the state’s October election to be delayed due to the widespread damage to polling locations and displacement of poll workers.

  • Ida has decimated the fishing industry in places like Chauvin, Louisiana, where about half of the community of 2,8000 people rely on the fishing industry to make a living.

• At least one school in New Jersey is so damaged by Hurricane Ida that it might not open this year.

  • An EF-3 tornado landed in Mullica Hill, New Jersey last Wednesday, causing thousands of dollars in damage to homes by shattering a window and ripping off sliding.

  • The basement of a seniors complex in New Jersey flooded during Ida, completely destroying boilers, water heaters, a domestic water booster pump, and a new generator.

  • One house in Manville, New Jersey, saw 7 feet of water, flooding everything from a couch, Christmas memorabilia and baby items such as toys and a rocking chair.

• Although at least 10 of 13 people died in illegal basement apartments in New York City that flooded during Ida, city officials currently have no plans to address the housing issue.

  • Hurricane Ida caused at least $40,000 of damage to one home, where water burst through a basement door and damaged items such as a washer and dryer, refrigerator, and a computer.

  • Hundreds of people in Mamaroneck, New York have been displaced from their homes due to some of them being submerged in as much as 12 feet of water from Ida’s rainfall.

• At least five people died in Ida’s aftermath in Pennsylvania.

  • Ida caused flooding and tornadoes that damaged homes in the Philadelphia area.

• Hurricane Larry located about 660 miles southeast of Bermuda on Wednesday morning with a maximum sustained wind speed of 115 MPH.

  • Larry is not expected to make landfall in the US but its effects are powerful enough to be felt along the East Coast in the form of dangerous rips and surfs.

  • Larry is forecast to bring severe thunderstorms and flash flooding to the Northeast starting late Wednesday.

  • Tornadoes in the wake of Larry may hit parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey on Wednesday.

• A tropical disturbance is expected to pass over Florida later this week with its chances for development at 50% over the next 2 to 5 days as of Wednesday morning.

  • The tropical disturbance is forecast to bring rain to Central Florida over the next few days.

  • Heavy rainfall is forecast for parts of the Florida Panhandle and southern Georgia through Thursday.

Climate Studies