Climate Impact Report – 7/8

July 8, 2024

Key Facts Of The Day 7/8

As of Monday morning, Hurricane Beryl is approaching western parts of Houston after making landfall as a Category 1 hurricane near Matagorda, Texas.
After making landfall in Texas, Beryl knocked out power to more than 2 million people in the Houston area.
Nearly all customers in Brazoria, Matagorda, and Wharton counties were without power.
Hurricane Beryl has killed at least 10 people.
- One person died in Houston’s Harris County Monday morning.
- Nine people died after the storm hammered the Caribbean islands and Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula.
In some parts of Texas, storm surges of up to 7 feet, strong winds, and flash flooding are expected.
As of 10 a.m. local time, Beryl had maximum sustained winds of 70 MPH. Earlier in the day, Beryl’s winds gusted to over 90 MPH.
Officials warned that the winds were stronger than many had expected and urged residents to take shelter as if a tornado were passing through.
Officials in Texas issued a disaster declaration for 121 counties and readied the National Guard, search-and-rescue teams, and other emergency responders.
Researchers have found that climate change makes hurricanes intensify faster and produce more rain with a higher storm surge.

As of Monday, 68 large active wildfires have burned 588,315 acres across AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, NV, NJ, NM, OR, UT, and WA. This year to date, 23,124 wildfires have burned 2,802,174 acres across the country.
In Alaska, 39 fires have burned 455,366 acres as of Monday.
In Arizona, 3 fires have burned 9,345 acres as of Monday.
In California, 9 fires have burned 43,284 acres as of Monday.
In Colorado, 1 fire has burned 1,310 acres as of Monday.
In Nevada, 2 fires have burned 7,500 acres as of Monday.
In New Mexico, 6 fires have burned 31,092 acres as of Monday.
In Oregon, 2 fires have burned 1,958 acres as of Monday.
In Washington, 1 fire has burned 9,055 acres as of Monday.

A long-running heat wave that has already shattered previous records across the U.S. persisted on Sunday.
On Sunday, an excessive heat warning was in effect for about 36 million people – about 10% of the population.
On Saturday evening, over 132 million people were under some form of a heat warning.
Many areas in Northern California surpassed 110 degrees Fahrenheit, with the city of Redding topping out at a record 119 degrees Fahrenheit.
Phoenix, Arizona, set a new daily record Sunday for the warmest low temperature: it never got below 92 degrees Fahrenheit.
A high temperature of 128 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded Saturday and Sunday at Death Valley National Park in eastern California, where a visitor died Saturday from heat exposure and another person was hospitalized.
In Arizona’s Maricopa County, there have been at least 13 confirmed heat-related deaths this year, along with more than 160 other deaths suspected of being related to heat that are still under investigation.
In northwest and west central Oregon, temperatures are forecast to stay between 100 to 105 degrees through Tuesday night.