Climate Impact Report – 8/23

August 23, 2024

Key Facts Of The Day 8/23

On Thursday, the National Weather Service issued a tropical storm watch for Hawaii County in anticipation of Tropical Storm Hone.
Tropical Storm Hone was expected to bring sustained winds of 20 to 30 mph and gusts of 50 mph to Maui and the Big Island over the weekend.
From Saturday night through Sunday night, Tropical Storm Hone was expected to bring four to eight inches of rain to the Big Island’s east coast and southeastern corner and two to four inches of rain in Maui.
On Friday morning, Hone was 880 miles east-southeast of Honolulu, Hawaii, and was moving at 16 mph with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph.

On Friday, the National Hurricane Center released an advisory for Hurricane Gilma in the North Pacific Ocean.
Hurricane Gilma was a category three hurricane with wind speeds of 120 mph and was the seventh named storm to form in the Eastern Pacific in 2024.

As of Friday, 56 large active wildfires have burned 2,060,058 acres across ID, OR, WY, WA, MT, CA, NV, UT, MS, and SD. This year to date, 31,780 wildfires have burned 5,465,739 acres across the country.
In California, 5 fires have burned 527,804 acres as of Friday.
- As of Friday, the Park Fire has burned 429,460 acres and is 65% contained.
In Idaho, 13 fires have burned 127,725 acres as of Friday.
In Mississippi, 1 fire has burned 559 acres as of Friday.
In Montana, 7 fires have burned 15,934 acres as of Friday.
In Nevada, 3 fires have burned 7,713 acres as of Friday.
In Oregon, 13 fires have burned 404,539 acres as of Friday,
In South Dakota, 1 fire has burned 1,300 acres as of Friday.
In Utah, 2 fires have burned 999 acres as of Friday.
In Washington, 8 fires have burned 102,887 acres as of Friday.
In Wyoming, 8 fires have burned 230,899 acres as of Friday.

On Thursday, a wave of extreme heat was expected in Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Florida.
- Excessive heat warnings were in effect across Texas on Thursday and Friday, with highs forecasted to reach up to 113 degrees.
- In Oklahoma, temperatures were predicted to reach up to 100 degrees on Saturday.
- Eastern New Mexico was expected to reach temperatures as high as 107 degrees, while the western part of the state was expected to see lower temperatures and severe thunderstorms.
A new report outlined how extremely hot days are negatively affecting student-athletes across the country.
- The report found that extremely hot days have become more frequent since 1970 in 88% of cities across the country.
- Playing sports outdoors in extreme heat can increase stress on individuals’ bodies, putting them at risk of dehydration and heat-related illness.
- The report explained that young children sweat less and acclimate to heat more slowly than adults. Children may also ignore or miss symptoms of heat stress or dehydration when playing outdoors.
A new report found that atmospheric concentrations of Earth’s major greenhouse gasses—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—all increased to record-high levels.
- The annual global average carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere in 2023 was 50% greater than pre-industrial levels.
- The growth of CO2 concentrations from 2022 to 2023 was the fourth highest since the 1960s.