Climate Impact Report – 8/16

August 16, 2024

Key Facts Of The Day 8/16

Hurricane Ernesto strengthened to a Category 2 storm overnight.
As of Friday morning, Ernesto had maximum sustained winds of 100 mph.
Hurricane Ernesto will approach Bermuda Friday night and pass over Bermuda early Saturday morning. Damaging winds near 90 mph and rainfall of up to 15 inches are possible.
While Hurricane Ernesto won’t threaten the U.S. with landfall, a high rip current risk, and large waves are reaching Florida on Friday and the Northeast from Saturday through Monday.
In the Northeast, waves could be 6 to 9 feet close to the shore and over 10 feet away from the coast.
More than two days after the storm passed over Puerto Rico, over 230,000 residents were still without power.

As of Friday, 63 large active wildfires have burned 2,216,670 acres across AZ, CA, CO, FL, ID, MT, NV, OR, WA, and WY. This year to date, 30,152 wildfires have burned 5,468,050 acres across the country.
In Arizona, 2 fires have burned 29,398 acres as of Friday.
In California, 8 fires have burned 525,026 acres as of Friday.
- As of Friday, the Park Fire has burned 429,263 acres and is 49% contained.
In Colorado, 2 fires have burned 16,870 acres as of Friday.
In Florida, 1 fire has burned 500 acres as of Friday.
In Idaho, 12 fires have burned 265,218 acres as of Friday.
In Montana, 6 fires have burned 8,071 acres as of Friday.
In Nevada, 1 fire has burned 4,273 acres as of Friday.
In Oregon, 18 fires have burned 646,894 acres as of Friday.
In Washington, 8 fires have burned 123,952 acres as of Friday.
In Wyoming, 3 fires have burned 2,829 acres as of Friday.

Persistent drought in the West over the last two decades has caused a loss of 300 million megawatt hours of power generation.
- When there isn’t enough hydropower available, utilities are forced to purchase energy from fossil fuel producers, which drives up emissions.
Drought conditions in Western Pennsylvania caused low water levels.
As La Niña gathers strength in the tropical Pacific, forecasters warn that the climate pattern could plunge California back into drought conditions in the months ahead.