Climate Impact Report – 9/9
September 9, 2024
tags
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Potential
tropical
stormA potential Tropical Storm is expected to bring heavy rain, damaging winds, flash flooding, and power outages to Texas and Louisiana starting on Monday.
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mandatory
evacuation ordersOn Sunday, active wildfires in California and Nevada left tens of thousands of people under mandatory evacuation orders, threatened numerous structures, and impacted air quality.
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line fire unique
weatherCalifornia’s Line Fire was creating its own weather in the form of pyrocumulus clouds, bringing erratic winds and thunderstorms to affected areas.
Key Facts Of The Day 9/9
Hurricanes and Tropical Storms
- On Monday, a disturbance in the southwest Gulf is expected to organize into a tropical storm and potentially strengthen into a hurricane on Wednesday or early Thursday.
- Tropical storm and storm surge watches were expected to be issued on Monday in portions of the upper Texas and Louisiana coastlines.
- The southern U.S. was expected to experience rounds of heavy rain, damaging wind gusts, and saturated ground this week, which could lead to downed trees, power outages, and structural damage.
- By Wednesday, wind gusts of up to 40 mph were expected in southeast Texas and the southern Louisiana coastline.
- From Wednesday to Thursday, storm surges between one and three feet were expected from Galveston Bay, Texas, to Mobile Bay, Alabama. Near the point of landfall on the west-central Louisiana coast, storm surges could reach as high as three to six feet.
- From McAllen, Texas, to Shreveport, Louisiana, rainfall totals from Friday to Saturday were projected to range between 2 and 4 inches.
Wildfires
- As of Monday, 67 large active wildfires have burned 2,146,170 acres across ID, CA, MT, AZ, and AL. This year, to date, 35,757 wildfires have burned 6,865,542 acres across the country.
- In Arizona, 4 fires have burned 8,776 acres as of Monday.
- In Alabama, 1 fire has burned 510 acres as of Monday.
- In California, 8 fires have burned 495,729 acres as of Monday.
- As of Monday, the Line Fire has burned 20,552 acres, threatened 36,328 structures, injured three firefighters, and was 3% contained.
- In Idaho, 20 fires have burned 322,954 acres as of Monday.
- In Montana, 6 fires have burned 15,775 acres as of Monday.
Extreme Heat
- On Sunday, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo declared a state of emergency due to the Davis Fire.
- When there isn’t enough hydropower available, utilities are forced to purchase energy from fossil fuel producers, which drives up emissions.
- As of Monday, California’s Line Fire had consumed more than 20,500 acres of land and more than quadrupled in size since Saturday morning.
- Thunderstorms near the Line Fire were producing heavy rain at a rate of one to two inches per hour.
- On Sunday, a flash flood warning went into effect in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
- The Line Fire was creating its own weather in the form of pyrocumulus clouds that created erratic winds and thunderstorms that pushed the fire outward, spreading it farther and challenging firefighters.
- On Sunday, mandatory evacuation orders were issued for 4,800 homes by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
- As of Monday, the Boyles Fire near Clearlake, California, had displaced 4,000 residents.
- On Monday, excessive heat warnings were in effect in southern California. Temperatures across the region ranged from 95 to 105 degrees – about 10 to 20 degrees above average.