Climate Impact Report – 1/23

Key Facts Of The Day 1/23

Storms And Flooding

• On Tuesday, a major winter storm hit the U.S. Gulf Coast, blanketing parts of a region largely unaccustomed to extreme winter weather with record-breaking snowfall.
  • The storm, along with the brutal cold that helped cause it, is blamed for at least 11 deaths.
  • New Orleans, Louisiana, received 8 inches of snow, far surpassing the previous record of 2.7 inches. 
  • Multiple locations in Florida recorded enough snow to preliminarily shatter the state’s all-time snowfall record of 4 inches set in 1954.
    • Pensacola, Florida, recorded 7.6 inches, surpassing its 2.3-inch record from 1954.
    • Milton, Florida, recorded 10 inches of snow. 
  • Mobile, Alabama, reported 7.5 inches, exceeding the previous 3.6-inch record from 1973.
  • As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 1,800 flights have been canceled nationwide.

Wildfires

• In California, 5 fires have burned 47,724 acres as of Thursday. 
  • As of Thursday, the Palisades Fire has burned 23,448 acres and is 70% contained. 
  • As of Thursday, the Eaton Fire has burned 14,021 acres and is 95% contained.
  • As of Thursday, the Hughes Fire has burned 10,176 acres and is 14% contained.
    • More than 30,000 people evacuated, and 20,000 more were warned to prepare for mandatory evacuation.
    • Ventura County strawberry workers were harvesting in heavy smoke from the Hughes Fire.
  • As of Thursday, the Sepulveda Fire has burned 40 acres and is 0% contained.
  • As of Thursday, the Clay Fire has burned 39 acres and is 65% contained.
  • Los Angeles County is still under a red flag warning until Friday morning.
  • The wildfires that burned thousands of acres in Pacific Palisades and other parts of Los Angeles this month have damaged or destroyed about $350 million in public infrastructure.
  • The California attorney general charged a Los Angeles–area real estate agent with raising the price of a rental property by 38% after the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles.
  • President Trump threatened to withhold federal aid from California as it works to recover from devastating wildfires.

Extreme Heat

• Incarcerated people in Colorado are exposed to climate-related extreme heat and cold, plus flooding and wildfires.