Climate Impact Report – 11/18

Key Facts Of The Day 11/18

Hurricanes and Tropical Storms

• As of Monday morning, Sara weakened to a tropical rainstorm. Sara was located 90 miles southwest of Campeche, Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 30 mph.
  • Over the weekend, Sara brought life-threatening flooding and mudslides to northern Honduras, with rainfall of over 40 inches in some areas. 
  • Sara was forecasted to bring flash flooding to the northern Gulf Coast Monday night through Tuesday night, with rainfall of up to 12 inches. 
• The month of November typically sees one tropical storm every year or two, but since 2000, there have been 18 named storms that have formed outside of the official hurricane season. Tropical storm Sara marked the third named storm this month. 
• Florida counties Pinellas and Hillsborough reported that damages from Hurricanes Helene and Milton temporarily forced 2,300 people out of work, and 700 people lost their jobs permanently.
  • More than $350 million in damages reported statewide were concentrated in these two counties, affecting nearly 2,000 businesses. 

Wildfires

• As of Friday, 5 large active wildfires have burned 238,989 acres across CA, MA, NC, and WV. This year to date, 50,276 wildfires have burned 8,109,693 acres across the country.
• In California, 1 fire has burned 19,904 acres as of Friday.
• In Massachusetts, 2 fires have burned 555 acres as of Friday.
• In North Carolina, 1 fire has burned 175 acres as of Friday.
• In West Virginia, 1 fire has burned 210 acres as of Friday. 

Extreme Heat

• Over 150 homes were evacuated across the Northeast due to elevated risk of wildfire spread.
  • On Monday, parts of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts were at an increased risk of wildfire spread due to northwest winds, minimum relative humidity, and historically dry conditions.
  • According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, about 58% of the Northeast was experiencing moderate drought conditions or worse. 
• A recent report found that human-caused global warming significantly increased the severity or frequency of 550 global natural disasters.