Climate Impact Report – 2/21

Key Facts Of The Day 2/21

Storms And Flooding

• As of late Thursday, heavy to moderate snow has been falling across the Front Range of Colorado.
  • A Winter Storm Warning is in effect for the foothills of West Jefferson and Douglas Counties, which could see between 12 to 18 inches of snow.
  • A Winter Weather Advisory is in effect for the Denver Metro area up to Boulder and down to Colorado Springs.
• On Wednesday and Thursday, Austin, Texas, broke record-cold temperatures.
• Last weekend, a devastating storm dumped over 8 inches of rain in Kentucky and Tennessee and 5 inches of rain in Virginia.
  • The death toll in Kentucky has risen to 15.
  • Two people died in the storm in West Virginia, and one storm-related death was reported in Georgia.
  • Over 1,000 people have been rescued across Kentucky.
  • In Louisville, crews have conducted over 30 rescues in the flash flooding.

Wildfires

• The Masjid Al-Taqwa mosque in Altadena, which served a tight-knit Muslim community for 42 years, burned to the ground in one of the Los Angeles area’s deadliest fires in January.
• The termination letters that ended the careers of thousands of U.S. Forest Service employees mean fewer people and resources will be available to help prevent and fight wildfires.

Extreme Heat

• A new study found that climate change is accelerating the melting of the world’s mountain glaciers, with 7 trillion tons already lost since 2000.
  • Alaska’s glaciers are melting at the fastest rate of any of the 19 regions studied, losing about 67 billion tons of ice annually.