Climate Impact Report – 3/22

Key Facts Of The Day 3/22

Storms and Flooding

• With back-to-back storms, cities in the midwest will see more snow in spring’s first week than all of winter.
  • The first storm already dropped a few inches of snow from the northern Plains to the Great Lakes.
  • At least 3 inches of snow covered parts of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro from Thursday night into Friday morning.
• According to NASA, the global average sea level rose by about 0.3 inches between 2022 and 2023.
  • Since 1993, the global average sea level has risen by 4 inches and the rate of rise is accelerating. 

Wildfires

• At least five homes were destroyed due to a wildfire in Shenandoah County, Virginia.
• State Farm will discontinue coverage for 72,000 houses and apartments in California starting this summer.
• Despite improvements, U.S. cities faced unhealthy air quality due to Canadian wildfire smoke in 2023, impacting health and contributing to diseases like respiratory illnesses and cancers.

Extreme Heat

• Iowa, the nation’s top corn-producing state, is seeing one of its driest periods going into a growing season.
• A new study found that food prices and overall inflation will rise as temperatures climb with climate change.
  •  Researchers calculate that “weather and climate shocks” will cause the cost of food to rise 1.5 to 1.8 percentage points annually within a decade.
• The United Nations found that women and girls are the first to suffer when drought strikes poor and rural areas.