Climate Impact Report – 4/3

Key Facts Of The Day 4/3

Storms and Flooding

• On Wednesday, homes and businesses were damaged, several people were injured, and tens of thousands remained in the dark after a storm system spawned tornadoes from the South to the Ohio Valley, and blizzard conditions and snow in the Great Lakes.
  • Severe storms injured at least 10 people in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
  • On Tuesday, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a statewide state of emergency as the Lexington area saw significant damage from the storms.
  • On Tuesday, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of emergency for Fayette, Kanawha, Lincoln, and Nicholas counties.
  • Severe thunderstorms brought flooding, downed trees, power outages, and road blockages across West Virginia.
  • At least 13 homes were damaged and some residents were injured in Fayette County, West Virginia.
  • Fourteen tornadoes were reported Tuesday and Wednesday morning across Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia.
  • An Ohio elementary school was left in shambles in Proctorville after a tornado-warned storm moved through the area.

Wildfires

• As of last Friday, 10 large active wildfires have burned 22,372 acres across GA, KY, OK, VA, and WA. This year to date, 5,260 wildfires have burned 1,659,645 acres across the country.
  • In Georgia, 1 fire has burned 175 acres as of last Friday.
  • In Kentucky, 1 fire has burned 269 acres as of last Friday.
  • In Oklahoma, 1 fire has burned 180 acres as of last Friday.
  • In Virginia, 3 fires have burned 17,571 acres as of last Friday.
  • In West Virginia, 4 fires have burned 4,177 acres as of last Friday.
• Fire crews tackled three wildfires in western North Carolina over the weekend.

Extreme Heat

• Thanks to warming fueled primarily by heat-trapping pollution from the burning of fossil fuels, spring is likely to be warmer than usual in Savannah and across Georgia this year.
  • Springtime in Savannah over the past decade has been warmer than any 10-year period in NOAA records dating to 1948. 
• Although California’s mountain snowpack has peaked just above its historic average for early spring, Governor Gavin Newsom warned residents to maintain conservation habits.
• Within a few decades, the world is expected to hit 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming on average, a threshold where the majority of the world’s coral reefs are not expected to survive.
  • In the face of heat threat, scientists around the world are selectively breeding coral to help reefs adapt faster and tolerate extreme heat better.