Climate Impact Report – 7/16

July 16, 2024

Key Facts Of The Day 7/16

Storms, including reports of tornadoes, blew through Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana, toppling trees and power poles and cutting electricity to hundreds of thousands of people.
- On Monday night, employees at the National Weather Service in suburban Chicago had to temporarily take cover and pass coverage duties to colleagues in northern Michigan.
- There were some tornado reports, but other damaging winds were the main concern. Wind gusts were in the 75 mph to 90 mph range, and there was a report of a 101 mph gust in Ogle County, Illinois.
The Public Works Department and Public Safety have closed numerous streets in Kalamazoo, Michigan, due to flooding.

As of Tuesday, 59 large active wildfires have burned 732,099 acres across AK, AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NM, OR, UT, WA, and WY. This year to date, 24,766 wildfires have burned 3,088,589 acres across the country.
In Alaska, 4 fires have burned 198,102 acres as of Tuesday.
In Arizona, 10 fires have burned 56,881 acres as of Tuesday.
In California, 12 fires have burned 102,090 acres as of Tuesday.
In Colorado, 2 fires have burned 2,035 acres as of Tuesday.
In New Mexico, 6 fires have burned 16,705 acres as of Tuesday.
In Oregon, 7 fires have burned 253,351 acres as of Tuesday.
In Washington, 2 fires have burned 18,835 acres as of Tuesday.

Heat advisories are in place in Kansas, Texas, New York, and South Carolina as the area of high pressure that caused extreme heat in the West last week slowly moves across the country.
Air quality alerts are also in place in major cities across the East Coast, including New York and Philadelphia, signaling dangerous outdoor conditions for those with respiratory illnesses such as asthma.
Roughly 40% of Georgia, including metro Atlanta, is currently experiencing drought conditions.
- Parts of Fulton, Douglas, Cobb, and Paulding counties and northwest Georgia are seeing severe drought.