Climate Impact Report – 8/1

August 1, 2024

Key Facts Of The Day 8/1

The National Hurricane Center is tracking a disturbance located in the northern Caribbean islands that could organize into a tropical depression or storm.
- Florida is likely to see locally heavy rain, regardless of how much it develops in the coming days.
A storm that brought more than eight inches of rain to parts of northeastern Vermont early Tuesday destroyed and damaged dozens of homes.
- Swiftwater rescue teams made 12 rescues and 15 evacuations.

As of Thursday, 93 large active wildfires have burned 2,343,392 acres across AZ, CA, CO, FL, ID, MT, NV, NM, OR, TX, UT, WA, and WY. This year to date, 28,373 wildfires have burned 4,489,028 acres across the country.
In Arizona, 4 fires have burned 42,448 acres as of Thursday.
In California, 12 fires have burned 516,398 acres as of Thursday.
- The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said that as of Tuesday, wildfire activity is 2,816% higher than last year for the same time period.
In Colorado, 3 fires have burned 9,527 acres as of Thursday.
- Fueled by high heat and dry conditions, major wildfires continued to burn across thousands of acres of wildland near Boulder, Loveland, Lyons, and Jefferson County, killing at least one person and destroying at least five homes.
In Nevada, 1 fire has burned 16,251 acres as of Thursday.
In New Mexico, 1 fire has burned 6,500 acres as of Thursday.
In Oregon, 32 fires have burned 944,046 acres as of Thursday.
In Texas, 1 fire has burned 1,000 acres as of Thursday.
The National Weather Service warned that the West will face hazardous air quality due to ongoing fires.

As of Thursday morning, a potentially deadly heat wave is expanding from the Central U.S. to both coasts, with nearly 150 million people under heat warnings and advisories.
- The heatwave will also cause an uptick in fire risks in the West, where large, fast-moving, and deadly blazes are already burning.
- Cities from Washington to Sacramento could near or surpass 100 degrees Fahrenheit as early as Thursday.
According to Climate Central’s Climate Shift Index, about 148 million Americans are likely to see temperatures on Friday that were made at least three times more likely due to climate change.
Ground temperatures in East Antarctica have soared more than 50 degrees above normal in the second major heat wave to afflict the region in the past two years.