Climate Impact Report – 9/16

September 16, 2024

Key Facts Of The Day 9/16

Hurricane Francine brought five to seven inches of total rainfall to New Orleans, with some areas reaching eight inches.
Approximately eight million people were under flood watches across Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia through Saturday morning.
Hurricane Francine significantly impacted energy infrastructure, including causing hundreds of thousands of customers to lose power, shutting down offshore oil and natural gas production in the Gulf of Mexico, and reducing the capacity of crude oil refineries around Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, and New Orleans.
Hurricane Francine’s damage was expected to cost up to $1.5 billion in insured losses across Louisiana.

As of Monday, Tropical Storm Gordon was located about 1,020 miles east of the northeast Caribbean, with winds reaching 30 mph.
Gordon was this season’s seventh named storm.
According to the National Weather Service, Gordon weakened to tropical depression status over the weekend.

On Monday, a tropical storm warning was issued for a disturbance in the Atlantic located 85 miles south of Cape Fear, North Carolina.
As of Monday morning, the disturbance was producing rain and wind gusts of up to 50 mph along the Carolina coastline.
The disturbance was expected to bring multi-inch rainfall totals to South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.
Storm surge was expected to be one to three feet above ground level from northeast South Carolina to southeast North Carolina if the peak surge arrives at high tide.

As of Monday, 55 large active wildfires have burned 2,433,868 acres across OR, CA, ID, MT, WA, AZ, WY, NV, AL, SD, and CO. This year, to date, 36,855 wildfires have burned 7,329,660acres across the country.
In Alabama, 2 fires have burned 990 acres as of Monday.
In Arizona, 3 fires have burned 22,458 acres as of Monday.
In California, 7 fires have burned 575,650 acres as of Monday.
- As of Monday, the Line Fire had burned 38,417 acres and was 29% contained.
- As of Monday, the Bridge Fire had burned 54,690 acres and was 11% contained.
In Colorado, 1 fire had burned 300 acres as of Monday.
In Idaho, 7 fires had burned 266,579 acres as of Monday.
In Montana, 5 fires had burned 16,461 acres as of Monday.
In Nevada, 2 fires have burned 14,056 acres as of Monday.
In Oregon, 16 fires have burned 316,198 acres as of Monday.
In South Dakota, 1 fire had burned 2,000 acres as of Monday.
In Washington, 4 fires had burned 53,446 acres as of Monday.
In Wyoming, 3 fires had burned 40,154 acres as of Monday.

Researchers found that in a warming climate, outdoor workers in heat-stressed environments may be at a greater risk of kidney disease.
Corn sweat, a type of evapotranspiration, was found to be contributing to extreme heat conditions in midwest states this summer by adding additional moisture to the air.
On Monday, a low-pressure system was moving into the West Coast that was expected to bring rare early-season snow to parts of California.