Oregon – Desdemona Despair

Glow from Park Fire burns is seen along Cohasset Road near Chico, California, U.S. 25 July 2024. Photo: Fred Greaves / REUTERS

July 27, 2024

A “catastrophic” start to wildfire season in Oregon sparks alarm – Oregon wildfire explodes to half the size of Rhode Island – “This is perhaps the worst I’ve seen in terms of the number of fires on the landscape in the last decade in the state of Oregon”

By Jules Feeney 27 July 2024 LOS ANGELES (The Guardian) – Oregon’s wildfire season is off to an explosive start with more than 1 million acres charred in less than a month, as experts warn that extreme heat and unusual lightning strikes are creating “catastrophic conditions” for fires to ignite and spread. The state is currently […]

A property is engulfed in flames as the Thompson Fire burns, Tuesday, 2 July 2024, in Oroville, California. Photo: Ethan Swope / AP

July 7, 2024

Persistent heat wave in the U.S. expected to shatter new records as it bakes West and swelters in East – “Unfortunately, there won’t be much relief overnight either”

By Margery A. Beck 7 July 2024 (AP) – A long-running heat wave that has already shattered previous records across the U.S. will persist, baking parts of the West with dangerous temperatures that will soar into the 100s and holding the East in its hot and humid grip throughout the week, forecasters said Sunday. An excessive heat warning […]

Map showing reduction of stored groundwater in the U.S. Southwest, April 2002 - September 2023. Gravity measurements from the GRACE series of satellites show that the decline in water levels in the Great Basin region from April 2002 to September 2023 has most severely affected portions of southern California (indicated in red). Record snowfall in recent years has not been enough to offset long-term drying conditions and increasing groundwater demands in the U.S. Southwest. Graphic: Hall, et al., 2024 / Geophysical Research Letters

July 5, 2024

NASA satellites find record snow didn’t offset Southwest U.S. groundwater loss – “In years like the 2022-23 winter, I expected that the record amount of snowfall would really help to replenish the groundwater supply. But overall, the decline continued.”

By James R. Riordon 17 June 2024 (NASA GSFC) – Record snowfall in recent years has not been enough to offset long-term drying conditions and increasing groundwater demands in the U.S. Southwest, according to a new analysis of NASA satellite data [Snowfall Replenishes Groundwater Loss in the Great Basin of the Western United States, but […]

Spatial distribution of the total number of exposed days in 995 California ZIP Code Tabulation Areas (ZCTA) from 2006 to 2019 under the main analysis definition for climate hazards (85th percentile for extreme heat and 15 μg/m3 for wildfire PM2.5). (A) Compound exposure, (B) extreme heat alone, and (C) wildfire smoke alone. Gray color represents excluded ZCTA that has a population of ≤1000 or lacks any exposed day (extreme heat alone, wildfire smoke alone, or both). Graphic: Chen, et al., 2024 / Science Advances

April 28, 2024

Extreme heat, wildfire smoke harm low-income and nonwhite communities the most – “It’s really important to highlight this social injustice aspect of climate change”

By Dorany Pineda 2 February 2024 LOS ANGELES (AP) – Extreme heat and wildfire smoke are independently harmful to the human body, but together their impact on cardiovascular and respiratory systems is more dangerous and affects some communities more than others. A study published Friday in the journal Science Advances said climate change is increasing the frequency […]

(a) Maps of the Pacific Northwest U.S. showing the median annual flight hours between November 1st and January 31st for Historical, and near-future, mid-future, and distant-future time frames for two RCPs, (b) elevations with Cascade and Rocky Mountain ranges marked, (c) Map of the continental United States with highlighted study area (grey). The historical panel of ‘a’ marks two locations in Washington State, Omak, and Richland, which are referenced in the text. Note that the elevation data is not used in any analysis and is provided solely for visual context. Graphic: Rajagopalan, et al., 2024 / Nature Scientific Reports

April 28, 2024

Western honeybee colonies at risk of collapse, WSU study finds – “They’re really the glue in our ecosystems. And you never notice the glue — until it stops working.”

By Conrad Swanson 1 April 2024 (The Seattle Times) – One of nature’s most important keystone species is working itself to death. Colonies of honeybees — crucial pollinators for a wide variety of plants and cash crops — are at risk of collapse because of climate change, a recent study by scientists at Washington State University and […]

Change in percentage of U.S. kindergartners exempt from one or more vaccinations, by jurisdiction, 2021–22 and 2022–23 school years. From the 2019–20 to the 2021–22 school year, national coverage with state-required vaccines among kindergartners declined from 95 percent to approximately 93 percent, ranging from 92.7 percent for diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) to 93.1 percent for polio. During the 2022–23 school year, coverage remained near 93 percent for all reported vaccines, ranging from 92.7 percent for DTaP to 93.1 percent for measles, mumps, and rubella and polio. The exemption rate increased 0.4 percentage points to 3.0 percent. Exemptions increased in 41 states, exceeding 5 percent in 10 states. Exemptions >5 percent limit the level of achievable vaccination coverage, which increases the risk for outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. Vaccination before school entry or during provisional enrollment periods could reduce exemptions resulting from barriers to vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic. Graphic: Seither, et al., 2023 / CDC

November 11, 2023

School vaccination exemptions in U.S. now highest on record among kindergartners, CDC reports

By Sara Moniuszko 9 November 2023 (CBS News) – A record number of American kindergarten students started school last year with an exemption from one of the key vaccines health authorities require, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the report published Thursday, the CDC examined immunization program data to […]

Global and regional risks for increasing levels of global warming. (a) Global surface temperature change increase relative to the period 1850-1900. (b) Reasons for concern (RFC) impact and risk assessments assuming low-to-no adaptation. (c) Impacts and risks to terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems. (d) Impacts and risks to ocean ecosystems. (e) Climate-sensitive health outcomes under three adaptation scenarios. Graphic: IPCC

March 12, 2022

Pacific Northwest heatwave in 2021 was a glimpse of global warming in North America – “We’re exposed to untold damage”

By Gillian Flaccus 1 March 2022 PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) – The U.S. Pacific Northwest was in the throes of a record-shattering heat wave last summer when a woman in her 70s was wheeled into an emergency room with symptoms of a life-threatening heat stroke. Desperate to cool her, Dr. Alexander St. John grabbed a body […]

U.S. Drought Monitor map of the U.S. West, 10 February 2022. In February 2022, 95 percent of the Western U.S. was experiencing drought conditions. In summer 2021, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, two of the largest reservoirs in North America — Lake Mead and Lake Powell, both on the Colorado River — reached their lowest recorded levels. Graphic: Deborah Bathke / Richard Tinker NOAA / NWS / NCEP / CPC

February 15, 2022

Megadrought in U.S. West worsens to driest in at least 1,200 years – “We need to be preparing for conditions in the future that are far worse than this”

By Seth Borenstein 15 February 2022 (AP) – The American West’s megadrought deepened so much last year that it is now the driest in at least 1,200 years and is a worst-case climate change scenario playing out live, a new study finds. A dramatic drying in 2021 — about as dry as 2002 and one […]

Deaths from overdoses, alcohol use, or suicide in Washington state, 2015-2020. Nearly 3,900 Washingtonians died from “deaths of despair” in 2020, an increase of almost 600 since 2019. Graphic: Mark Nowlin / The Seattle Times

January 11, 2022

“Deaths of despair” spiked in Washington state in 2020, exceeding deaths from COVID-19

By Gene Balk 10 January 2022 (Seattle Times) – They’ve come to be known as “deaths of despair” — fatalities from drug overdoses, alcohol use, and suicide. Research has shown they’ve been on the rise for decades in the United States and have contributed to the decline in life expectancy over the last few years. Since the […]

Map showing ground temperatures in the Pacific Northwest during the record-breaking heatwave in June 2021. Ground temperatures reached as high as 145 degrees Fahrenheit (63 degrees Celsius) in Wenatchee, Washington. Graphic: European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-3

July 4, 2021

Ground temperatures reached an astounding 145 degrees during the Pacific Northwest heatwave in early summer 2021

By Brian Kahn 29 June 2021 (Gizmodo) – Air temperatures during record-setting heatwave in the Pacific Northwest were bad enough. But the ground was on a whole other level. Stunning new satellite imagery from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-3 satellite shows ground temperatures reached as high as 145 degrees Fahrenheit (63 degrees Celsius) in Wenatchee, Washington. Apparently […]