Heat, floods and a 'glacial outburst'

USA Today

a day ago

Intense rain, heat and flooding disrupted lives in scattered locations across the country this week. Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to news on climate change, energy and the environment.
I'm Dinah Voyles Pulver, a national correspondent for USA TODAY, coming to you from the Sunshine State where my car thermometer on Aug. 13 told me it was 100 degrees at 7:30 p.m. According to the National Weather Service, the average overnight minimum temperature in at least one Central Florida location has increased by 3 degrees in my lifetime.
Madeline Heim at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel looked at how climate change is increasingly fueling extreme rainfall events, a topic that keeps emerging as flood after flood occurs across the United States.
In Wisconsin, the National Weather Service reported some parts of Milwaukee received more than a foot of rain, which would shatter the state's 24-hour rainfall record if verified. River heights soared. The record rain was called a 1 in 1,000 year event.
The 2010s were Wisconsin's wettest decade since record-keeping began around 1900. Between 2010 and 2019, the state experienced at least 21 "100-year" rainfall events, meaning a 1% chance of the event occurring in a given year,' Hein reported. Since Milwaukee's weather records began in 1871, there have only been 11 days when the city has seen more than four inches of rain. Seven of those occurred in the past 30 years.
A 'glacial outburst' in Alaska
Flooding in Juneau, where temperatures have been rising in recent years, also has been attributed to climate change.
Water from a melting glacier caused a river near the capital city to swell to historic levels amid a "glacial outburst" event that prompted flooding fears and evacuations. Emergency barriers installed through the city appeared to successfully funnel floodwaters away from neighborhoods as planned.
As students begin returning to school and a couple of cold fronts have hinted at cooler temperatures to come, heat continues to blaze in some areas of the country. On August 10, neary 30 million people across the nation were enduring heat advisories or extreme heat warnings. Conditions caused concern in the Pacific Northwest on Aug. 11 and 12. Some Oregonians experienced consecutive days of record-breaking heat.
U.S. weather officials have released a first fall forecast for the season, but it's not necessarily great news for some.
Trump administration actions draw concern
Controversy over the actions of the Trump administration has roiled environmental advocates on several fronts, including the proposed rollback of the agency's landmark endangerment finding and a report by a small group of experts drafted by the U.S. Department of Energy that contradicts major prior environmental reports.
A report by the Arizona Republic found that experts say the rollback of the endangerment finding could undermine the nation's established framework for containing the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving the intensification of heat waves, droughts and flooding.
The EPA also has rescinded impairment ratings for some rivers. The agency rescinded a controversial decision to place seven segments of the Cedar, Des Moines, Iowa, Raccoon and South Skunk rivers on the state's list of impaired waters because of high nitrate levels.
Energy action by Trump administration
A Biden-era initiative to build a nationwide network of electric vehicle chargers has come to an abrupt halt after the Trump administration blocked any additional spending on the effort to install chargers at gas stations, rest stops and other locations. A coalition of Democrat-led states and nonprofits has sued to get the funding restarted, but there's been no final decision yet, and the installations remain on hold.
But nuclear power is experiencing a kind of renaissance as it's championed by the new administration. The White House wants three new small-scale reactors fueled and running by the country's 250th anniversary next summer, in addition to endorsing expansions of existing plants.
State wildlife officials at work
In Florida, bear advocates were frustrated with a decision by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to approve a hunt of Florida black bears. The hunt comes a decade after the state's first bear hunt in years killed more bears than originally intended and further ignited tensions over hunting.
Florida officials also recently concluded the state's annual python hunting championship, where hunters team up to try to help state officials eradicate the invasive species that preys on the state's native and protected species.
In California, the state's Fish and Game Commission unanimously voted to declare the Quino checkerspot butterfly a candidate for listing under the state's Endangered Species Act, after a petition by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Endangered Habitats League. The imperiled butterfly is known for its red, black and cream-colored checkered wings