Warmth Continues Out East – National Weather Outlook For February 17, 2023

by | Feb 17, 2023 | Weather

National Weather Forecast

The system that brought heavy snow to the upper Midwest and severe weather to the Deep South on Thursday will continue moving east into Friday, with storms in the Southeast to snow and ice in New England. Some rain and snow will be possible in the Pacific Northwest. Otherwise, most of the rest of the nation will be quiet. A few record highs could be possible in the Northeast and Florida ahead of the cold front moving in.

While the heavy snow in the upper Midwest will have fallen Thursday, several inches of snow can be expected into Friday across northern Maine. The heavy rain threat is similar – while 3”+ could fall in the Ohio Valley south to the Deep South, a lot of that will have fallen on Thursday.

_______________________________________________

Despite national goals, agricultural greenhouse gases grow unchecked in many Midwest states

More from The Gazette: “Digesters are one solution to the big challenge of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, which makes up more than 10 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the United States as of 2020, the most recent year available. Agriculture is a major source of planet-warming greenhouse gases, and farming-intensive states like Iowa — with 13 million acres of corn and seven hogs per person — are outsized contributors, federal data show. Iowa ranks No. 2, behind Texas, for greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. While nationwide emissions from sectors like energy production have fallen in recent decades, those from agriculture — especially livestock and corn — have grown.”

‘Extreme situation’: Antarctic sea ice hits record low

More from The Guardian: “The area of sea ice around Antarctica has hit a record low, with scientists reporting “never having seen such an extreme situation before”. The ice extent is expected to shrink even further before this year’s summer melting season ends. The impact of the climate crisis in melting sea ice in the Arctic is clear in the records that stretch back to 1979. Antarctic sea ice varies much more from year to year, which has made it harder to see an effect from global heating. However, “remarkable” losses of Antarctic sea ice in the last six years indicate that the record levels of heat now in the ocean and related changes in weather patterns may mean that the climate crisis is finally manifesting in the observations.”

FEMA’s failure to account for climate change leaves BIPOC communities on the brink of disaster

More from Prism Reports: “Decades of environmental and housing policy failure have turned flooding–an organic fixture of our ecosystems–into financial and humanitarian disasters. For generations, discriminatory housing practices and federal lending policies relegated BIPOC renters and homeowners to floodplains. With the added stress of climate change, the earth’s natural response to fossil fuel combustion, BIPOC residents face compounding challenges and little chance to catch their breath between disasters. Some national, state, and grassroots organizations are pushing for policy changes at the federal level, as well as real-time solutions that can be easily implemented by residents. But the agency tasked with alleviating flood risk is failing to account for how extreme weather will worsen in the coming years, and consequently neglecting the impact that extreme weather has on historical discrimination. Part of the challenge the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) faces is tied to Congress, which is tasked with updating the operating standards of the agency and allocating sufficient funds to its relief efforts. But advocates say that another, more insidious issue takes place at the local level, where state and federal laws aid developers’ interests by allowing real estate companies to build in flood-prone areas without telling potential buyers the risk to their homes.”

_______________________________________________

Follow me on:

Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

– D.J. Kayser