The Springs fire in Riverside county has grown to 3,500 acres, prompting local authorities to issue several evacuation orders. The fire is concentrated in an area mostly north and east of Lake Perris, burning portions of the surrounding state recreation area.
We created Earth in Action to provide a lens into what's happening on our planet, as it happens. Whether it's something typical, like the current air temperature, or an extreme event like a major dust storm, we wanted to provide an opportunity for people to see them.
"This is going to help fill that gap in minutes to hours lead time that's vital to know where the heaviest rain is going to hit," Ralph said. "And when and what communities are going to be affected so people in the preparedness community and water resource management community can take action to help protect people's lives and property."
During this heat wave, "not only are daily temperature records likely to be broken across the region, but even the high temperature records for any day in the entire month of March," the National Weather Service said in a Tuesday morning forecast.
The powerful March storms that drenched Hawaii produced more than 2 trillion gallons of rain and pushed precipitation levels to as much as 3,000% above normal in a 14-day period for this time of year.
Even though the evidence is still early, this could be a very significant event in 2026 and lingering into 2027. Its function in the global earth system is to release heat from the deeper oceans that has been temporarily stored there. El Nino allows that subducted heat to be unearthed.
"So whenever people think about hot weather, they always talk about the temperature," he says. "There's two issues with that. First of all, most people don't realise that the temperature is measured in the shade. So if you're in direct solar radiation, the amount of heat stress you're exposed to is much greater as it will stress your body out a lot more."
If you are reading this on the East Coast, congratulations on the warmer weather you're finally getting this week. It was cold and snowy for a while there. Here in the West, we wish we'd been in your shoes. Spare a thought for the tens of millions of us who live on the other side of the continent, where a catastrophe is unfolding.
Warwick, N., Griffiths, P., Keeble, J., Archibald, A., & Pyle, J. Atmospheric implications of increased Hydrogen use. GOV.UK https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/atmospheric-implications-of-increased-hydrogen-use (2022).
