Currently in Toronto — May 18th, 2022
The weather, currently.
Cool air is moving in. You will feel it early Wednesday morning with a wake-up temperature near 6°C under mainly sunny skies. It should be noted, too, that parts of cottage country are under a frost advisory tonight. That includes Bancroft, Grey Bruce, Huron Perth, Peterborough and also Waterloo and Wellington. There will be ample sunshine for the first half of the day, but then the clouds will start to build in as another disturbance approaches the Lower Great Lakes. The high is 15°C, and the UV index will be 8 or very high. Showers will develop around dinner time and that will continue into the overnight.
Wednesday night: mainly cloudy with scattered showers and light rain, the low 9°C. —Anwar Knight
What you need to know, currently.
Release of a nation-wide wildfire risk map is a key milestone on the road to resilience. If you don’t know your risk, it’s hard to prepare. The federal gov’t doesn’t produce a detailed national risk map. First Street Foundation is trying to fill that gap. https://t.co/AqhVJFR6Wz
— Alice Hill (@Alice_C_Hill) May 16, 2022
As climate change and global warming grows, homes in the East Coast are facing an increasing risk of wildfires during the next 30 years.
Anyone renting or buying a house could, historically, look up its flood risk. However, for wildfire risks, homeowners were on their own. But now, thanks to a report and accompanying wildfire risk model produced by nonprofit First Street Foundation – which is the nation’s first and only property specific wildfire risk model – there is now information about wildfire risk across the lower 48 states.
The map also reveals wildfire intensity and how the risk will change as the environment continues to warm. The “Fire Factor” risk score will be included in residential real estate listing sites, like realtor.com, making the information more accessible to homeowners across the nation.
To create the report and map tools, the nonprofit ran computer models and simulated how wildfire spreads across different landscapes under different conditions.
The report finds about 80 million properties are at some level of wildfire risk during the next 30 years. 20.2 million properties face a “moderate” risk, or up to a 6 percent risk of a wildfire. 6 million properties face a “major” risk, or 6-14 percent risk of a wildfire, while about 1.5 million properties face “extreme risk,” or more than 26 percent risk. A total of 49.4 million properties face a “minor” risk, or a less than 1 percent chance of experiencing a wildfire over the next three decades.
According to the report, states like California, Texas, Florida, Arizona and Oklahoma are among the states most at risk of a wildfire. But, the Midwest and East Coast are also facing an increasing risk, as climate change spreads.
But, according to experts, there are steps that homeowners can take to make their homes safer against fire risks, like using fire-resistant building materials, removing vegetation or debris from the roof, windows and deck and making sure that all combustible materials are 30 feet away from the house, to name a few.
And now, you can know your wildfire risk too.
— Aarohi Sheth