Death Valley visitors drawn to the hottest spot on Earth during ongoing US heat wave
TY O’NEIL – July 14, 2023
A sign stands warning of extreme heat Tuesday, July 11, 2023, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. July is the hottest month at the park with an average high of 116 degrees (46.5 Celsius). (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)Hikers turn back to their vehicles in Golden Canyon on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. July is the hottest month at the park with an average high of 116 degrees (46.5 Celsius). (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)People run to get sunset photos at Zabriskie Point on Saturday, July 8, 2023, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. July is the hottest month at the park with an average high of 116 degrees (46.5 Celsius). (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)A man explores the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. July is the hottest month at the park with an average high of 116 degrees (46.5 Celsius). (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)A sign warns people of extreme heat in multiple languages on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, in Death Valley National Park, Calif. July is the hottest month at the park with an average high of 116 degrees (46.5 Celsius). (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — As uninviting as it sounds, Death Valley National Park beckons.
Even as the already extreme temperatures are forecast to climb even higher, potentially topping records amid a major U.S. heat wave, tourists are arriving at this infamous desert landscape on the California-Nevada border.
Daniel Jusehus snapped a photo earlier this week of a famed thermometer outside the aptly named Furnace Creek Visitor Center after challenging himself to a run in the sweltering heat.
“I was really noticing, you know, I didn’t feel so hot, but my body was working really hard to cool myself,” said Jusehus, an active runner who was visiting from Germany. His photo showed the thermometer reading at 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.8 degrees Celsius).
Most visitors at this time of year make it only a short distance to any site in the park — which bills itself as the lowest, hottest and driest place on Earth — before returning to the sanctuary of an air-conditioned vehicle.
This weekend, the temperatures could climb past 130 F (54.4 C), but that likely won’t deter some willing to brave the heat. Signs at hiking trails advise against venturing out after 10 a.m., though nighttime temperatures are still expected to be over 90 F (32.2 C). The hottest temperature recorded at Death Valley was 134 F (56.6 C) in July 1913, according to the National Park Service.
Other parks have long-standing warnings for hikers. At Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, officials are cautioning people to stay off the trails for most of the day in the inner canyon, where temperatures can be 20 degrees hotter than the rim.
In west Texas, Big Bend National Park near the Rio Grande is expected to be at least 110 F (43.3 C). The National Weather Service has said it’s best to just stay off the trails in the afternoon.
The precautions vary across parks and landscapes, said Cynthia Hernandez, a park service spokesperson. Certain trails might be closed if conditions are too dangerous. Alerts and restrictions are posted on websites for individual parks, Hernandez said.
Preliminary information form the park service shows at least four people have died this year from heat-related causes across the 424 national park sites. That includes a 65-year-old man from San Diego who was found dead in his vehicle at Death Valley earlier this month, according to a news release.
Death Valley National Park emphasizes self-reliance over expectations of rescue. While rangers patrol park roads and can assist motorists in distress, there’s no guarantee lost tourists will get aid in time.
More than 1.1 million people annually visit the desert park, which sits over a portion of the California-Nevada border west of Las Vegas. At 5,346 square miles (13,848 square kilometers), it’s the largest national park in the Lower 48. About one-fifth of the visitors come in June, July and August.
Many are tempted to explore, even after the suggested cutoff times. Physical activity can make the heat even more unbearable and leave people feeling exhausted. Sunbaked rocks, sand and soil still radiate after sunset.
“It does feel like the sun has gone through your skin and is getting into your bones,” said park Ranger Nichole Andler.
Others mentioned feeling their eyes drying out from the hot wind sweeping through the valley.
“It’s very hot. I mean, especially when there’s a breeze, you would think that maybe that would give you some slight relief from the heat, but it just really does feel like an air blow dryer just going back in your face,” said Alessia Dempster, who was visiting from Edinburgh, Scotland.
Death Valley is a narrow, 282-foot (86-meter) basin that is below sea level but situated among high, steep mountain ranges, according to the park service’s website. The bone-dry air and meager plant coverage allows sunlight to heat up the desert surface. The rocks and the soil emit all that heat in turn, which then becomes trapped in the depths of the valley.
The park’s brownish hills feature signage saying “heat kills” and other messaging, such as a Stovepipe Wells sign warning travelers of the “Savage Summer Sun.”
Still, there are several awe-inspiring sites that draw tourists. Badwater Basin, made up of salt flats, is considered the lowest point in all of North America. The eye-opening 600-foot (183-meter) Ubehebe Crater dates back over 2,000 years. And Zabriskie Point is a prime sunrise viewing spot.
Eugen Chen from Taiwan called the park “beautiful” and an “iconic … very special place.”
Josh Miller, a visitor from Indianapolis who has been to 20 national parks so far, shared that sentiment.
“It’s hot, but the scenery is awesome,” he said. ___ Associated Press writer Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this story.
The Energy Transition Is Underway. Fossil Fuel Workers Could Be Left Behind.
Madeleine Ngo – July 14, 2023
The decommissioned Conesville Power Plant in Conesville, Ohio, on July 5, 2023. (Maddie McGarvey/The New York Times)
WASHINGTON — Tiffany Berger spent more than a decade working at a coal-fired power plant in Coshocton County, Ohio, eventually becoming a unit operator making about $100,000 annually.
But in 2020, American Electric Power shut down the plant, and Berger struggled to find a job nearby that offered a comparable salary. She sold her house, moved in with her parents and decided to help run their farm in Newcomerstown, Ohio, about 30 minutes away.
They sell some of the corn, beans and beef they harvest, but it is only enough to keep the farm running. Berger, 39, started working part time at a local fertilizer and seed company last year, making just one-third of what she used to earn. She said she had “never dreamed” the plant would close.
“I thought I was set to retire from there,” Berger said. “It’s a power plant. I mean, everybody needs power.”
The United States is undergoing a rapid shift away from fossil fuels as new battery factories, wind and solar projects, and other clean energy investments crop up across the country. An expansive climate law that Democrats passed last year could be even more effective than Biden administration officials had estimated at reducing fossil fuel emissions.
While the transition is projected to create hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs, it could be devastating for many workers and counties that have relied on coal, oil and gas for their economic stability.
Estimates of the potential job losses in the coming years vary, but roughly 900,000 workers were directly employed by fossil fuel industries in 2022, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Biden administration is trying to mitigate the impact, mostly by providing additional tax advantages for renewable energy projects that are built in areas vulnerable to the energy transition.
But some economists, climate researchers and union leaders said they are skeptical the initiatives will be enough. Beyond construction, wind and solar farms typically require few workers to operate, and new clean energy jobs might not necessarily offer comparable wages or align with the skills of laid-off workers.
Coal plants have been shutting down for years, and the nation’s coal production has fallen from its peak in the late 2000s. U.S. coal-fired generation capacity is projected to decline sharply to about 50% of current levels by 2030, according to the Energy Information Administration. About 41,000 workers remain in the coal mining industry, down from about 177,000 in the mid-1980s.
The industry’s demise is a problem not just for its workers but also for the communities that have long relied on coal to power their tax revenue. The loss of revenue from mines, plants and workers can mean less money for schools, roads and law enforcement. A recent paper from the Aspen Institute found that from 1980 to 2019, regions exposed to the decline of coal saw long-run reductions in earnings and employment rates, greater uptake of Medicare and Medicaid benefits and substantial decreases in population, particularly among younger workers. That “leaves behind a population that is disproportionately old, sick and poor,” according to the paper.
The Biden administration has promised to help those communities weather the impact, for both economic and political reasons. Failure to adequately help displaced workers could translate into the kind of populist backlash that hurt Democrats in the wake of globalization as companies shifted factories to China. Promises to restore coal jobs also helped Donald Trump clinch the 2016 election, securing him crucial votes in states such as Pennsylvania.
Federal officials have vowed to create jobs in hard-hit communities and ensure that displaced workers “benefit from the new clean energy economy” by offering developers billions in bonus tax credits to put renewable energy projects in regions dependent on fossil fuels.
If new investments like solar farms or battery storage facilities are built in those regions, called “energy communities,” developers could get as much as 40% of a project’s cost covered. Businesses receiving credits for producing electricity from renewable sources could earn a 10% boost.
The Inflation Reduction Act also set aside at least $4 billion in tax credits that could be used to build clean energy manufacturing facilities, among other projects, in regions with closed coal mines or plants, and it created a program that could guarantee up to $250 billion in loans to repurpose facilities like a shuttered power plant for clean energy uses.
Brian Anderson, the executive director of the Biden administration’s interagency working group on energy communities, pointed to other federal initiatives, including increased funding for projects to reclaim abandoned mine lands and relief funds to revitalize coal communities.
Still, he said that the efforts would not be enough, and that officials had limited funding to directly assist more communities.
“We’re standing right at the cusp of potentially still leaving them behind again,” Anderson said.
Phil Smith, the chief of staff at the United Mine Workers of America, said that the tax credits for manufacturers could help create more jobs but that $4 billion likely would not be enough to attract facilities to every region. He said he also hoped for more direct assistance for laid-off workers, but Congress did not fund those initiatives.
“We think that’s still something that needs to be done,” Smith said.
Gordon Hanson, the author of the Aspen Institute paper and a professor of urban policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, said he worried the federal government was relying too heavily on the tax credits, in part because companies would likely be more inclined to invest in growing areas. He urged federal officials to increase unemployment benefits to distressed regions and funding for workforce development programs.
Even with the bonus credit, clean energy investments might not reach the hardest-hit areas because a broad swath of regions meets the federal definition of an energy community, said Daniel Raimi, a fellow at Resources for the Future.
“If the intention of that provision was to specifically provide an advantage to the hardest-hit fossil fuel communities, I don’t think it’s done that,” Raimi said.
Local officials have had mixed reactions to the federal efforts. Steve Henry, the judge-executive of Webster County, Kentucky, said he believed they could bring renewable energy investments and help attract other industries to the region. The county experienced a significant drop in tax revenue after its last mine shut down in 2019, and it now employs fewer 911 dispatchers and deputy sheriffs because officials cannot offer more competitive wages.
“I think we can recover,” he said. “But it’s going to be a long recovery.”
Adam O’Nan, the judge-executive of Union County, Kentucky, which has one coal mine left, said he thought renewable energy would bring few jobs to the area, and he doubted that a manufacturing plant would be built because of the county’s inadequate infrastructure.
“It’s kind of difficult to see how it reaches down into Union County at this point,” O’Nan said. “We’re best suited for coal at the moment.”
Federal and state efforts so far have done little to help workers like James Ault, 42, who was employed at an oil refinery in Contra Costa County, California, for 14 years before he was laid off in 2020. To keep his family afloat, he depleted his pension and withdrew most of the money from his 401(k) early.
In early 2022, he moved to Roseville, California, to work at a power plant, but he was laid off again after four months. He worked briefly as a meal delivery driver before landing a job in February at a nearby chemical manufacturer.
He now makes $17 an hour less than he did at the refinery and is barely able to cover his mortgage. Still, he said he would not return to the oil industry.
“With our push away from gasoline, I feel that I would be going into an industry that is kind of dying,” Ault said.
Florida orange harvest sees worst season since before World War II
Andrew Wulfeck – July 13, 2023
Florida orange harvest sees worst season since before World War II
MIAMI – Growers of the official fruit of the Sunshine State are continuing to struggle with orange production, which has reached its lowest levels since before World War II.
The figure was in line with previous expectations and, like many other fruits, saw a significant drop in production from levels reported just one year ago.
During the 2021-22 season, over 41 million boxes were harvested, which was just a fraction of amounts produced during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
According to the USDA, orange production peaked in 1998 at 240 million boxes but saw a significant decline after the historic 2004 hurricane season.
In addition to weather disasters, citrus greening from an Asian bug discovered in the Lower 48 back in 1998 has been rampant.
According to university experts, once a tree becomes infected, its nutrient flow will slow and eventually impair its ability to produce fruit.
There is no known cure for citrus greening, meaning that a plant with the disease will deteriorate until it dies.
Trees producing grapefruits, lemons, tangerines, tangelos and other fruits are also susceptible to the disease.
According to USDA estimates, harvesters produced around 45% fewer boxes of grapefruit than last season and tangerines and tangelos saw a decline of around 36%.
Most major citrus operations have reached the end of the harvest season and won’t start up in earnest again until the fall and winter.
How Hot Is the Sea Off Florida Right Now? Think 90s Fahrenheit.
Catrin Einhorn and Elena Shao – July 12, 2023
Beach goers take a dip in the Atlantic Ocean at Hollywood Beach, Monday, July 10, 2023, in Hollywood, Fla. The world’s oceans are already record hot, especially the Atlantic, water surrounding much of Florida is in the 90s, hitting 96 degrees Fahrenheit around the keys. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Florida’s coral reefs are facing what could be an unprecedented threat from a marine heat wave that is warming the Gulf of Mexico, pushing water temperatures into the 90s.
The biggest concern for coral isn’t just the current sea surface temperatures in the Florida Keys, even though they are the hottest on record. The daily average surface temperature off the Keys on Monday was just over 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.4 Celsius), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The real worry, scientists say, is that it’s only July. Corals typically experience the most heat stress in August and September.
“We’re entering uncharted territories,” said Derek Manzello, an ecologist and the coordinator of NOAA’s Coral Reef Watch program.
Coral reefs are natural wonders that support myriad species and blunt damage from storms. In the United States, reefs generate economic benefits to the tune of $3.4 billion annually for fisheries, tourism and coastal protection, according to NOAA.
But oceans have absorbed some 90% of the additional heat caused by humans as we burn fossil fuels and destroy forests. When sea temperatures rise too high, corals bleach, expelling the algae they need for sustenance. If waters don’t cool quickly enough, or if bleaching events happen in close succession, the corals die. For decades, scientists have been warning that climate change is an existential threat to coral reefs. Already, the world has lost a huge proportion of its coral reefs, perhaps half since 1950.
“To be blunt, it can be very depressing,” Manzello said. “Unfortunately, I’m a scientist watching it happen.”
Marine heat isn’t just affecting the Gulf of Mexico. Globally, about 40% of the planet is experiencing a marine heat wave, according to Dillon Amaya, a physical scientist at NOAA who studies them.
“Florida is one patch in a terrible quilt right now,” Amaya said.
In part, that’s because the planet is entering a natural climate phenomenon known as El Niño, which typically brings warmer oceans. But now, El Niño is coming on top of long-term warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions.
While coral is especially vulnerable, heat waves harm untold species, and the effects are different around the world, as species are adapted to different temperature ranges.
In general, fish need more oxygen when the water is warmer. That’s a problem, because warmer water holds less oxygen.
“Large-scale fish kills are becoming more frequent as our climate changes,” said Martin Grosell, a professor of ichthyology at the University of Miami.
Coral reefs are particularly important because so many species rely on them. About 25% of all marine life, including more than 4,000 kinds of fish, depend on reefs at some point in their lives, according to NOAA.
While there aren’t yet reports of bleaching in Florida, it has already begun on reefs to the south, Manzello said, off Belize, Mexico, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Colombia.
Florida’s coral reef system stretches about 350 miles, from the St. Lucie inlet on the mainland south and west past the end of the Keys, and is frequented by sea turtles, manta rays, flounder and lobster.
What happens in Florida will depend on conditions over the next few weeks. Storms, which churn up deeper, cooler water and reduce sunshine, could provide relief, scientists say. El Niño periods are typically associated with below-average Atlantic hurricane seasons, but that might not hold true this year.
Researchers who care about coral are deeply troubled.
“I do lose sleep over it,” said Andrew Baker, a professor of marine biology at the University of Miami, where he directs the Coral Reef Futures Lab. “But I don’t want to write the eulogy just yet.”
Scientists like Baker are racing to come up with ways to help coral become more resilient to higher temperatures, for example by crossing Florida’s corals with varieties that seem to withstand more heat. But ultimately, the survival of corals and countless other species relies on the ability of humans to rein in climate change.
“You have to go to the root causes,” said Lizzie McLeod, the global oceans director at The Nature Conservancy. “We have to be reducing emissions, we have to move to clean energy, we have to reduce subsidies to the fossil fuel industry.”
In Key West, beachgoers expressed surprise at the warmth of the ocean, comparing it to bath water. Lynsi Wavra, a captain and ecotour guide, said her mother had lived there for 20 years and had witnessed the coral declining.
Ticks take multiple hours, sometimes up to two days, to transmit any diseases to their hosts.
Everything we know about tick bite symptoms seems to have been watered down to a single telltale warning sign: the bullseye rash. If no red rings show up around the site of your tick bite, then you’re fine, right? Not necessarily, according to the experts.
There are plenty of tick bite symptoms that warrant a visit to your doctor’s office. While increasingly common (and now of concern year-round in some parts of the country), tick bites are not something to take lightly. The health consequences can range from an irritated bite mark that lasts a few weeks to a serious illness that lands you in the hospital or with chronic complaints.
We spoke with public health entomology expert Phurchhoki Sherpa, coordinator for the Purdue University Public Health Entomology Program. Medical entomology is a fancy term for the area of medicine concerning insect-borne diseases like Lyme and malaria. Sherpa has spent countless hours in the field collecting ticks for research purposes, and she knows more than her fair share about what can happen when a tick bites you.
A bullseye rash might emerge around a tick bite. It could also show up on other parts of the body where the bite didn’t occur.
What to Do When a Tick Bites You
If you find a tick latched onto your skin, first you should review how to remove a tick and follow that procedure. (Quick refresher: grab your tweezers or tick removal tool, grasp the tick as close to your skin as possible, and pull until it releases.) The best immediate tick bite treatment options involve cleaning the bite with some sort of disinfectant—hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol are good options—and applying an antibiotic ointment of your choosing. Your tick bite may look and feel like any other bug bite in the days that follow, or you may find that an angry, itchy bump persists for weeks as it heals.
“It can look as benign as a mosquito bite, like a little itchy welt, especially if the tick has fallen off without you realizing you had it,” Sherpa tells Outdoor Life. She notes that such circumstances are common with tiny, immature ticks that are hard to see. “It can also look kind of scary, with a scab on the bite mark. It varies.”
A tick bite might start out looking and feeling like any average bug bite.
Common Tick Bite Symptoms
Sherpa is referring to the rashes, scabs, and swelling that can accompany a tick bite. Always keep an eye out for a bullseye rash (the traditional symptom that is present in some, though not all, Lyme disease cases). A bullseye rash can appear not just around the bite mark, but anywhere on the body. Small, hard scabs might form around the bite. If they’re dark and crusty, this might be an early sign of a type of tick-borne disease known as spotted fever (more on this in a minute). If the bite mark exhibits other signs of infection, like extreme swelling, pustules, blistering, or anything else abnormal, seek medical treatment immediately.
Beyond the early, visible symptoms of a tick bite, be on the lookout for these more systemic symptoms that most or all tick-borne illnesses share. These symptoms might pop up anywhere from a day to a few weeks after the bite:
Fever
Chills
Headache
Muscle ache
Fatigue
Nausea/vomiting
Joint aches/arthritic pain
Tick-Borne Illnesses You Should Know About
Most tick bites will not cause you any further trauma than a mosquito bite would. After all, half or fewer of all ticks are infected with transmissible diseases. If the tick wasn’t latched deep into your skin or wasn’t engorged with blood yet, it probably didn’t get the chance to transmit anything. For example, it usually takes at least 36 hours for an attached tick to transmit Lyme disease to its human host.
But if your tick bite does transform into something of concern, it’s good to know about the various tick-borne illnesses you could develop. The risk of each tick-borne illness changes depending on where in North America you picked up the tick, Sherpa says. This is because different types of ticks carry different diseases.
Rocky Mountain spotted fever can cause a dotted, patchy rash once the disease has progressed. The rash is especially common in children.
This is not an exhaustive list of all possible tick-borne illnesses. But here are eight tick-borne diseases that you should absolutely know about.
Regions: Most common in East and Upper Midwest, some cases along Pacific Coast and portions of Southwest Ticks that carry it: Black-legged ticks, Eastern and Western Symptoms:
Chills
Headache/muscle aches
Nausea/vomiting/diarrhea
Respiratory issues
Bleeding issues
Organ failure
Type of disease: Bacterial Treatment: Antibiotics, commonly Doxycycline
Regions: Northeast and Upper Midwest Ticks that carry it: Black-legged ticks, especially nymphs (tiny, immature ticks that are hard to see) Symptoms:
Fever
Chills/sweats
Headache/body aches
Nausea/loss of appetite
Fatigue
Type of disease: Parasitic Treatment: Unnecessary if asymptomatic. For symptomatic patients, a combination of anti-parasitic/antifungal drugs and antibiotics.
Regions: Southeastern and South-central U.S., from East Coast to West Texas Ticks that carry it: Lone Star tick, some Eastern black-legged ticks Symptoms:
Fever
Chills
Severe headache/muscle aches
Splotchy or dotted rash (especially in children)
Confusion
Nausea/diarrhea/loss of appetite
Brain swelling and damage to nervous system
Respiratory failure
Uncontrolled bleeding
Organ failure
Death
Type of disease: Bacterial Treatment: Antibiotics, commonly Doxycycline
Regions: Northeast, Great Lakes region Ticks that carry it: Black-legged tick, Groundhog tick, Squirrel tick Symptoms:
Often asymptomatic
Fever
Headache
Vomiting
Weakness
Encephalitis (Brain infection)
Meningitis (Swelling of brain and spinal cord)
Type of disease: Viral Treatment: Fluids and pain medication, severe cases should seek hospitalization for IV fluids, meds, and support with any brain/spinal cord swelling or respiratory issues
Regions: Nationwide, most common in Mid-Atlantic and lower Appalachia Ticks that carry it: American dog tick, Rocky Mountain wood tick, Brown dog tick Symptoms:
Fever
Headache
Rash (splotchy or dotted)
Nausea/vomiting
Stomach pain
Muscle pain
RMSF develops quickly and can cause moderate to severe damage to tissues and extremities if left untreated. Amputations might be necessary. Hearing loss, paralysis, and loss of mental function are also possible.
Type of disease: Bacterial Treatment: Antibiotics, commonly Doxycycline
Tick Bite Prevention
Fortunately, with proper tick bite prevention, there’s no reason to avoid the outdoors—especially not during the most enjoyable months of the year.
Dress, Treat, and Check
Tick bite prevention goes beyond simply drowning yourself in the best tick repellent. It also involves wearing the right clothes, treating your gear with permethrin, and doing multiple tick checks in the field and after the day is over.
“I tell [hikers] to wear light-colored clothing so they can detect ticks earlier and faster, especially the ones that would go unnoticed if we wore patterns or dark clothing,” Sherpa says. “Tuck your shirt into your pants, tuck your pant legs into your socks, always wear close-toed shoes with long socks when you’re outdoors.”
Sherpa also acknowledges that hunters have to do things a little differently if they want to avoid tick bites and the scary symptoms that can come with them. We spend more time bushwhacking than we do on trails, we wear dark and patterned clothing (hello camouflage), and we’re outside for a long time.
“When you’re hunting, you’re in the field for a while. You’re waiting, walking around. So do a tick check every few hours. The faster you can find the tick and get rid of it, the better,” she says. “When you get home, check yourself and your camo clothing. If you have a dryer, put your clothes in the dryer on high heat for about 20 minutes. The heat will decimate the ticks. And the sooner you can take a shower, the better.”
If showers and dryers are unavailable back at camp, or you refuse to put your expensive merino wool or rain gear in a dryer, treating your clothes with permethrin is the best line of defense. Make sure to follow the instructions on the bottle and wear gloves to avoid getting any on your skin.
Parts of the Body Likely to Get Tick Bites
When it comes to tick checks, close attention to detail makes all the difference. Check under your armpits, behind your ears, along your hairline, in your groin area, between your toes, behind your knees, and even in your belly button. Sherpa highlights all these spots as dark, easy-to-overlook hiding holes for ticks of all sizes.
If your legs and arms are bare, not only is there a chance they bite your ankles or inside your elbows, but they could also crawl under your shirt or shorts. By wearing long sleeves and pants and tucking in all your layers, you limit a tick’s chances of accessing any skin, let alone skin in a hard-to-reach place.
Tick Bite FAQs
What happens to a tick after it bites you?
Once a tick latches on and starts feeding, it will suck blood for several days before eventually becoming fully engorged and falling off. This “blood meal” gives the tick the nutrition it needs to develop into its next life phase.
What kills ticks on humans?
The only way to kill a tick on a human is by removing it properly and disposing of it by crushing it between tweezers and throwing it away. Don’t listen to any advice that involves burning the tick, dousing it in nail polish remover, or squirting hand sanitizer all over it. None of these tricks will get the tick to detach.
How do you treat a tick bite?
The best immediate tick bite treatment involves disinfecting the small wound and putting an antibiotic ointment on it. Hydrogen peroxide, antiseptic wipes, and rubbing alcohol are all great options for quick disinfecting. If you’re in a serious pinch, you can use an alcohol-based mouthwash or even a few drops from your flask of campfire whiskey. After that, apply an antibiotic ointment. To treat underlying symptoms of a tick-borne disease, see your doctor.
If your hike or hunt will take you through tall grass, take the necessary preventative measures to avoid tick bites.
Final Thoughts
Tick bite symptoms can range from a small, itchy welt to a series of flu-like ailments that could land you in the hospital if left untreated. That’s why it’s crucial to know what types of ticks live in your area and what diseases they might carry.
The good news is that these scary tick-borne diseases with their array of side effects are all avoidable, thanks to the time-tested prevention strategies outdoorswomen and men now swear by. The age-old adage about an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure holds true, Sherpa says.
“We as humans are lazy. We don’t like dealing with that extra work. But prevention goes a long way when it comes to tick bites and tick-borne diseases. It is really important to take preventative measures when you go out,” Sherpa says. “If people aren’t sure about the worthiness of prevention measures, they should talk to someone who has had a tick-borne disease before.”
‘It’s brutal’: As premiums continue to soar, another home insurer is leaving Florida
Alex Harris, Lawrence Mower – July 11, 2023
Pedro Portal/pportal@miamiherald.com
Another insurer is leaving Florida, where homeowners are paying more than ever for insurance, despite the state’s attempt to shore up the wobbling market.
Tuesday, Farmers Insurance informed the state it was dropping home, auto and umbrella policies across Florida, potentially affecting tens of thousands of people. It’s the fourth company to leave the Florida market in the last year — most citing rising risks from hurricanes. Farmers, a large company with a national presence, also has reduced new business in California, citing extreme weather and wild fire threats.
“This business decision was necessary to effectively manage risk exposure,” the company wrote in a statement.
Farmers said the decision to withdraw affects about 30% of its overall policies around the state, but not ones issued through its subsidiary companies. Those — including auto insurer Bristol West and home insurer Foremost — are unaffected.
The company declined to speak on the record about how many people would lose coverage. Figures from Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation show that Farmers has about 93,000 current home and auto policies, but an industry source suggests that number is currently closer to 100,000.
The day before Farmers made the decision public, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis tweeted that his office has “zero communication” with the company and vowed to “explore every avenue possible for holding them accountable” for leaving Florida.
Florida’s Office of Insurance Regulation said in a statement that the office was reviewing Farmers’ notice, which was sent to the office on Monday and marked a “trade secret,” limiting what regulators could say about it.
Under state law, insurers are required to give 120 days’ notice to customers before their policies are dropped. Customers who receive a notice are encouraged to contact their agent immediately to find alternative coverage, the office said in a statement.
Later Tuesday, the office also formally chastised Farmers for not giving the office a heads-up before deciding to pull out of the state. In a letter, Florida Insurance Commissioner Michael Yaworksy also noted that Farmers made the decision to leave Florida “independently” of the state’s insurance reforms.
“We are disappointed by the hastiness in this decision and troubled by how this decision may have cascading impacts to policyholders,” Yaworsky wrote. “Farmers has noted this decision only impacts about 26.6% percent of their Florida policyholders, but any impact which impacts policyholders should not be taken lightly.”
Leaving despite reforms
Tuesday’s announcement follows a mid-June decision from Farmers to stop writing new policies in Florida due to the skyrocketing costs of hurricane recovery and rebuilding.
“With catastrophe costs at historically high levels and reconstruction costs continuing to climb, we implemented a pause on writing new homeowners policies to more effectively manage our risk exposure,” Farmers said in a statement.
Notably, Farmers did not mention lawsuits, which has been the main culprit Florida insurers point to when asked why costs are rising so fast. However, financial autopsies of failed insurers in Florida regularly point to excessive payouts, high salaries and fees to affiliated companies as the main problem that leads to bankruptcy.
The decision by Farmers follows years of turmoil in the state’s property insurance market, triggered by a series of hurricanes starting in 2017. Floridians pay the highest property insurance premiums in the nation, and 13 companies have gone insolvent in recent years. Many others have stopped writing new policies or pulled out of Florida.
Gov. Ron DeSantis and state lawmakers have responded by making it harder to sue insurance companies and assigning $3 billion to help them withstand storm seasons. A report by the state’s Office of Insurance Regulation released last week indicated that the industry broke even during the first quarter of 2023, after years of heavy losses.
But the legislation has failed to reduce premiums for homeowners. Premiums continue to go up, according to the office’s report. Between November and March, rates increased 5% in Miami-Dade County, to an average of $5,665.
But the rate increases were higher in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, rising 9.5% and 9.25%, respectively. Homeowners in Hillsborough County are paying an average of $2,752 and $3,210 in Pinellas County.
Friedlander said the average premium in Florida is 42% higher than last year’s and miles ahead of the average premium nationwide — $1,700.
“It’s brutal, said Vince Perri, head of Key Biscayne-based public adjuster firm Elite Resolutions. “The premiums are through the roof. It’s always been high here but it’s worse now.”
Perri, who’s been in the business for more than a decade, said he sees the back-to-back storms in recent years as a major factor in rising prices. Hurricane Ian last year was Florida’s most expensive storm, causing more than $109 billion in damages across the state.
If Florida can scrape by a few more years without a hurricane landfall, Perri said, he believes insurance costs will start to go down again.
“It’s going to take a couple of years for the market to level out again,” he said. “I think insurance premiums are going to be high for awhile.”
Relentless rain causes floods in Northeast, prompts rescues and swamps Vermont’s capital
Lisa Rathke and John Minchillo – July 10, 2023
A damaged car lays on a collapsed roadway along Route 32 in the Hudson Valley near Cornwall, N.Y., Monday, July 10, 2023. Heavy rain has washed out roads and forced evacuations in the Northeast as more downpours were forecast throughout the day. (AP Photo/Paul Kazdan)Residents, journalists, and emergency service workers walk around a flooded Main Street, Monday, July 10, 2023, in Highland Falls, N.Y. Heavy rain has washed out roads and forced evacuations in the Northeast as more downpours were forecast throughout the day. One person in New York’s Hudson Valley has drowned as she was trying to leave her home. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)Mud, rocks and debris from Sunday’s flash flood cover a road on the campus of the United States Military Academy at West Point, Monday, July 10, 2023 in West Point, N.Y. Heavy rain has washed out roads and forced evacuations in the Northeast as more downpours were forecast throughout the day, Monday. (Courtesy of the USMA via AP)Erosion damage is seen after heavy rains washed down Bear Mountain near the Popolopen Bridge along U.S. Route 9W in Highland Falls, N.Y., rendering the bridge unsafe and impassable for vehicles, on Monday, July 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)
ANDOVER, Vt. (AP) — Rescue teams raced into Vermont on Monday after heavy rain drenched parts of the Northeast, washing out roads, forcing evacuations and halting some airline travel. One person was killed in New York’s Hudson Valley as she tried to escape her flooded home.
Mike Cannon of Vermont Urban Search and Rescue said crews from North Carolina, Michigan and Connecticut were among those helping to get to towns that have been unreachable since torrents of rain belted the state. The towns of Londonderry and Weston were inaccessible, Cannon said, and rescuers were heading there to do welfare checks. Water levels at several dams were being closely monitored.
The U.S Army Corps of Engineers said late Monday they expected two dams to release water overnight, causing “severe flooding” downstream likely to affect multiple towns.
Flooding hit Vermont’s state capital, with Montpelier Town Manager Bill Fraser estimating Monday night that knee-high waters had reached much of downtown and were expected to rise a couple more feet during the night. Montpelier had largely been spared during Tropical Storm Irene, which struck the region in 2011.
“For us, this is far worse than Irene. We got water but it went up and down. There were some basements flooded but it didn’t last long,” Fraser said, comparing this flooding to the Montpelier Ice Jams in 1992. “We are completely inundated. The water is way, way higher than it ever got during Irene.”
During Irene, Vermont got 11 inches (28 centimeters) of rain in 24 hours. Irene killed six in the state, washed homes off their foundations and damaged or destroyed more than 200 bridges and 500 miles (805 kilometers) of highway.
There have been no reports of injuries or deaths related to the latest flooding in Vermont, according to state emergency officials. Roads were closed across the state, including many along the spine of the Green Mountains.
Some people canoed their way to the Cavendish Baptist Church in Vermont, which had turned into a shelter. About 30 people waited it out, some of them making cookies for firefighters who were working to evacuate and rescue others.
“People are doing OK. It’s just stressful,” shelter volunteer Amanda Gross said.
Vermont Rep. Kelly Pajala said she and about half dozen others had to evacuate early Monday from a four-unit apartment building on the West River in Londonderry.
“The river was at our doorstep,” said Pajala. “We threw some dry clothes and our cats into the car and drove to higher ground.”
The slow-moving storm reached New England in the morning after hitting parts of New York and Connecticut on Sunday. Additional downpours in the region raised the potential for flash flooding; rainfall in certain parts of Vermont had exceeded 7 inches ( 18 centimeters), the National Weather Service in Burlington said.
One of the worst-hit places was New York’s Hudson Valley, where a woman identified by police as Pamela Nugent, 43, died as she tried to escape her flooded home in the hamlet of Fort Montgomery.
The force of the flash flooding dislodged boulders, which rammed into the woman’s house and damaged part of its wall, Orange County Executive Steven Neuhaus told The Associated Press. Two other people escaped.
“She was trying to get through (the flooding) with her dog,” Neuhaus said, “and she was overwhelmed by tidal wave-type waves.”
Officials say the storm has already wrought tens of millions of dollars in damage. In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a news conference Monday the storm sent “cars swirling in our streets” and dumped a “historic” amount of rain.
“Nine inches of rain in this community,” Hochul said during a briefing on a muddy street in Highland Falls. “They’re calling this a ‘1,000 year event.’”
As of Monday evening, several washed-out streets in Highland Falls remained impassable, leaving some residents stuck in their homes but otherwise OK, Police Chief Frank Basile said in a telephone interview.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said there were reports of flooding in central and western Massachusetts and that state emergency management officials were in touch with local authorities.
The U.S. Military Academy at West Point was pounded with more than 8 inches (20.32 centimeters) of rain that sent debris sliding onto some roads and washed others out. Superintendent Lt. Gen. Steven W. Gilland said recently arrived new cadets and others at the historic academy on the Hudson River were safe, but that assessing the damage will take time.
Atmospheric scientists say destructive flooding events across the globe have this in common: Storms are forming in a warmer atmosphere, making extreme rainfall a reality right now. The additional warming that scientists predict is coming will only make it worse.
The storm also interrupted air and rail travel. There were hundreds of flight cancellations at Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark airports and more than 200 canceled at Boston’s Logan Airport in the last 24 hours, according to the Flightaware website. Amtrak temporarily suspended service between Albany and New York.
Swift water rescue teams in Vermont have done more than 50 rescues, mainly in the southern and central areas of the state, Vermont Emergency Management said Monday night.
Among the buildings flooded Monday was the Weston Playhouse in Weston, Vermont, which had been performing “Buddy — The Buddy Holly Story” to sold-out audiences.
The Weston Theater Company’s executive artistic director Susanna Gellert said the call was made at around 4 a.m. to evacuate 11 people associated with the production to higher ground and another 15 in nearby Ludlow. The three-floor playhouse, which had been damaged during Irene, was also flooded, with the dressing room and props room under water.
“As a theater, we were just starting to get back from the COVID shutdown,” Gellert said. “To have this happen right now is painfully heartbreaking.”
Cara Philbin, 37, of Ludlow, Vermont, was awakened by a neighbor early Monday and told to clear out of her second-floor apartment because the parking lot was already flooded.
“He told me me, ‘You need to get out of here … your car is going to float away, and I suggest you do not stay,’” said Philbin. The neighbor took her car keys and moved her car to a higher spot, while she called her parents and then drove to their home to ride out the storm, she said.
Ross Andrews and his wife were driving back home to Calais, Vermont, on Monday when he saw trucks parked at a 230-year-old dam with crews trying to keep it from failing. There were trees down everywhere.
“The interstate was closed right at our exit. Our road was closed right at our driveway. We managed to thread our way back just in the nick of time,” he said.
Minchillo reported from Highland Falls, New York. Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Michael Hill in Albany, New York; and Mark Pratt and Steve LeBlanc in Boston contributed.
Be on the lookout for invasive, jumping “earthworms on steroids”
Li Cohen – July 10, 2023
As you tend to your garden this summer, there’s a creepy, crawly creature to be on the lookout for: an invasive worm that moves like a snake, thrashes around, jumps into the air and will even shed its tail in an attempt to escape.
While worms are generally considered to be an excellent addition to help soil and gardening, there are thousands of species — not all of them equally welcome. Invasive jumping worms are one species known to actually worsen soil and make it “inhospitable” to many plants. They have been spotted in recent years, and most recently, may have even been seen in Wisconsin.
Here’s what to know about the invasive species.
What are invasive jumping worms?
Invasive jumping worms, Amynthas agrestis, go by many names, according to the USDA: Alabama jumpers, Jersey wriggles, wood eel, crazy worms, snake worms and crazy snake worms. But all those names stem from one notable feature of the critter.
“Invasive Asian jumping worms got their name because of the way they thrash around,” Forest Service researcher Mac Callaham said in a post by the USDA last year. “They can flip themselves a foot off the ground.”
The worms are thought to have first made it to the U.S. some time in the early to mid 1900s from eastern Asia, and can be transported to new areas in shipments of mulch or potted plants.
The invasive jumping worm has popped up across the U.S. in summer months after they reach maturity. / Credit: DNR
Where are they found?
The critters, which been described as “earthworms on steroids,” had infiltrated Connecticut and more than 30 other states as of last summer. According to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, the worms are often found in the eastern U.S. and parts of Canada, where the climate is “similar to the area in Japan where jumping worms come from.”
“Jumping worms are well adapted to these humid continental and humid subtropical climates, and so they have a strong potential to invade the entire eastern half of the United States and parts of Canada,” the department says.
And most recently, they may have been found in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin officials said the Door County Invasive Species Team received a report from a local resident that there may be jumping worms in a mulch pile at Sturgeon Bay’s compost site. The city, which issued a statement on July 6, said it is investigating the report and that the site will be treated “as if it is infested” until it is proved otherwise.
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources says the worms typically live within the top inch or two of the soil’s surface, often in debris and leaves, and can be found in yards, gardens, mulch, compost and potted plants. They spend the summer months eating and growing and are most noticeable in the late summer and early autumn once they reach maturity and start to reproduce — which they can do without mates.
Why are jumping worms bad?
Wisconsin officials explain that the worms eat the organic matter in soil and leave behind waste that looks like “hard little pellets,” known as castings, that “alter the texture and composition of soil” to make it look like large coffee grounds. That soil lacks the structure and support necessary for many native plants to survive.
The worms are also known to have build-ups of toxic metals within their systems, including mercury, cadmium, copper and lead, according to the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. If those metals, which are found in soil, reach high levels within the worms, it can “negatively impact” the birds that may feed on them, researchers said.
What do invasive jumping worms look like?
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources describes invasive jumping worms as having a “smooth, glossy dark gray/brown color” with a cloudy-white to gray-colored band, known as the clitellum. The worms are known to have a “snake-like movement,” are often found in large numbers, and will “thrash, spring into the air and can even shed their tails to escape,” when they are disturbed, the department says.
Invasive jumping worms often have a gray or milky white clitellum band that’s flat against the rest of their bodies. / Credit: Shikha Singh, JLW CISMA/Michigan Invasive Species Program
How can you prevent and get rid of invasive jumping worms?
There are not yet any official methods to help control or prevent jumping worms, but Wisconsin officials say the best thing people can do is to educate themselves about how to recognize the creatures. People are also encouraged to clean soil and debris if moving it between areas, and only sell or purchase plants and gardening materials inspected and believed to be jumping worm-free.
If jumping worms are found, remove and destroy them by sealing them in a bag and throwing that bag in the trash, Wisconsin officials say. They also said research has shown that the worms and their cocoons can’t live through temperatures of 104 degrees Fahrenheit or above for more than three days — a temperature that can be easily hit in compost piles or can be reached by putting clear plastic over garden topsoil exposed to the sun.
Toxic algae that can cause lung infections and neurological disorders is taking over a giant lake in Florida, and ecologists say the bloom will only grow
Katie Hawkinson – July 9, 2023
More than half of Lake Okeechobee is covered in algae blooms.Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Florida’s Lake Okeechobee is already half full with toxic algae, and the bloom will only grow.
Fumes from the algae can cause several health complications, like lung infections.
Climate warming and pollutant run-off from nearby crops help it thrive, experts say.
The largest freshwater lake in Florida, which is a draw for fishing and boating in the summer months, likely won’t see many faces this year.
That’s because Lake Okeechobee is already half-full with a bright green, toxic algae that researchers say will only grow as algae season continues on through the summer. The algae can cause several health complications, including lung infections, organ damage, and neurological disorders, The New York Times reports.
Experts told the Times the severity of this year’s bloom is, in large part, due to the warming climate that has resulted in increased rainfall and rising levels of carbon dioxide, which the algae feeds on. The algae also thrives among the fertilizer and manure that runs into the lake from nearby crops.
This is not a new problem for Florida. In 2018, former Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency across seven counties in an effort to combat the same toxic algae in Lake Okeechobee that was also inundating a nearby river.
Finding a solution to this toxic bloom has been a challenge.
Florida plans to build a reservoir to stop the algae from flowing out of the lake and into other bodies of water — though the Times reports that the reservoir would fill to capacity after depleting Okeechobee by only six inches.
Environmentalists are also calling on the state of Florida to implement rules limiting the run-off of pollutants from nearby crops that feed the algae, the Times reports.
This policy would take decades to make a large impact, thanks to the phosphorous-rich sediment already present in the lake.
Las Vegas Valley is making major changes to its landscape to keep up with its fast-growing population — here’s what’s happening
Mary Swansburg – July 9, 2023
The Las Vegas Valley is working with its citizens to help them ditch their grassy yards and embrace Nevada’s natural landscape instead.
The news was shared in an article by ProPublica that was reposted on Reddit.
Photo Credit: u/WhoIsJolyonWest / Reddit
The effort will conserve water and allow the population in Vegas to continue growing.
Community members have already done their part to conserve water indoors, and Nevada treats and recycles all indoor water. Outdoor water, however, cannot be recycled in the same way because it evaporates or settles into the ground.
Because of this, the state is turning toward grass reduction because growing grass in the desert climate requires a significant amount of water.
A similar plan has been utilized before and helped the conservation effort, but it encountered some pushback from homeowner associations (HOAs.) Also, some citizens want to preserve the aesthetic of green lawns, so the state is making an effort to find a compromise.
The state is targeting “nonfunctional” grass first, like grass that lines roadways and lakes, with the goal to get rid of all of it by 2027. Citizens upset about grass removal can submit an exemption request — many of which are approved — making the pushback from HOAs minimal.
In addition, some companies like Par 3 Landscape and Maintenance are offering ideas for alternative plantlife that is native to the area, such as evergreens and desert-friendly shrubs.
Families that choose to embrace the natural landscape will lower their water bills while leaving resources for the addition of new residents and businesses. On top of that, they’ll be helping to fight rising global temperatures.
Princeton reported that 800 million gallons of gasoline, which releases planet-warming gases, are used by lawn equipment each year, and an additional 17 million gallons are spilled in the process.
Plus, the Natural Resource Defense Council reported that lawns are responsible for consuming almost three trillion gallons of water each year. And when grass is grown outside of its natural habitat, it doesn’t benefit the local wildlife either.
One Redditor echoed this in the comments. “Lawns do NOT belong in the southwest,” they wrote.
Luckily, the Las Vegas Valley is setting a great example for communities looking to conserve water.
“If everyone else takes on similar initiatives, we’ll be able to sustain our community and communities across the Colorado River Basin for future generations,” said Howard Watts, Nevada state representative.
