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  • Currently in NYC — September 27, 2023: Sunshine in the forecast

Currently in NYC — September 27, 2023: Sunshine in the forecast

Plus, Louisiana's new saltwater emergency.

The weather, currently.

Some much needed sunshine!

Are you sitting down for this? Brace yourself. Sunshine is in the forecast for Wednesday. I know, I know, what even is the sun? I’ve forgotten, too. But it will be shining, at least partially. Let that vivacious vitamin D soak into your skin and let your umbrella dry out. Enjoy the less humid and less breezy 68°F day. We’re usually around 72°F this time of year so a little below average but not too bad. The long range forecasts show a warm up as we head into mid October. We’ll see if it holds up. Enjoy the sunshine!

Bike Forecast:

9 out of 10

What you need to know, currently.

With drought affecting broad swaths of the Mississippi River valley, river levels have dropped so low that saltwater from the Gulf of Mexico is creeping upriver in the Mississippi itself. At its current rate of progression, the Mississippi will turn too salty for water treatment plants at New Orleans to produce drinking water in just a few weeks.

Since saltwater is more dense than freshwater, the saltwater is actually moving upriver along the riverbed — within the river itself. Federal engineers that maintain the river channel have built a partial dam designed to slow the saltwater’s upstream progression, and increasingly extreme measures will need to be taken once the saltwater reaches New Orleans — like transporting freshwater by barge, and hastily building a water pipeline to the city.

Similar events happened in 1988, 1999, 2012, and again last year — but this one seems especially severe.

As global warming melts ice worldwide, sea level rise will make problems like this worse not just for Louisiana, but all coastal cities worldwide.

What you can do, currently.

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One of my favorite organizations, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, serves as a hub of mutual aid efforts focused on climate action in emergencies — like hurricane season. Find mutual aid network near you and join, or donate to support existing networks: