This year was filled with historic extreme weather events as intense wildfires, heatwaves, deadly flooding, freezing temperatures, and tornadoes pummeled America. From the beginning through the end of 2021, states, cities and towns around the country experienced these weather phenomena.
A polar vortex took over Texas in February, killing more than 170 people and caused at least $15 billion in damages, took residents and local government by surprise. Through February 10 and 18, the state of Texas was inundated with freezing rain and three to eight inches of snow.
Normal temperatures in the state during the same time period is usually between 40 and 60 degrees, the average temperature for the cities within the state was 20 degrees lower. Such frigid cold weather in the area caused a breakdown of the electrical grid, leaving residents without power for days, burst water pipes, and limited road and air travel.
Judah Cohen, a winter storm expert for Atmospheric Environmental Research, stated, “The polar vortex normally keeps icy air trapped in the Arctic. But warmer air weakens the vortex, allowing it to stretch and wander south. The number of times it has weakened per year has more than doubled since the early 1980s. It is counterintuitive that a rapidly warming Arctic can lead to an increase in extreme cold in a place as far south as Texas, but the lesson from our analysis is to expect the unexpected with climate change.”
›For years, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam like his teacher, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, warned America to watch the weather and that she will be faced with divine chastisement for her evil against and enslavement of Black people and genocide against Native Americans. The extreme weather punishing America isn’t an accident; but is Allah’s (God’s) direct intervention and assault on the United States, he said.
“God doesn’t fight with your cheap weapons, God fights with rage forces of nature. You can’t win with a war against God,” stated Min. Farrakhan.
During the summer months into the fall, over 10.3 million acres of land have burned because of wildfires. California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana suffered debilitating losses due to uncontrollable wildfires and drought, leaving between $7 billion to $13 billion in losses.
From June 26 to July 2, the National Weather Service in Seattle reported a long duration of an unprecedented heatwave throughout the Pacific Northwest. This extreme heat event resulted in nearly 1,000 deaths and countless emergency room visits.
Areas of Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia were overcome with temperatures exceeding 100 degrees, when normal temperatures for these areas are in the 70s during the summer months. Most residents in the region do not have air conditioning in their homes, resulting in heat related illnesses and deaths.
The Washington Department of Health reported the heat wave as being Washington’s deadliest weather-related disaster. No extreme heat, cold, storm, or flood on record in Washington has come close to killing so many people.
Student Minister Ishmael Muhammad, National Assistant to Minister Farrakhan stated, “What we are witnessing is the fulfillment of prophecy. The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad warned us that Allah (God) would visit America for her evil and wicked mistreatment of Blacks. Allah would bring four great judgments upon the land and the people; the four being rain, hail, snow, and earthquakes. The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has continued that divine warning from the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and has told us that the calamities, that we have already witnessed in the last decade and more, will only increase.”
The Minister told us to watch the weather, Student Min. Ishmael Muhammad continued. “So in this last year, year and a half, not only has America had to deal with and grapple with the pandemic, but she has experienced extreme weather and the devastating toll that the weather is having on the country’s infrastructure, so much so, that President Biden when he spoke in the summer from his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, pointed out as he was flying over the country and visiting the northwest and the western states, the devastating tolls of the fires and he was saying in his speech, this is real, this is serious,” he noted.
Strengthening to a Category 4, Hurricane Ida impacted Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama on August 29. The storm devastated both Mississippi’s and Louisiana’s power grids, knocking out electricity to more than one million customers, including all of New Orleans. Damages quickly rose upward of $40 billion. At least two insurance companies in Louisiana went out of business due to insufficient revenue for payouts.
October 26 turned out costly for the eastern states. Nor’Easter storms caused $200 million in damages. Thousands of residents across New York and New Jersey lost power as heavy winds and rain took over parts of the region. Numerous people became trapped in their basement apartments and cars due to overwhelming flooding.
December 10-11, deadly tornadoes tore across six states. Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky said that at least 76 people had been killed and the state was hit by four tornadoes, including one that stayed on the ground for more than 200 miles. The tornadoes left $3 billion in damages.
On Dec. 20 Northern California was struck by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Humboldt County and through reports that shaking could be felt from Medford, Oregon, to San Francisco, California—Humboldt County was the region most impacted.Shawntell Muhammad can be contacted at [email protected]
