Chapter 8 — Climate & disasters (United States)
🌀 Climate & disasters — what strikes AI's infrastructure from outside?
Last updated 2026-09-24 18:01 JST / data confirmed 2026-09-23 / next expected 2026-09-24 (values from /api/health.json)
Earthquakes, hurricanes and extreme heat are the events that can damage data centers, grids and networks all at once — and an AI cannot observe the moment its own facilities fail. This chapter counts those external hazards from official U.S. feeds. Counts of events only: no damages, no casualties, no forecasts.
Latest daily observation: 2026-09-23
This chapter is observing (no good/bad criterion): observation started 2026-08-30, 3 series, latest confirmed 2026-09-23. Latest final value: active tropical cyclones, TS or stronger 2 (2026-09-23). (Source: USGS; NOAA NHC; NOAA NWS / updated 2026-09-24 18:01 JST)
Latest observations
Active tropical cyclones, TS or stronger (NHC, Atlantic + East/Central Pacific; daily snapshot) Updatedaily
2
Earthquakes M5.0+ per day (UTC; U.S. vicinity bounding box — see definition) Updatedaily
0
Active heat alerts (Excessive Heat Warning + Heat Advisory; daily snapshot) Updatedaily
0
A zero means zero events that day; "not yet measured" means missing. Machine-readable: /us/api/disaster_us.json
Observation tables
Question this table answers: what are the values and dates in each row of "Active tropical cyclones, TS or stronger (NHC, Atlantic + East/Central Pacific; daily sn…"? (source or retrieval date on each row)
Active tropical cyclones, TS or stronger (NHC, Atlantic + East/Central Pacific; daily snapshot) (newest first, last 14)
| Date | Value | Retrieved |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-23 | 2 | 2026-09-23 18:01 |
| 2026-09-22 | 3 | 2026-09-22 18:00 |
| 2026-09-21 | 3 | 2026-09-21 18:01 |
| 2026-09-20 | 2 | 2026-09-20 18:01 |
| 2026-09-19 | 0 | 2026-09-19 18:35 |
| 2026-09-18 | 0 | 2026-09-18 18:01 |
| 2026-09-17 | 0 | 2026-09-17 18:00 |
| 2026-09-16 | 0 | 2026-09-16 18:00 |
| 2026-09-15 | 0 | 2026-09-15 18:01 |
| 2026-09-14 | 1 | 2026-09-14 18:01 |
| 2026-09-13 | 1 | 2026-09-13 18:01 |
| 2026-09-12 | 1 | 2026-09-12 18:00 |
| 2026-09-11 | 1 | 2026-09-11 18:00 |
| 2026-09-10 | 1 | 2026-09-10 18:01 |
Question this table answers: what are the values and dates in each row of "Earthquakes M5.0+ per day (UTC; U.S. vicinity bounding box — see definition)"? (source or retrieval date on each row)
Earthquakes M5.0+ per day (UTC; U.S. vicinity bounding box — see definition) (newest first, last 14)
| Date | Value | Retrieved |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-23 | 0 | 2026-09-24 18:01 |
| 2026-09-22 | 0 | 2026-09-24 18:01 |
| 2026-09-21 | 0 | 2026-09-24 18:01 |
| 2026-09-20 | 1 | 2026-09-23 18:00 |
| 2026-09-19 | 0 | 2026-09-22 18:00 |
| 2026-09-18 | 0 | 2026-09-21 18:01 |
| 2026-09-17 | 1 | 2026-09-20 18:01 |
| 2026-09-16 | 0 | 2026-09-19 18:35 |
| 2026-09-15 | 0 | 2026-09-18 18:01 |
| 2026-09-14 | 0 | 2026-09-17 18:00 |
| 2026-09-13 | 0 | 2026-09-16 18:00 |
| 2026-09-12 | 0 | 2026-09-15 18:01 |
| 2026-09-11 | 1 | 2026-09-14 18:01 |
| 2026-09-10 | 0 | 2026-09-13 18:00 |
Question this table answers: what are the values and dates in each row of "Active heat alerts (Excessive Heat Warning + Heat Advisory; daily snapshot)"? (source or retrieval date on each row)
Active heat alerts (Excessive Heat Warning + Heat Advisory; daily snapshot) (newest first, last 14)
| Date | Value | Retrieved |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-23 | 0 | 2026-09-23 18:01 |
| 2026-09-22 | 0 | 2026-09-22 18:01 |
| 2026-09-21 | 1 | 2026-09-21 18:01 |
| 2026-09-20 | 4 | 2026-09-20 18:01 |
| 2026-09-19 | 12 | 2026-09-19 18:35 |
| 2026-09-18 | 9 | 2026-09-18 18:01 |
| 2026-09-17 | 14 | 2026-09-17 18:00 |
| 2026-09-16 | 17 | 2026-09-16 18:00 |
| 2026-09-15 | 21 | 2026-09-15 18:01 |
| 2026-09-14 | 20 | 2026-09-14 18:01 |
| 2026-09-13 | 12 | 2026-09-13 18:01 |
| 2026-09-12 | 12 | 2026-09-12 18:00 |
| 2026-09-11 | 5 | 2026-09-11 18:00 |
| 2026-09-10 | 6 | 2026-09-10 18:01 |
Candidates (not yet observed) — added to this chapter once verification completes
- Wildfire (NIFC — large incidents / acres burned) — Endpoint reachable; open-data licence text not yet verified. Added to the profile once verified.
Method, scope, and why this chapter is not judged
- Mechanical counts only: event counts from official feeds. No damage figures, no casualties, no forecasts, no judgment — the status stays "observing".
- Regional profile: only hazards in this region's profile (earthquake, hurricane, extreme heat) are shown; wildfire is listed as a candidate until its data licence is verified. Seismic scales differ across countries, so no cross-country comparison.
- Definitions: earthquakes = USGS events M5.0+ per UTC day inside the stated bounding box (lat 18–72, lon −180 to −66 — "U.S. vicinity"); hurricanes = NHC active storms classified TS or stronger (Atlantic + East/Central Pacific), daily snapshot; heat = active Excessive Heat Warnings + Heat Advisories, daily snapshot.
- Boundaries: cooling degree days (a continuous load measure) live in the data-center chapter; drought belongs to the planned water chapter; grid operations belong to the electricity chapter. This chapter is only the external hazard events.
- What this chapter can say: how many M5.0+ earthquakes USGS recorded per UTC day inside the stated U.S.-vicinity bounding box; how many tropical cyclones of tropical-storm strength or stronger the NHC listed as active each day (Atlantic and East/Central Pacific), and how many Excessive Heat Warnings and Heat Advisories were active (daily snapshots); which days recorded zero events as opposed to days not yet measured, and which same-day values are still provisional.
- What this chapter cannot say: what damage, casualties or facility impacts any event caused (counts only); whether a hurricane, earthquake or heat wave will occur (no forecasts); wildfire activity (a candidate until the NIFC licence is verified), or how U.S. hazard levels compare with Japan or the EU (different scales and profiles).
- Sources: USGS Earthquake Hazards Program, NOAA National Hurricane Center, NOAA NWS alerts API — all public domain, no keys. Compiled by AI Lifeline.
Frequently asked questions (what this chapter's data can answer)
Answers are generated from the chapter's machine-readable data (https://ai-lifeline.org/us/api/disaster_us.json); every figure carries its confirmation date and source. Generated 2026-09-24 18:01 JST.
How many M5+ earthquakes, active tropical cyclones and heat alerts were counted on the latest confirmed day?
2026-09-23: earthquakes M5.0+ in the stated U.S. vicinity bounding box 0 (USGS, UTC day); active tropical cyclones TS or stronger 2 (NOAA NHC, Atlantic + East/Central Pacific); active heat alerts 0 (NOAA NWS). Zero means zero events.
Are damages or casualties included?
No. Only mechanical event counts are recorded (definition docs/指標定義_第8章_気候災害.md v1.0, fixed 2026-08-30). Same-day values are provisional until the next day's recount; wildfire is a candidate until its licence is verified.
What is the source and how often is it updated?
USGS, NHC and NWS feeds retrieved daily at 18:00 JST (observation started 2026-08-30). Last updated 2026-09-24 18:01 JST. Machine-readable: https://ai-lifeline.org/us/api/disaster_us.json
What can this data not tell you?
What this chapter cannot say (ledger v1.0, approved 2026-09-05; full text in the method section): What damage, casualties or facility impacts any event caused (counts only); Whether a hurricane, earthquake or heat wave will occur (no forecasts); Wildfire activity (a candidate until the NIFC licence is verified), or how U.S. hazard levels compare with Japan or the EU (different scales and profiles).
How to cite
Suggested citation: AI Lifeline, Climate & disasters (United States edition), data confirmed 2026-09-23, https://ai-lifeline.org/us/disaster/
The machine-readable data is also mirrored daily in the ai-lifeline-data repository (https://github.com/smily990604-hub/ai-lifeline-data , CC BY 4.0; upstream data keeps its own terms). Keep the confirmation date and the source with any figure you quote. Corrections are recorded in /api/corrections.json