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Heat Wave Could Set Dozens Of Temperature Records; Hot Tub-Like Ocean Temps Bleaching, Killing Florida's Coral Reefs; Iowa Governor: Will Sign 6-Week Abortion Ban Friday; Webb Telescope Captures Closest Star-Forming Region To Earth. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired July 12, 2023 - 15:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[15:30:00]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Authorities ever just posted new flood watches in New England including parts of Vermont where active rescues are still underway. Also in other parts of the U.S., forecasters warning that a new dangerous heat wave could break more temperature records, also threaten power grids. Meteorologist Chad Meyers joins me now. Chad, I mean, let's begin with these heat warnings. And I want to because you and I have been speaking so frequently. Bizarre intense weather patterns across the board. I know weather is not climate. But are these connected to climate change when you see this collection of events?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I don't know how you get to some of the numbers we're going to see this weekend without some adding heat from climate change. Of course, I mean, sure is it going to be hot? Would it have been hot? Yes, but I think we're probably in the hotter because of category. So here's the heat dome across the Southwest. We'll talk about flooding in the Northeast and we'll talk about some absolutely ridiculous water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico and the Florida Straits.

Heat dome right over the Southwest, it builds in. And we have heat warnings and watches and advisories when it's just a normal temperature. We're talking 10 to 20 degrees above where you should be this time of year. And the heat really, really peaks Sunday and Monday for Sacramento, for Oakland, all the way through the inland empire. 60 possible records just here between now and through the end of the week.

Here are some of the stats though. I think you just have to look at this. Phoenix has had 12 consecutive days over 110. 12 over 110 in the shade. And look at the next seven. No help there. Still above 110. Hot all across the Southwest. But that hot weather sneaks up into Central California as well.

We know about the flooding here across parts of the Northeast. Unfortunately, more rain is on the way. And typically, one to three or four inches wouldn't really affect this area but there is no place for this water to soak in. It's all going to absolutely run off again. The waters are coming down in many areas on these rivers. But with two to four more inches of rain over the weekend, that could change. Now we look at Miami. Miami is talking about heat index. Not the 110

in Phoenix, but the heat index in the afternoon in Miami in the shade has been over 100 degrees 33 days in a row. And what has that caused? Excessive heat in the ocean. The ocean heat content is truly unbelievable I think. I have friends that are crab fishermen in the Florida Bay. They don't know what they're going to do. The waters there is 93, 94 degrees. They don't know where the crabs are going to go or if they've even going to live.

SCIUTTO: And that warm water helps generates more of the storms. You know this better than me. Something else to watch for as we move forward. Chad Myers, always good to have you help explain it all to us -- Brianna.

[15:35:03]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: All right, let's talk more about these warming oceans. Because it's created one of the most severe coral bleaching events that Florida has ever seen. Bleaching can have devastating effects to the entire marine ecosystem. And just Monday, buoys off of the coast of Florida measured hot tub like water temperatures. You saw 93 degrees there on Chad's map. We're talking about near 97 degrees here.

And my next guest saw the bleaching firsthand this past weekend while diving off the coast of the northern Florida Keys. Dr. Katey Lesneski is the research and monitoring coordinator for Mission Iconic Reefs, which is a division of NOAA. Katie, take us through what you saw. Just give us a description of what you saw and what it should have looked like but did not.

DR. KATEY LESNESKI, PHD, RESEARCH AND MONITORING COORDINATOR, MISSION ICONIC REEFS: Thank you so much, Brianna, for having me speak about this important topic today. So, right now we are anticipating pretty severe bleaching that could start to really crop up several weeks to a month plus from now. Right now the waters are anomalously high for this time of year. So we are starting to see those hallmark tell-tale signs of bleaching where the corals start to lose their color. They go from vibrant browns and greens to looking like they are bleaching out. And soon again we do anticipate seeing really stark white corals even deep down off the coast.

KEILAR: So when they are bleached like that, are they dead? Are they dying? What happens? And what's the domino effect of that?

LESNESKI: So once a coral starts to experience heat stress that's driven by these really high air and water temperatures that we're seeing now, corals can start to lose their symbolic algae that inhabits their tissue. It provides them with most of their food. So, we start to see that peeling, that color loss. And if conditions don't improve within a week or so, that coral can certainly end up dying. And when we have many corals throughout the reef that are bleaching, that are dying, there is definitely an ecological cascade, a domino effect where all the organisms that depend on healthy coral reefs will see effect as well. KEILAR: And so what are the effects? What are the effects to other

marine life? And how much time does it take to rebound if you can from these effects?

LESNESKI: Yes, that's a great question. So corals, the ones that we do see bleaching are the ones that make up the structural framework. All the habitats, the nooks and crannies and if those corals die, eventually they'll start to disintegrate. And so, we lose that physical habitat that actually more than 25 percent of all the world's marine species depend on coral habitat at some point in time.

This recovery period is really dependent on if environmental conditions improve on or if there are other stressors like hurricanes that can come through and cause further physical damage. But Mission Iconic Reefs, which is the program that I'm a part of, is working on a 20-year long restoration effort actually with climate change in mind to physically restore these reefs in the face of climate change using corals that we hope to be more resilient.

KEILAR: That you hope will be more resilient against these. I mean, we're seeing the effects. We see some of the pictures that you have shared with us. And these are real effects to marine life and obviously to everyone across the globe. Katey Lesneski, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

LESNESKI: Thank you so much.

KEILAR: Jim.

SCIUTTO: Coming up next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL, after more than 50 years in prison, Charles Manson follower and convicted murderer Leslie Van Houten is free. The details of her release just ahead.

Plus, NASA has release ad stunning new image to celebrate the first anniversary of the James Webb Telescope. It's really cool. We're going to tell you about it.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we are watching this hour.

A key inflation gauge is showing that prices fell sharply in June. It is down to 3 percent which is a sharp cooldown from June of last year when surging energy costs helped inflation spike to 9.1 percent. This is the 12th straight month that inflation has fallen. But the progress might not be enough to deter the Federal Reserve from raising rates when it meets later this month.

And today is the first full day of freedom for convicted killer and former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten. She was released yesterday on parole after 53 years in a California prison. Van Houten was 19 when she joined the Manson family cult. She took part in the stabbings of super market executive Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary in their home in 1971. Incredibly gruesome crimes. The victim's families say they are outraged that Van Houten is out.

And ahead of contract negotiation tomorrow, a leader of the United Autoworkers says the union is prepared to strike. In an online post, he commented that the members are, quote, not afraid to take action against the big three car makers, Ford, Stellantis and General Motors.

[15:45:00]

The last auto workers strike was back in 2019 when 48,000 UAW members at General Motors walked off the job for six weeks The -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: A new highly restrictive abortion bill approved in Iowa is now headed to the governor's desk. It would ban most abortions in that state as early as six weeks. That is before -- we should note -- most women know they're pregnant. The bill does include exemptions for miscarriages, when the life of the woman is threatened, deadly fetal abnormalities and rape or incest if reported to authorities within a certain number of days. CNN's Jake Tapper he's covering the story next on "THE LEAD," Jake, you know, this clearly has potential political impact. The interesting thing is it is not this kind of ban, not just unpopular nationally, but even in the state of Iowa based on recent polling.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, THE LEAD: Yes, it's interesting and it's a wild card for the November 2024 elections. Because obviously these restrictions go well beyond where the rhetoric of many in the antiabortion movement -- they call themselves the pro-life movement -- were saying in terms having some restrictions. These are close to all- out bans. Although the Iowa bill has more exceptions than other legislation we've seen on the state level, including in Florida.

What is interesting is, of course, a lot of political experts, Jim, say they expect this legislation to have a huge impact when it comes to battleground states -- Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. The real question is, what kind of effect will it have in places like Iowa? We saw, for instance, in Kansas, the way that that referendum changed -- attempted to change abortion law to completely ban it essentially in Kansas but the voting did not go that way. Because ultimately, as you know, people when polled on the subject, the public in general even in Republican leaning states, do not support this kind of restriction.

Coming up, we are going to talk to former Republican Congressman Will Hurd. He's running for president. He supports a 15-week ban. We'll ask him what happens if he gets elected president and a Republican Congress gives him a ban like the one Iowa is about to sign into law -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Yes, and the presidential candidates are going to be in Iowa. Certainly get as about this sort of thing there and going forward. Jake Tapper in his home town of Philly. Thanks so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: The Webb Space Telescope capturing of course invaluable images. Yet another one like this of our solar system and beyond. But today NASA revealing something never seen before. What does it look like when a star is born? Stay with us.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: NASA is celebrating a landmark anniversary today by sharing a rare treat with planet earth. A never before seen image from space. This is, quote, the nearest star forming region to earth also known as a star birth and it happened 390 light years away. This all thanks to the pioneering James Web Telescope which has been sending back images like this is very cool one for exactly one year now. We have CNN's Tom Foreman joining us now. Good gift giver NASA is here with this awesome photo. Tell us about it.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, a whole year of this. Look, this is a star nursery. There are 50 stars roughly that have been captured in this image. This is the moment at which they're really coming into being. All these giant gas jets out here that are associated with them forming. Some of these also have little disks around them. Showing that they would be able to form solar systems around them.

So the name is a cloud complex, a Rho -- I don't know how --

KEILAR: Say it three times fast.

FOREMAN: I've tried. I'm giving up. You mentioned 390 light years away -- so that's pretty far. But it's the closest one to our earth anyway. That's why we got such good pictures because there's nothing in between here and there to block it, and it contains about 50 stars similar to our sun, some a little smaller. But that's important because you look the discs forming planets, maybe, maybe, maybe something a little bit like us.

KEILAR: All right, let's put up the photo backup if we can. The full big photo. We'll play the Rorschach Test today.

FOREMAN: Sure.

KEILAR: What do you think it looks like? The big picture. Guys, can we get the big picture? There we go. What do you think it looks like?

FOREMAN: I'd say a congressional hearing. No, I think that looks --

KEILAR: A hot mess, is that what you mean?

FOREMAN: That's exactly -- I think it looks like an octopus. They've had so many great images this year.

KEILAR: We have.

FOREMAN: Seriously, this is what I love about it. Look at some of the other images that we've had. We've had a picture of what do they call it -- proto star. A star that was just beginning to form. Look at that.

KEILAR: It's beautiful.

FOREMAN: It's just a fiery sort of hourglass there. Again, we're watching the very early moments of a star forming out there which tells us a lot. We've had better pictures of Jupiter than we've ever had before. Remember they're shooting mainly in the infrared range, so it gives you different readings than you would if it was just an optical image out there. So, we have better images of Jupiter. We've seen some of these you can see the rings around Jupiter a little bit, some of the 80 to 90 moons. And Neptune as well, the farthest planet out there in our solar system. We've had new images of Neptune giving us an idea of what it's like out there. I think this is just the beginning. We're going to see more and more and more. That's always going to be good news.

KEILAR: I love it. And you know Jupiter is like finally they get my good side.

FOREMAN: Exactly.

KEILAR: They sent a good photographer -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: I love those photo. Not sure how you're going to feel about this.

[15:55:00]

Would you try Burger King's new sandwich? We're going to tell you what's on it and perhaps more concerning what is not on it.

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SCIUTTO: All right, pressing question. Would you eat this? Burger King is offering a new sandwich just in Thailand for now. Puts a whole new meaning on cheeseburger because that's exactly what it is. It's all cheese. We're talking 20 slices of cheese between two buns.

[16:00:02]

Burger King calls it a, quote, real cheeseburger. It costs about 3 U.S. dollars. Now the thing I can do well at home, one of a couple things, is a grilled cheese sandwich. I like grilled cheese sandwiches, but 20 slices. Would you do it?

KEILAR: No, and you know like I'll eat bugs on television, but this is where I draw the line.

SCIUTTO: On CNN we're going to prove that.

KEILAR: This is where you draw the line, Jim.

SCIUTTO: It's a lot of cheese. And I do like grilled cheese -- that might be too much. Anyway, we won't make a judgment for you.

KEILAR: Me to you.

SCIUTTO: "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper starts right now.