Today’s EM Morning Brief covers CISA’s May 20 KEV expansion (seven CVEs, including two 2026 Microsoft Defender flaws), an active wildfire posture led by California’s Sandy Fire (22 percent contained, more than 17,000 residents under evacuation) and the Texas Panhandle’s Hunggate Fire, the lifted Line Fire evacuations in Quay County, New Mexico, and a Mid-Atlantic severe weather complex that produced tornado warnings in Virginia and North Carolina and Severe Thunderstorm Watches across New Jersey, New York City, and West Virginia. We also note FAA ground stops at DFW and Dallas Love Field, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s outlook for Kilauea episode 48, and continuing CDC HAN guidance on the cruise-linked hantavirus cluster and the Ebola outbreak in the DRC. EM Morning Brief is your concise daily update on national and state-by-state emergency management news. Produced by Sitch Radio, an EOC Voices podcast.

Key Takeaways

• CISA KEV expansion: Seven CVEs added on May 20, including two 2026 Microsoft Defender flaws (CVE-2026-41091, CVE-2026-45498). Federal civilian agencies face binding remediation deadlines; critical infrastructure operators should prioritize patching Defender on incident-response endpoints.

• Wildfire posture: National Preparedness Level 2, with 16 uncontained large fires. Drought conditions over 60 percent of the country continue to drive the season.

• Kilauea episode 48 watch: HVO maintains ADVISORY/YELLOW, with episode 48 forecast May 23-25; expect precursor spattering and overflows.

• California — Sandy Fire: 2,100 acres, 22 percent contained, more than 17,000 residents under evacuation orders, one home destroyed; sheltering in place at Rancho Santa Susana Community Park and Ventura County Fairgrounds.

• New Mexico — Line Fire: All evacuations and road closures lifted; 30,144 acres at 90 percent containment.

• Texas — DFW/Love Field ground stops: More than 400 cancellations tied to May 19 thunderstorms; Hunggate Fire 14,000 acres, 30 percent contained, forward progress stopped.

• Mid-Atlantic severe weather: Tornado warnings, 60-70 mph winds, and outages reported across New Jersey, New York City metro, Virginia, and North Carolina, with three injured in Perquimans County, NC.

• West Virginia severe weather: Severe Thunderstorm Watch 236 in effect for 26 counties; Slight Risk for excessive rainfall through early Thursday across the Ohio Valley.

• State Department posture: Mexico Level 2 overall; Level 4 “Do Not Travel” remains for Colima, Guerrero, Michoacan, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas, and Zacatecas.

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Sources

CISA

• CISA Adds Seven Known Exploited Vulnerabilities to Catalog (May 20, 2026) — Defender and legacy CVEs added with active-exploitation evidence.

• Known Exploited Vulnerabilities Catalog — Authoritative KEV list and remediation deadlines.

• ICS Advisories Index — May 19 ICSA-26-139-01 through 05 included.

NIFC and Wildfire

• NIFC IMSR — May 19, 2026 — Daily Incident Management Situation Report.

• National Fire News — Current PL2, large-fire totals.

• NIFC Statistics — Year-to-date wildfire totals.

USGS

• Kilauea Volcano Updates — Halemaumau pause, episode 48 forecast.

• USGS Volcano Notice — May 20, 2026 — Latest HVO operational notice.

• Significant Earthquakes 2026 — M6.6 East Pacific Rise event; PAGER green.

NHC and NWS

• NHC Graphical Tropical Weather Outlook — No tropical formation expected next 7 days.

• SPC Day 2 Convective Outlook — May 20, 2026 — Severe risk corridor.

• NWS Active Alerts — Current watches and warnings.

CDC and HHS

• HAN Archive — 2026 Multi-country Hantavirus Cluster — Cruise ship cluster guidance.

• HAN — Ebola Outbreak in DRC and Uganda — Bundibugyo virus advisory.

State Department

• Mexico Travel Advisory — State-by-state level breakdown.

California

• Sandy Fire Incident Page — CAL FIRE — Containment, evacuation orders, sheltering.

• Sandy Fire Live Updates — ABC7 — Evacuation zone detail and impact context.

Hawaii

• HVO Kilauea Update — May 20, 2026 — Operational status and episode 48 outlook.

New Jersey

• Severe Thunderstorm Watch Issued for All 21 NJ Counties — Watch coverage and outage context.

New Mexico

• Quay Wildfires Burn More Than 38,000 Acres — Containment, evacuation lifted.

• NM Fire Info — Line Fire Update — Official New Mexico fire information portal.

New York

• NYC Weather Alert — Severe Thunderstorm Watch (May 20, 2026) — Multi-state watch coverage.

North Carolina

• Storms Move Off Coast; Severe Weather Leaves 3 Injured in Hertford, NC — Tornado warning area and damage summary.

Texas

• Over 400 Flights Canceled Across DFW and Love Field — KERA — Ground stop and delay impact.

• Ground Stop Lifted at North Texas Airports — WFAA — Resumption and ongoing ground delay program.

• Multiple Wildfires Burning in TX and OK Panhandles — ABC7 Amarillo — Hunggate Fire status and acreage.

Virginia

• Storms Clear After Leaving Damage, Tornado Warnings Across VA, NC — 13NewsNow — Outage counts and damage assessment.

West Virginia

• NWS Charleston, WV — Severe Thunderstorm Watch 236 and warning detail.

• SPC Day 2 Convective Outlook — Ohio Valley excessive-rainfall risk.