Posts

Utah produced more power from solar than any other source in May, marking a new first

By -
By Leia Larsen , The Salt Lake Tribune.  Excerpt: Utah’s solar generation eclipsed all other electricity sources for the first time ever in May.... Photovoltaic panels in Utah produced nearly 1 terawatt hour in May 2026. That represented nearly a third of all electricity generated in the state that month, according to data from Ember , a global energy think tank. Natural gas generated 32%, coal generated 28% and wind generated 2%. ...Schroeder attributes the trend to several large solar farms coming online in recent years. The 2,500-acre Green River Energy Center in Emery County became operational this spring and includes 400 megawatts of solar generation and 400 megawatts of battery storage. Excelsior Energy Capital’s Faraday Solar project in Utah County started providing up to 685 megawatts for the Meta data center there last fall . ...Solar also supports nearly 8,000 jobs in Utah, according to the latest information from the Solar Energy Industries Association . The state is ...
Read more

Climate Change Made Spain Wildfires At Least 20 Times More Likely

By -
By Grace van Deelen , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: Over the past 2 weeks, large wildfires in southwestern France and central Spain have burned 255,000 hectares, displaced hundreds of thousands of people, and created extremely poor air quality even hundreds of kilometers away. ...Climate change played a role in creating the conditions for these fires to burn and spread, a new analysis has found. The analysis, from World Weather Attribution, indicates that climate change made France and Spain’s fire-prone conditions much more likely: at least twice as likely in southwestern France and at least 20 times as likely in central Spain. Extreme heat and a widespread drought in Western Europe, both linked to climate change, created “tinderbox conditions,” the authors write....  Full article at https://eos.org/research-and-developments/climate-change-made-spain-wildfires-at-least-20-times-more-likely . 
Read more

Witness to ocean acidification

By -
By R. Mark Leckie , Science.  Excerpt: Foraminifera inhabit coastal and deep-sea marine environments. These microscopic, single-celled organisms are widely used as proxies for relative age determination and reconstructing past climates. The ratio of calcium isotopes ( 44 Ca/ 40 Ca) in their calcium carbonate shells depends on the amount of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and carbonate saturation in seawater at the time of the shells’ formation. ...Chen et al. ( 1 ) report geochemical evidence that a rise in atmospheric CO 2 concentration and ocean acidification at the end of the Aptian Stage [~113 million years ago (Ma)] may have caused the largest extinction of planktic foraminifera of the Cretaceous Period (146 to 66 Ma)..., which is second only to the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous Period (66 Ma).... The findings could be important for understanding potential effects of present-day increases in atmospheric CO 2 levels on marine organisms....  Full article at https:...
Read more

Landslide Exposure in the United States

By -
By Daniel Acosta-Reyes , Joseph Wartman , Jessica Kaminsky , AGU pubs.  Excerpt: [Abstract - Landslide exposure in the United States has not been systematically quantified at the national scale.... To address this gap, we developed the Landslide Exposure Database (LED), the first building-level national assessment integrating landslide susceptibility, building inventories, and socioeconomic data for 128 million structures across the United States. Although high-susceptibility terrain covers 19% of United States land area, the 6.5 million people residing in these areas represent just 2% of the national population, indicating that exposure reflects human geography as much as physical geography. Geographically, exposure concentrates in the Appalachian Highlands and Pacific Mountain System....] ...Most landslides are triggered by intense precipitation or seismic activity..., though anthropogenic slope modifications can compound these drivers in urbanized areas.... Climate change is int...
Read more

A Changing Climate Will Lead to More AC in Wealthier Countries, and More Deaths in Poor Ones, New Report Suggests

By -
By Emily Gardner , Eos/AGU.  Excerpt: A few months ago, the University of Chicago’s Climate Impact Lab released a report that found that, by 2050, about 10 times as many heat-related deaths would occur in poor countries as in richer ones. Today, the same lab released a new report . This one found that the regions most affected by extreme heat are also the regions least likely to have increased levels of electricity to power the air conditioning that might provide relief. Use of cooling-related electricity is projected to grow seven times more in middle-income countries than in low-income countries in response to climate change....  Full article at https://eos.org/research-and-developments/a-changing-climate-will-lead-to-more-ac-in-wealthier-countries-and-more-deaths-in-poor-ones-new-report-suggests . 
Read more

More Snow Is Falling as Rain in Washington, Leading to Increased Drought in Key Agricultural Areas

By -
By Claire Barber , Inside Climate News.  Excerpt: SEATTLE—In December 2025, torrential rains and catastrophic flooding hit western Washington. High precipitation levels, combined with the warmest December on record for the state, meant that many mountainous areas received rain rather than snow, leading to a deluge that broke through two levees and caused an estimated $182 million in damages to public infrastructure. The lack of snowpack also led to drought later in the summer of 2026. A draft legislative report and forecast , released this month by the Washington State Department of Ecology, reveals that changing precipitation patterns, like those seen in December 2025, are primed to leave their mark across the state as more snow falls as rain, particularly impacting eastern Washington—a reality that is far too familiar for agricultural communities in the region....  Full article at https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22072026/washington-state-winter-rains-leads-to-increased-dr...
Read more

Historically low water level in two crucial US reservoirs threatens water and power for millions

By -
By Laura Paddison, CNN.  Excerpt: The combined water level in two of the United States’ biggest reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, has fallen to a historic low, in what experts are calling a significant moment in the Colorado River crisis — threatening a water system that supplies tens of millions. On July 12, Lake Powell was at 3,524 feet and Lake Mead was just under 1,043 feet, breaking a record set in March 2023, according to an analysis published by five Colorado River experts last week. Together, the two reservoirs haven’t been this low since 1957, during the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam, before Lake Powell even existed. ...The Colorado River is the lifeblood of the Southwest. It irrigates more than 5 million acres of farmland, generates enough electricity to power around 700,000 homes and provides water for 40 million people. ...The Colorado River has shrunk rapidly over the past 25 years as water demand has boomed and climate change has delivered hotter, drier...
Read more