Climate Cast

An increase in water vapor in the atmosphere is driving more extreme weather around the world.How is that playing out here in Minnesota?John Abraham, thermal sciences professor and mechanical engineering program director at University of St. Thomas, shared more about the little-known but growing climate concern.To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

This week brought another significant tornado outbreak to parts of Minnesota. Downtowns for the Twin Cities, Rochester and Duluth were spared from any storm damage, but are cities safer from tornadoes than rural parts of Minnesota? Does the urban heat island effect spare urban residents from a tornado tearing through their cities? “The urban heat island probably would not save you if the storm were in a position to enter that urban area,” said climatologist Kenneth Blumenfeld. “We should definitely disabuse ourselves of this myth.”Blumenfeld, who has researched urban tornados, said the probability of tornadoes striking skyscraper-filled cities like the Twin Cities, or smaller downtowns, are just as high as elsewhere. “All the big cities, [in] tornado prone regions like the Midwest, the South and the Great Plains, have relatively high amounts of tornado activity — it’s a lesson for all of us that tornadoes can and do hit cities.”To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe t

Electric vehicle use in Minnesota boomed over the past decade due to the popular fleet of Tesla vehicles driving into the market. However, the Q1 auto sales report from earlier this year, showed a drop in sales for Tesla’s EVs. The indication that there might be a slowing popularity for the brand had some experts blame the company’s CEO Elon Musk and his relationship with American politics. Even Gov. Tim Walz took at jab at Musk and the company’s business woes. “The governor has certainly continued, to some degree, his feud with Elon Musk,” said Walker Orenstein, energy, natural resources and sustainability reporter for the Minnesota Star Tribune. “[Walz] jokes about it not being the best idea, because Elon Musk is a very rich man.”Politics could be a driving force in the drop in Tesla sales, but Orenstein explained the EV growing market is another culprit. “Tesla’s share of the EV market was declining well before [Q1 auto sales] — I think that it reflects more options that are available to people,” Orenstei

For the past eleven years, the planet has been consecutively warmer each year. It’s a trend that has climate scientists and policy makers worried.In 2024, global temperatures reached 1.5 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial record, according to the World Meteorological Organization and the Copernicus Climate Change Service. It’s the level of warming that those who work for climate solutions have been trying to avoid. “Now the question is: What are we going to do next? What is the next goal going to be?” said Shannon Osaka, a climate reporter for The Washington Post. Osaka wrote about extreme weather events linked to climate change, the consequences for slow-moving climate policy and Earth’s temperatures rapidly rising past a critical threshold for sustainable life.“We don’t know where those tipping points are: They could be at 1.6 degrees [Celsius]; they could be at 2.5 degrees Celsius. It’s like a sort of terrifying dice roll.”To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscrib

Craft beer grew in popularity over the past decade across Minnesota, but the brewing process has also created a ton of wastewater. Now, there’s an experiment to make the process carbon neutral. University of Minnesota professor Paige Novak and Fulton Brewing are working on a new, sustainable way to treat wastewater from the brewing process.She spoke to MPR chief meteorologist Paul Huttner for Climate Cast.The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity and length.Tell us about the craft brewing process and how it contributes to carbon emissions.When beer is brewed, a whole lot of extra wastewater is produced. For every pint of beer that’s made, there's usually four to 10 pints of wastewater that’s generated at the same time. This wastewater tends to go to a centralized treatment facility where it’s treated, then cleaned up and discharged to a river. What happens during that wastewater cleanup process is that a lot of energy is used to pump air into the water, bacteria eat up all the waste, and all th

Minnesota has experienced four significant blowing dust episodes over the past few years, and the uptick in frequency has raised air-quality concerns across the state. Now, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will start issuing air quality alerts for blowing dust this summer. Matt Taraldsen, MPCA meteorologist, says the fine particle pollution from dust — technically known as PM10 — is similar to wildfire smoke. “People are very familiar with PM2.5 or fine particle pollution and wildfire smoke,” Taraldsen said. “PM10 can get into the airways and cause inflammation and cardiopulmonary issues even in healthy people — in the right concentrations.”Dust can travel to Minnesota from Texas or Oklahoma, and high winds can blow in dust from North and South Dakota as well. Low snowpack and dryer conditions in the Midwest have contributed to loose soil. “It used to be that we would get snow and it would stay on the ground relatively all winter, and that would prohibit any dust from being lofted because it’s under

Minnesota has been a part of the solar energy boom that has swept across the nation over the past decade. Research has shown solar energy is now the cheapest form of electricity in the history of electric power generation, but politics on the state and federal level could trigger challenges for the renewable resource. MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner talked to Brian Martucci, an energy reporter with the Minnesota Reformer, about the issues solar power could face in Minnesota.

Recycled plastics reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 to 80 percent compared to creating new plastics. But the process isn’t always waste-free.Eureka Recycling, a 20-year-old mission-driven zero-waste recycler, has upgraded its facility to ensure recycled materials are effectively repurposed.“It’s incredible how much less energy it takes,” said Miriam Holsinger, co-president and chief operating officer of Eureka Recycling. “We really work hard to keep the material we sort as local as possible — a lot of it stays right here in Minnesota, where it gets turned into new products, and 95 percent of what we sort actually stays in the Midwest.” Holsinger spoke with MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner about how the climate can benefit from recycling materials. To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Tech companies are looking to the land of 10,000 lakes as a suitable environment to expand their data footprint.About 10 tech giants, such as Microsoft and Meta, are vying to build data centers in Minnesota to support their growing AI networks. “The Midwest is kind of a big emerging market right now,” said Nick Halter, a Twin Cities reporter for Axios. “That's because we have abundant water, which oftentimes is used to cool these [centers] down, and also because we have much cooler temperatures.”That’s because data centers in cooler climates require less energy to cool their facilities than those in warm Southern states. Some tech companies are also targeting Minnesota because of the state’s renewable energy mandates, Halter said. “The big question here is: How can we get to a place where we have 100 percent renewable energy in Minnesota, which is our goal, while the 10 proposed [data centers] would be the equivalent of the entire state's households’ electricity use?” To hear the full conversation w

The mighty Mississippi, which flows from its headwaters in northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, has topped an endangered rivers list.A report from nonprofit conservation organization American Rivers states that a combination of extreme flood, drought cycles, toxic runoff, and poor river management threatens the Mississippi. The 2,300-mile-long river is a water source for more than 50 cities in the U.S., including several in Minnesota.Cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (better known as FEMA) are also a concern.“There's just a lot of questions about what's going to happen to that agency,” said MPR News correspondent Kirsti Marohn​. “FEMA plays a role in reducing flood risks and supporting resilient development in communities along the river, and then also helping communities prepare for disasters and recover from them.” Marohn covers central Minnesota communities, water and the environment. She joined MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner to explain the threats the river is facing.

Writer Tamara Dean knew she wanted to live lightly on the planet. Her search to live a productive life while lowering her carbon footprint led her to the Driftless Area of Wisconsin — also known as Bluff Country and the Paleozoic Plateau — with dreams of become a homesteader. Dean shares her experience in her new memoir “Shelter and Storm: At Home in the Driftless.” She spoke to MPR chief meteorologist Paul Huttner for Climate Cast.The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity and length.What prompted you to write this book? I had been spending most of my days in an office, like a lot of people in front of computers, and my partner, David, and I decided we wanted to live healthier lifestyles. We also wanted to live out our environmental principles. We didn't know where exactly we wanted to start over, but when we drove around the Driftless Area, which is mostly in the southwestern corner of Wisconsin, we recognized that this was a place where we wanted to live. You talk about being a citizen sc

There’s a warming trend in cities across American, and that’s extending allergy season for millions of Americans. A new study by Climate Central found five cities in Minnesota have increased their pollen season — in some cases by nearly a month. The Twin Cities allergy season has expanded by 27 days, Duluth is seeing an average of 24 extra days of allergy season, while Mankato is experiencing 11 and Rochester is averaging 10 extra days, said Kristoffer Tigue, a reporter for the Minnesota Star Tribune. “It’s not just the extended pollen season that the studies have have shown are are making allergies worse for people,” said Tigue. “The plants themselves are growing larger, and that’s because there’s more carbon dioxide in the air. There’s even research that suggests that the pollen itself is becoming more allergenic.”To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast

Minnesota experienced a seasonably cold but relatively snowless winter. Now, the spring months are making up for lost time by dumping sloppy snowstorms. State climatologist Pete Boulay said what Minnesota is seeing is over time is a different start and end times for the seasons. “Winter is shifting around a bit,” said Boulay. “We’re not seeing as big of snow storms in November like we used to, but April is becoming a shining moment of winter.” Boulay said winters have also lost their cold edge. Minnesota isn’t dipping into subzero temperatures like it used to, and each season is getting hard to predict. “I couldn’t even tell you what next winter is going to be like right now, because anything could happen.”To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

By creating the Snow, Ice and Permafrost Research Establishment (SIPRE) in 1949, the U.S. military became one of the earliest climate research groups on the planet. The group’s mission was to study the science and engineering of the warming Arctic and the national security implications that could follow. University of Vermont professor and geoscientist Paul Bierman wrote about this in his book, “When the Ice Is Gone: What a Greenland Ice Core Reveals About Earth’s Tumultuous History and Perilous Future.”He spoke to MPR chief meteorologist Paul Huttner for Climate Cast. The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity and length.How and when did the U.S. military become interested with climate changes in the Arctic? They actually got interested during World War II, when they occupied parts of Greenland in part to rescue bomber and fighter pilots who'd landed on the ice and realized how ill-equipped they were to operate in frozen environments. They really stepped it up, though, in the early to mid-5

Wind and solar are among the cheapest energy sources available today, but even when clean-energy projects are ready to go, a cumbersome permit process is slowing down their implementation. Allison Prang wrote a New York Times article about a Minnesota experiment to cut the red tape that is impeding the state’s ability to achieve its clean-energy goals. She spoke to MPR chief meteorologist Paul Huttner about her reporting.  The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity and length. Minnesota has a goal of carbon-free on the electric grid by 2040. How does this new law help speed up that process?When I talked to Governor Walz, he said it was fair to say that without doing some reform for the state’s permitting process, it would be tough for Minnesota to hit that goal.I talked to one lawyer who works with companies that are working on projects, getting them approved in the state. He said it’s taken some as long as 13 months, and people are hoping that the permanent reform law could shave off the typica

Nick Halter, a Twin Cities reporter at Axios, noticed a peculiar pattern on his morning walks — hundreds of ducks braving subzero temperatures. Many ducks still fly south for the winter months. But climate data shows Minnesota winters have warmed more than five degrees on average since 1970, creating a more tolerable environment for ducks and other birds. These ducks are deciding there’s no reason to make the potentially dangerous journey south when Minnesota’s warming climate provides a habitable environment, he said. “You don’t get as cold, you don’t have as deep of freezes and you have more open water,” said Halter said. Ducks that do stick around have no problem staying warm, Halter said. Insulation from their feathers combined with the counter-current heat exchange manages the temperature of the blood destined for their feet. And the open water provides an ecosystem that makes the decision to stay easier. “They kind of change their diet in the winter time,” said Halter. “When it’s warm, they’ll eat inse

It’s a post-pandemic world, and Minnesota’s greenhouse emissions are following the nationwide trend of going up. Based on recent state data from 2020 to 2022, emissions rose 6.4 percent with transportation and agriculture being the biggest contributors. Now, the state is off-track to meet its climate goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. “I think it will be difficult to meet,” said Walker Orenstein, a reporter with The Minnesota Star Tribune. “As the state has pointed out, if we don’t start seeing big drops in sectors that aren’t the electric sector, then it will be troublesome.” MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner talked to Orenstein about his reporting on the biennial greenhouse gas emissions report. To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

A technology that can slow or stop climate change already exists — and has a history of bipartisan support in Washington. But it has a few hoops to jump through before it can make a bigger impact.The method is called carbon capture, which removes carbon from the atmosphere and stores it deep underground.“You can think of this whole process as essentially putting carbon back where it came from,” said Ben Grove, senior manager for carbon storage with the nonprofit Clean Air Task Force. “Geologic storage has been occurring since the 1970s, mostly in the oil and gas industry, but to date, we’ve stored over a billion tons of Co2 in deep geologic formations.”There’s significant storage potential in the U.S. — but challenges in infrastructure and storage permits may stand in the way of progress. “We’re thinking [carbon capture] needs to be scaled up to the gigaton scales,” Grove said. “But this could grow up to a very large industry — like billions of tons [of carbon capture].”To hear the full conversation, click pl

The Antarctic is warming. This means, the ice sheet in the Antarctic Peninsula is shrinking, and ice is breaking off the continent. “The largest icebergs on the planet are going around the Antarctic Peninsula … because these are breaking off the ice sheets as there’s warming,” said MPR News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard, who recently traveled to Antarctica to witness the effects of climate change first hand. “These giant icebergs are very impressive. And then you realize that [the ice sheet] is going to melt,” he said. “It is melting slowly but surely, and will contribute to sea level rise.”To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Winter is the fastest-warming season in the Midwest — more than five degrees on average since 1970, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.All that warming is having an impact on ice formation. “Climate change is injecting more energy into our weather systems, and that’s resulting in in just more extreme extremes,” journalist Kristoffer Tigue told MPR’s Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner. Tigue wrote about the shift in ice trends for Inside Climate News. Warmer temperatures could result in a later start for ice formation and a shorter lifespan for lake ice. Add a rapid temperature swing in the middle of winter and the ice can become increasingly unstable.“On some of the hotter winters, there’s spikes in these fatalities related to falling through the ice,” Tigue said.To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.