• Politics

Races to Watch: Ernst’s Climate Change Doubts Could Put Greenfield Over the Top

• biofuels
• climate change
• derecho
• Drought
• ethanol
• flood
• Iowa
• oil and gas
• severe weather

Senator Joni Ernst won her way into the Senate in 2014 on a conservative platform and a boast about the ability to cut through the red tape in Washington (she would make the pigs in Washington squeal).  But now her ties to big oil and gas in D.C. are putting her at odds with Iowa farmers who make biofuels. 

Why This Matters:  While it is not her top issue, the Democratic, Theresa Greenfield, does not shy away from climate change.

• People

Election Countdown: Interview with Jean-Luc Duvall, League of Conservation Voters

• climate crisis
• community organizer
• droughts
• future generation
• League of Conservation Voters
• severe weather

In the runup to the election next week, we talked with Jean-Luc Duvall, who is a climate organizer with the League of Conservation Voters in North Carolina.  In his spare time, Jean-Luc is running for a local office in his home of Wake County.  Here are a few of the highlights.

• Weather

Hurricane Sally Takes Aim At New Orleans, As NOAA Hires Climate Denier for Leadership Post

• climate change
• Flooding
• Hurricane Sally
• severe weather
• storm surge

Evacuations have begun as Tropical Storm Sally is picking up strength and heading straight for southeastern Louisiana.  Forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) expect it to make landfall as a Category 2 hurricane sometime early on Tuesday, according to CNN.

Why This Matters:  Trump voters in Florida are less likely to heed severe weather warnings — they believe conservative media outlets that claim that weather forecasts are exaggerated because the liberal media is hyping climate change.

• Weather

Heat Wave Broils Southern Half of the Country

• extreme heat
• heat
• heat index
• heat plan
• hottest
• Phoenix
• severe weather
• shade

We told you earlier this month that Phoenix had broken its record for the most days of 110 degrees or higher — and they just keep wracking them up.  The city has now had 50 days when the temperature reached 110 degrees or more, shattering the old record of 33.  And now the Gulf states are also experiencing record hot temps this week.

Why This Matters:  Heat waves in the summer in the south and southwest seem like par for the course.  But they are actually getting worse and are more deadly than other severe weather.

• Weather

More Extreme Weather Makes Life Harder for Millions of Americans This Week

• climate change
• derecho
• FEMA
• heat
• high heat
• hurricane
• severe storms
• severe weather

The extreme weather events this summer keep piling up. Phoenix set a record for the most number of days over 110 degrees in a year with 35 — so far as of yesterday.  Plus a derecho, which is akin to an inland hurricane, swept 700 miles across the midwest Monday.

Why This Matters:  President Trump is trying to remove $50 billion from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to pay for needed unemployment benefits he unilaterally ordered.  Given the increased number of hurricanes predicted (a new storm is forming in the Atlantic), it seems like a particularly bad time to raid FEMA’s emergency funds.

• Weather

Now NOAA Predicts So Many Hurricanes This Year They May Run Out of Names – YIKES

• #climatecrisis
• climate change
• hurricane
• NOAA
• science
• severe weather
• storms

Late last week the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued its annual update on this year’s outlook for tropical hurricanes and they are now predicting the conditions are ripe for a huge season, with 19-25 named storms with sustained winds over  39 mph or greater, and even worse, 7 to 11 are expected to become hurricanes with winds of 74 mph or greater.

Why This Matters:  Hurricane season really gets serious only now, so the worst is still ahead of us. And the revised forecast is a big increase over what had been forecast at the beginning of the season when NOAA said it there was a 70% chance of 13 to 19 named storms.