Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Climate

San Francisco Recorded its Hottest Day of the Year

On autumn heat waves, the VP debate, and solar tariffs

San Francisco Recorded its Hottest Day of the Year

Current conditions: Thousands of people in Taiwan have been evacuated ahead of Super Typhoon Krathon • Hurricane Kirk could veer toward Ireland • Forecasters are monitoring the warm Gulf of Mexico for signs of another potential storm expected to form later this week.

THE TOP FIVE

1. JD Vance and Tim Walz talk climate and energy at debate

Vice presidential hopefuls Republican JD Vance and Democrat Tim Walz discussed energy and climate change during last night’s VP debate. The topics were all but unavoidable after one of the costliest hurricanes in recent U.S. history devastated communities far from the coast the weekend before the debate. Vance refused to say with certainty that the climate crisis was caused by fossil fuel emissions, but said that if it were, the U.S. president would want to “reshore as much American manufacturing as possible, and produce as much energy as possible in the United States of America, because we’re the cleanest economy in the entire world.” What Vance is describing sounds suspiciously like the rationale behind the Inflation Reduction Act, which explicitly aims to build a green economy at home in the U.S. Walz more or less pointed that out in his response: “We’ve seen massive investments — the biggest in global history,” he said. “We’ve seen that the Inflation Reduction Act has created jobs all across the country,” including in manufacturing electric cars and solar panels. “It goes to show: Climate jobs and domestic manufacturing are popular ideas with the American public,” wrote Heatmap’s Jeva Lange. “Just don’t tell your boss, JD.”

2. Biden and Harris head to states hit hard by Helene

President Biden and Vice President Harris today will visit states ravaged by Hurricane Helene. Biden will travel to North Carolina, with plans to head to Georgia and Florida “as soon as possible,” according to the White House. Harris heads to Augusta, Georgia, today and will visit North Carolina “in the coming days.” Biden approved a declaration for a major disaster in South Carolina yesterday. He has directed FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell to remain on the ground in Asheville, North Carolina, to help identify ways to speed up recovery efforts in communities cut off by road closures and debris. CNN reported that in some areas, supplies are being delivered by mules. As of this morning, more than 1.3 million people are still without power across five states, with most of the outages in the Carolinas and Georgia. The storm’s death toll has risen to more than 160.

3. San Francisco records hottest day of the year

On the other side of the country, intense heat is breaking records. San Francisco recorded its hottest day of 2024 yesterday, with temperatures hitting 93 degrees Fahrenheit. The Sonoma County Airport hit 106 degrees. Other parts of the Bay Area were “as much as 35 degrees above normal” overnight, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. An excessive heat warning remains in place until 11 p.m. tonight. Here’s a look at some of the daily records set or tied:

X/NWSBayArea

Meanwhile, in Arizona, Phoenix recorded its hottest October day ever (of 113 degrees), breaking the previous 1980 record by a stunning 6 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. U.S. imposes tariffs on solar panels from Southeast Asia

The Commerce Department yesterday announced new tariffs on solar panel imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Some U.S. manufacturers say Chinese companies are operating in those countries to get around U.S. duties on solar imports from China, and that the cheap imports hurt domestic solar panel producers. But others in the industry argue that low-priced imports are essential to ramping up clean-energy projects. “The targeted nations provide the bulk of U.S. solar cell and module imports,” Bloombergreported, “and the swift imposition of countervailing duties means renewable developers will face higher prices for that equipment right away.”

5. Climate scientist Claudia Sheinbaum sworn in as president of Mexico

Mexico swore in its first-ever female president yesterday. Claudia Sheinbaum’s election has raised the hopes of environmentalists because she’s a climate scientist with a Ph.d. in energy engineering. She has vowed to boost the country’s renewable energy infrastructure and put forward a $14 billion plan for new energy generation that focuses on renewables. But, as The Washington Postnoted, her ideas are “incompatible” with her other promise, which is to carry on the policies of her predecessor López Obrador and rescue the country’s indebted state oil company.

THE KICKER

A company called DairyX claims to have created a type of protein that can make plant-based cheeses stretchy, potentially solving the consistency problem that has long stumped makers of dairy-free cheeses.

Yellow

You’re out of free articles.

Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
To continue reading
Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
or
Please enter an email address
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
Sparks

Trump’s Offshore Wind Ban Is Coming, Congressman Says

Though it might not be as comprehensive or as permanent as renewables advocates have feared, it’s also “just the beginning,” the congressman said.

A very large elephant and a wind turbine.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

President-elect Donald Trump’s team is drafting an executive order to “halt offshore wind turbine activities” along the East Coast, working with the office of Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, the congressman said in a press release from his office Monday afternoon.

“This executive order is just the beginning,” Van Drew said in a statement. “We will fight tooth and nail to prevent this offshore wind catastrophe from wreaking havoc on the hardworking people who call our coastal towns home.”

Keep reading...Show less
Climate

An Unexpected Obstacle to Putting Out the L.A. Fires

That sick drone shot is not worth it.

A drone operator and flames.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Imagine for a moment that you’re an aerial firefighter pilot. You have one of the most dangerous jobs in the country, and now you’ve been called in to fight the devastating fires burning in Los Angeles County’s famously tricky, hilly terrain. You’re working long hours — not as long as your colleagues on the ground due to flight time limitations, but the maximum scheduling allows — not to mention the added external pressures you’re also facing. Even the incoming president recently wondered aloud why the fires aren’t under control yet and insinuated that it’s your and your colleagues’ fault.

You’re on a sortie, getting ready for a particularly white-knuckle drop at a low altitude in poor visibility conditions when an object catches your eye outside the cockpit window: an authorized drone dangerously close to your wing.

Keep reading...Show less
Climate

What Started the Fires in Los Angeles?

Plus 3 more outstanding questions about this ongoing emergency.

Los Angeles.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

As Los Angeles continued to battle multiple big blazes ripping through some of the most beloved (and expensive) areas of the city on Friday, a question lingered in the background: What caused the fires in the first place?

Though fires are less common in California during this time of the year, they aren’t unheard of. In early December 2017, power lines sparked the Thomas Fire near Ventura, California, which burned through to mid-January. At the time it was the largest fire in the state since at least the 1930s. Now it’s the ninth-largest. Although that fire was in a more rural area, it ignited for some of the same reasons we’re seeing fires this week.

Keep reading...Show less
Green