California Rain Could Start as a Blessing and Turn into a Curse

Current conditions: The Hughes Fire in LA, which has burned more than 10,000 acres, is 36% contained • Parts of Florida have been colder than Alaska this week • Dhaka in Bangladesh is the most polluted city in the world today.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Rain finally forecast for parched Southern California

Rain is expected in Southern California this weekend, which will bring relief to a region terrorized by wildfires. But there is some concern that the moisture could trigger flooding and mudslides in the areas most affected by the blazes. More than 50,000 acres have been charred in recent weeks, and burnt land struggles to absorb water, increasing the risk of flooding. According to The New York Times, areas surrounding the Eaton Fire in Pasadena could be most at-risk in the case of a downpour. The good news is that heavy rain isn’t currently in the forecast. The bad news is that dry weather is likely to return next week. “The Santa Ana wind season can persist through February and March, and one weekend of modest rainfall would be no match for more weeks of dry winds and weather, should that materialize,” the LA Times reported.

National Weather Service

President Trump will visit the scene of the LA fires today. This week he threatened to withhold federal funding for the disasters unless the state of California diverts more water from the north to the south – a suggestion experts have said is overly simplistic and misleading. Catastrophe risk modeling firm KCC estimates the fires have caused $28 billion in insured losses. This would make them the costliest wildfires ever in the U.S.

2. Storm Éowyn knocks out power in Ireland

More than 715,000 customers are without power in Ireland after Storm Éowyn brought record-setting wind gusts of up to 114 mph to western parts of the country. The storm is now lurching northeast across the U.K., where weather warnings are in place and power outages are expected. Éowyn intensified rapidly over the North Atlantic before hitting land, “with the central pressure dropping to below 940 millibars as the storm approaches the west coast of Scotland,” explained University of Reading meteorology professor Suzanne Gray. “Pressures below 940 mb are rare for the British Isles, with only five reliably recorded occasions of pressures below 940 mb on the mainland British Isles in 200 years of reliable measurements up to 2007.” The storm is so powerful that hurricane researchers from NOAA were reportedly flying over to investigate.

3. U.S. cold snap boosts coal-fired power production

Meanwhile, below-average temperatures will continue along the Gulf Coast through the weekend. The frigid start to the year has sent U.S. coal-fired power production soaring to its highest levels since 2019 as homeowners try to stay warm, according to data seen by Reuters. Oil-fired power generation is also up 170% this January compared to the same time last year.

4. Fossil fuel insiders wary of Trump’s ‘drill, baby, drill’

President Trump has big plans to boost (already record-high) oil production in the U.S., but it seems oil and gas industry insiders aren’t sure. Fossil fuel bosses are saying that Wall Street is unlikely to go all in on another drilling binge, and that oil and gas companies probably won’t rush to drill in Alaska’s Arctic because it’s too risky. Here are some quotes:

• “The incentive, if you will, to just drill, baby, drill ... I just don’t believe that companies are going to do that.” –Wil VanLoh, chief executive of private equity group Quantum Energy Partners.
• “Prices will be a bigger signal than politics.” –Ben Dell, managing partner at energy investment firm Kimmeridge.
• “As much as the incoming administration is very favorable around energy and power ... we don’t see a significant change in activity levels going forward.” –David Schorlemer, chief financial officer of oilfield services company ProPetro.
• “Many of these areas have been closed for a good long while. There is always the risk that these areas could be reclosed after the next election cycle.” –Dustin Meyers, senior vice president of policy at the American Petroleum Institute.

5. Billionaire Bloomberg steps in to help fund UNFCCC

With President Trump withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement and stopping all funding of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN climate body finds itself facing a funding gap. But billionaire Michael Bloomberg has said his philanthropy and a group of other funders will help cover the shortfall. For context, last year the U.S. contributed more than $13 million to the UNFCCC, making it one of the top funders. The climate body helps organize global climate conferences and monitors emissions.

THE KICKER

Tesla has unveiled its new, redesigned Model Y SUV, coming to the U.S. in March. It starts at around $60,000, or $12,000 more expensive than the previous version.