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Climate

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

On potential landslides, oil expansion, and a new Model Y

California Rain Could Start as a Blessing and Turn into a Curse
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

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 toThe 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 Timesreported.

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 byReuters. 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.

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Climate

AM Briefing: Deadly Heat

On life-threatening temperatures, New York’s nuclear ambitions, and cancelled clean energy projects

The Heat Dome Lingers
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: Monsoon conditions are bringing flash floods to New Mexico • A heat warning has been issued in Beijing as temperatures creep toward 100 degrees Fahrenheit • It's hot and dry in Tehran today as a tenuous ceasefire between Iran and Israel comes into effect.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Hochul calls for new nuclear power plant in New York

New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Monday that she wants to bring new, public nuclear power back to the state. She directed the New York Power Authority, the state power agency, to develop at least 1 gigawatt of new nuclear capacity upstate. Hochul did not specify a design or even a location for the new plant, but based on a few clues in the press release and where Hochul chose to make the announcement, Heatmap’s Matthew Zeitlin speculates that the project could be a small modular reactor, specifically GE Hitachi’s BWRX-300, one of a handful of SMR designs vying for both regulatory approval and commercial viability in the U.S. “Canada’s Ontario Power Generation recently approved a plan to build one,” Zeitlin notes, “with the idea to eventually build three more for a total 1.2 gigawatts of generating capacity, i.e. roughly the amount Hochul’s targeting.”

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Energy

New York’s Energy Future Could Look Like Canada’s ... Or Tennessee’s

Reading between the lines of Governor Kathy Hochul’s big nuclear announcement.

Kathy Hochul.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

With New York City temperatures reaching well into the 90s, the state grid running on almost two-thirds fossil fuels, and the man who was instrumental in shutting down one of the state’s largest sources of carbon-free power vying for a political comeback on Tuesday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Monday that she wants to bring new, public nuclear power back to the state.

Specifically, Hochul directed the New York Power Authority, the state power agency, to develop at least 1 gigawatt of new nuclear capacity upstate. While the New York City region hasn’t had a nuclear power plant since then-Governor Andrew Cuomo shut down Indian Point in 2021, there are three nuclear power plants currently operating closer to the 49th Parallel: Ginna, FitzPatrick, and Nine Mile Point, which together have almost 3.5 gigawatts of capacity and provide about a fifth of the state’s electric power,according to the nuclear advocacy group Nuclear New York. All three are now owned and operated by Constellation Energy, though FitzPatrick was previously owned by NYPA.

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Energy

Why Oil Markets Aren’t Sweating the Strait of Hormuz

Even as Iran retaliated against U.S. airstrikes, prices have stayed calm.

Pete Hegseth and Dan Caine.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Oil prices have stayed stable so far following the U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend, and President Donald Trump wants to keep it that way.

In two consecutive posts on Truth Social Monday morning, the president wrote “To The Department of Energy: DRILL, BABY, DRILL!!! And I mean NOW!!!” and “EVERYONE, KEEP OIL PRICES DOWN. I’M WATCHING! YOU’RE PLAYING RIGHT INTO THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY. DON’T DO IT!”

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