Where Did the Clouds Go?

Current conditions: Flood waters turned streets into rivers in Tripoli, Libya • The UK’s Met Office issued a rare “red weather warning” ahead of Storm Darragh, which could bring 90 mph winds • Americans on the West Coast are breathing a sigh of relief after a tsunami warning was cancelled following a 7.0 earthquake off the coast of Northern California.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Revolt in Nevada threatens BLM’s Western solar plan

A solar energy revolt is underway in Nevada, Jael Holzman reported in a Heatmap scoop. Rural county governments are hopping mad over the Biden administration’s crowning solar permitting achievement: the Bureau of Land Management’s Western solar plan, which would open more than 31 million acres for utility-scale solar applications. About a third of that land would be in Nevada. But the state’s rural county governments have no authority over federal lands, and most of the state’s territory overall is under control of BLM. This means their ordinances are relatively toothless, county officials say, not to mention they get less revenue from solar farms. Nevada’s Republican Governor Joe Lombardo has therefore asked BLM to cancel the plan. “Opposition from Nevada means that if there’s a way to unravel the programmatic solar plan when Donald Trump takes office in January, there’ll be a will,” Holzman wrote. Read more here.

2. Decrease in cloud cover linked to rising global temperatures

For the last two years or so, climate scientists have been puzzled by the exceptional warmth seen across the planet, because it exceeds their models. But new research points to a possible explanation: fewer clouds. The study, published in the journal Science, found that 2023 saw “a reduced low-cloud cover in the northern mid-latitudes and tropics,” and especially over the Atlantic. Since clouds help the Earth reflect solar radiation back into space, fewer clouds means more radiation and – you guessed it – more heat. Why might the clouds be disappearing? The scientists say several factors could be at play, including the El Niño weather pattern, and a rapid decline in sulfate aerosol emissions from the shipping industry. But another explanation is that rising global temperatures are changing how clouds behave, creating an ominous feedback loop. But nobody is sure just yet, and lots of questions remain. “I consider our study just another piece of the puzzle,” said Helge Goeslling, a climate physicist at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany, and the study’s lead author.

3. Musk repeats call to end EV tax credit

A quick dispatch from Capitol Hill: Politico reported that Tesla CEO and newly-minted co-leader of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk has reiterated his call to end the $7,500 EV tax credit. “I think we should get rid of all credits,” Musk told reporters Thursday after a meeting with incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune. In a Tesla earnings call earlier this year, Musk said such a move would “be devastating for our competitors and for Tesla slightly,” but would benefit Tesla in the long run because the company already has market dominance. As Heatmap’s Robinson Meyer explained, “repeal is part of Musk’s hypothesized plan to turn Tesla into a de facto monopoly, controlling the entire American EV industry.”

4. Denmark offshore wind tender receives zero bids

The clock ran out yesterday on Denmark’s largest ever offshore wind tender, and there were precisely zero bids. “This is a very disappointing result,” energy and climate minister Lars Aagard said. Denmark was hoping the tender would help it more than triple its offshore wind capacity by 2030. Now the search for an explanation begins. The energy agency will talk with companies about their hesitations, as many had previously expressed interest in bidding. “The circumstances for offshore wind in Europe have changed significantly in a relatively short time, including large price and interest rate increases,” Aagard said. Orsted told Reuters it held off because it wasn’t sure the rewards were worth the ongoing risks from high inflation, supply chain problems, and rising interest rates. Earlier this week Shell announced it would halt investments in new offshore wind projects.

5. DOE’s LNG impact study expected by ‘mid-December’

For anyone waiting with bated breath for the Department of Energy’s report on the impacts of natural gas exports, it will apparently now be released by “mid-December.” Brad Crabtree, head of the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, told lawmakers this week that the report is “both robust and comprehensive,” and will include a 60-day comment period. The study is expected to paint a damning picture of how U.S. LNG shipments affect the climate and the economy.

THE KICKER

A new study suggests that extreme changes in rainfall cause an uptick in “divorce” rates between bonded pairs of some monogamous bird species.