Climate Cast

Nick Halter, a Twin Cities reporter at Axios, noticed a peculiar pattern on his morning walks — hundreds of ducks braving subzero temperatures.

Many ducks still fly south for the winter months. But climate data shows Minnesota winters have warmed more than five degrees on average since 1970, creating a more tolerable environment for ducks and other birds.

These ducks are deciding there’s no reason to make the potentially dangerous journey south when Minnesota’s warming climate provides a habitable environment, he said.

“You don’t get as cold, you don’t have as deep of freezes and you have more open water,” said Halter said. Ducks that do stick around have no problem staying warm, Halter said. Insulation from their feathers combined with the counter-current heat exchange manages the temperature of the blood destined for their feet. And the open water provides an ecosystem that makes the decision to stay easier.

“They kind of change their diet in the winter time,” said Halter. “When it’s warm, they’ll eat insects and fish. Then become more vegetarian in the winter time — they’re going to eat roots and seeds — and so the open water does present opportunities for more food, too.”

Climate isn’t the only factor that’s making more ducks want to stay put in Minnesota, Halter said. Evolution and natural selection also play a role.

”Birds that stick around here, and then procreate — their offspring are then sort of naturally selected to not also migrate,” Halter said.

To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

It’s a post-pandemic world, and Minnesota’s greenhouse emissions are following the nationwide trend of going up.

Based on recent state data from 2020 to 2022, emissions rose 6.4 percent with transportation and agriculture being the biggest contributors.

Now, the state is off-track to meet its climate goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.

“I think it will be difficult to meet,” said Walker Orenstein, a reporter with The Minnesota Star Tribune. “As the state has pointed out, if we don’t start seeing big drops in sectors that aren’t the electric sector, then it will be troublesome.”

MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner talked to Orenstein about his reporting on the biennial greenhouse gas emissions report.

To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

A technology that can slow or stop climate change already exists — and has a history of bipartisan support in Washington. But it has a few hoops to jump through before it can make a bigger impact.

The method is called carbon capture, which removes carbon from the atmosphere and stores it deep underground.

“You can think of this whole process as essentially putting carbon back where it came from,” said Ben Grove, senior manager for carbon storage with the nonprofit Clean Air Task Force.

“Geologic storage has been occurring since the 1970s, mostly in the oil and gas industry, but to date, we’ve stored over a billion tons of Co2 in deep geologic formations.”

There’s significant storage potential in the U.S. — but challenges in infrastructure and storage permits may stand in the way of progress.

“We’re thinking [carbon capture] needs to be scaled up to the gigaton scales,” Grove said. “But this could grow up to a very large industry — like billions of tons [of carbon capture].”

To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

The Antarctic is warming.

This means, the ice sheet in the Antarctic Peninsula is shrinking, and ice is breaking off the continent.

“The largest icebergs on the planet are going around the Antarctic Peninsula … because these are breaking off the ice sheets as there’s warming,” said MPR News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard, who recently traveled to Antarctica to witness the effects of climate change first hand.

“These giant icebergs are very impressive. And then you realize that [the ice sheet] is going to melt,” he said. “It is melting slowly but surely, and will contribute to sea level rise.”

To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Winter is the fastest-warming season in the Midwest — more than five degrees on average since 1970, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

All that warming is having an impact on ice formation.

“Climate change is injecting more energy into our weather systems, and that’s resulting in in just more extreme extremes,” journalist Kristoffer Tigue told MPR’s Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner. Tigue wrote about the shift in ice trends for Inside Climate News.

Warmer temperatures could result in a later start for ice formation and a shorter lifespan for lake ice. Add a rapid temperature swing in the middle of winter and the ice can become increasingly unstable.

“On some of the hotter winters, there’s spikes in these fatalities related to falling through the ice,” Tigue said.

To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

The Trump administration has pivoted to fossil fuels. But one form of renewable energy has still gained support in Washington: Geothermal energy, which uses the warmth of the earth to heat and cool buildings.

Minnesota has already tapped into geothermal power in Rochester where the city’s headquarters will soon be provided a future with carbon-free heating and cooling. By digging deep into the ground, geothermal power provides energy 24/7.

Geothermal has found support in Washington, “because the technology can be installed by people who’ve worked in the natural gas industry,” energy journalist Frank Jossi told MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner.

“It’s a natural fit for people with those skills, [and] it sort of fits with the thinking of the Trump administration in terms of keeping jobs in the natural gas industry and also leveraging new technologies that are being developed in that area.”

President Donald Trump has officially begun his second term.

One of his first moves was to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement — again.

What will that mean for greenhouse gas emissions and climate solutions?

Jonathan Foley is executive director of Project Drawdown.

He said, “This is not game over. It’s game on. It means the rest of us have to step up and do a lot more.”

Foley shared more insights about the road ahead with MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner.

For some living in the warmer parts of the U.S., extreme weather tied to climate change is enough for them to consider cooler, safer climates.

No, Minnesota is not immune from the effects of climate change. But one Minnesota realtor says the state’s northern location is appealing appealing to her clientele from southern U.S.

“When you’re talking to people that are coming from all over the place, they do mention [Minnesota is] a more livable lifestyle that makes them feel safer,” said Mary Schumann, a realtor with Keller Williams Realty.

Schumann talked with MPR meteorologist Paul Huttner about the role climate change is having in people’s decision to move north.

To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

The planet has warmed past the 1.5 degrees Celsius pre-industrial normal temperature. 

Final confirmation on 2024 being the hottest year on record is expected from NOAA and the European Union, but the effects of climate change on a warming planet is being felt from wild fires in California to the snowless winters in Minnesota.

“We’re certainly seeing a lot of dangerous climate change now,” said Jeff Masters with the Yale Climate Connection. “Winters have been the most dramatically affected season of all the seasons. They’re so much warmer now, less ice, less snow.”

But there are solutions, he added. “It’s the clean energy revolution.”

To hear the full conversation with Jeff Masters and MPR meteorologist Paul Huttner, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Homeowner and auto insurance rates are rising fast in Minnesota.

One policy comparison site, Insurify, shows Minnesota’s auto insurance rates had the highest year-over-year increase in the nation.

Climbing insurance rates have plagued Minnesotans in recent years, and one of the leading factors to the rise in premiums is extreme weather events.  

“More water vapor that’s in our air, that then turns into things that land on our house — whether it's hail or rain — make bigger claims,” said Grace Arnold, who leads the Minnesota Department of Commerce.

“The best thing is to be prepared. That means: Have conversations with your insurance agents. Really shop around. And make sure that you’re thinking about your preparation for when we do have these big storms that are as a result of climate change.”

To hear the full conversation with Commerce commissioner Grace Arnold and MPR meteorologist Paul Huttner, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.