Climate Cast

President-elect Donald Trump has promised to at least partially repeal the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and some analysts say it could end up helping China more than the United States.

“If you take away the incentives for people to buy the stuff that American manufacturers are making, that weakens the case for investing in American manufacturing,” said Canary Media’s Jeff St. John, who wrote about how killing the EV tax credit could impact an electrified future for the U.S.

St. John said the tax credit is a major incentive for car buyers, while also incentivizing automakers and battery manufacturers.

“Those investments are making a difference in the lives and jobs and economic development to move forward,” he said. “Those are all things that are tied up with the $7,500 per EV tax credit and it's a little bit hard to know what will happen if we untangle that.”

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

Hotter summers and scorching temperatures might be a go-to thought when you think of climate change, but most of Minnesota’s warming is a winter phenomenon.

Pete Boulay of the Minnesota State Climatology Office said our warming winters can be credited to a lack of snowfall.

“We’re missing the snow pack,” said Boulay. “We’ve seen over the years, deep snow cover has gone down across many places in the state.”

That means winters in Minnesota are warming faster than summers are.

Boulay talked with MPR meteorologist Paul Huttner about the warming trends and the impacts it could have on the state’s winter activities and outings.

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

New data centers are popping up across the country — and companies are eyeing Minnesota as a potential building site due to its cooler climate.

But advocates within the state worry the extra demand from these large buildings could push the state to extend its use of fossil fuels at a time when Minnesota is trying to go carbon-free. 

MPR News correspondent Kirsti Marohn has been following the story of a Colorado-based company’s proposed $5 billion data center in Farmington, Minnesota, as part of MPR’s Getting to Green series.

She spoke with MPR Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner about growing opposition from residents in the rural town.

President-elect Donald Trump is making cabinet choices that will likely impact U.S. climate policy. Observers of the picks point out ties to the fossil fuel industry.

Kiley Price with Inside Climate News spoke to MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner about the picks and what it could mean for the future of climate policy.

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

From data centers to growth — electricity demand in Minnesota is rising.

That’s led Xcel Energy to request a 13 percent rate increase over the next two years and increase capital spending by $11 billion.

Walker Orenstein, reporter at the Minnesota Star Tribune, said the utility has plans to make major infrastructure investments.

While it’s unclear just how snowy this winter will be, NOAA data shows that Minnesota winters have warmed more than five degrees on average since 1970. Warmer winters may cause more freeze-thaw cycles and increased road salt use. State maintenance engineer Jed Falgren spoke to MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner about what MnDOT is doing to maximize road safety in a changing climate.

Last winter was the warmest on record in Minnesota — a perfect non-storm of conditions that included a strong El Niño combined with warming climate trends. But this year will be different thanks to a weak La Niña developing in the Pacific, said Kenny Blumenfeld, who tracks Minnesota's climate trends with the Minnesota State Climatologist office in St. Paul.

“People are going to love or hate this,” Blumenfeld said. “Our all-time record and seasonal snowfall was during a La Niña winter. And number three, which we just experienced in the 2022-’23 winter, that was 90.3 inches. That was a La Niña, too. You do tend to get a bit more snow, even in a weak La Niña compared to an El Niño type winter.”

The warming of the atmosphere plays a role in extra-snowy winters, Blumenfeld told MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner. ”The warming of the planet obviously puts more water into the atmosphere, and that's one of the reasons that we're seeing the increased snowfall during the winter time.”

Click on the audio player above to hear the whole conversation.

Minnesota is experiencing its fourth straight year of flash drought — and farmers are feeling the effects in their fields.

“Farmers and ranchers face unique challenges in a changing climate and experience climate related stress,” said Noah Fish, an agricultural reporter for Agweek.

“It’s not only their operations that are undergoing this change, but it’s emotional stress; these are farmers that are the ones out there working every day in these conditions.”

But grants offer relief, Fish said. The state of Minnesota is using federal grants to help farmers adapt to expanding droughts and a changing climates. Fish joined MPR News meteorologist Paul Huttner to talk about the kind of funding that is available to farmers and how it is helping.

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

Finding balance in life can be a challenge for everyone.

It can be especially hard to balance a life in climate work, politics and raising a family. That’s been Anna Farro Henderson’s experience, one she details in her new book “Core Samples: A Climate Scientist’s Experiments in Politics and Motherhood.”

Farro Henderson joins MPR News Meteorologist Paul Huttner to talk about the climate crisis and encouraging young women to enter the STEM field.   

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

Minnesota’s climate continues to shift. The trend toward warmer winters and more erratic precipitation patterns continues.

“What we see globally and what we see right in our own backyards are the fingerprints of a warming world,” Heidi Roop, the Director of Minnesota’s Climate Adaptation Partnership, said.

She added that we should expect these extremes to continue.

“If we look out towards the end of the century, some of our future climate models show that our spring-time precipitation could be as much as 40 percent wetter and our summers around 20 percent dryer.”

She spoke more about Minnesota’s climate trends with MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner.