Climate Cast

Craft beer grew in popularity over the past decade across Minnesota, but the brewing process has also created a ton of wastewater. Now, there's an experiment to make the process carbon neutral. University of Minnesota professor Paige Novak and Fulton Brewing are working on a new, sustainable way to treat wastewater from the brewing process.She spoke to MPR chief meteorologist Paul Huttner for Climate Cast.The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity and length.Tell us about the craft brewing process and how it contributes to carbon emissions.When beer is brewed, a whole lot of extra wastewater is produced. For every pint of beer that's made, there's usually four to 10 pints of wastewater that's generated at the same time. This wastewater tends to go to a centralized treatment facility where it's treated, then cleaned up and discharged to a river. What happens during that wastewater cleanup process is that a lot of energy is used to pump air into the water, bacteria eat up all the waste, and all that pumping of the air creates a huge energy requirement, and also produces CO2. It can take up to 15 to 30 percent of a city's total energy bill to process wastewater, and that can add up to about 2 billion gallons annually. Is that right? It's a huge amount of energy that we use to clean our wastewater. If you look nationally, the amount of electricity that we use nationally just for wastewater is about 2 percent. So you think about everything that we do in terms of driving, heating our homes, lighting things, and 2 percent of that is used for our wastewater. It's a huge amount. Tell us about your project with Fulton Brewing. I work in biological wastewater treatment systems. I look at bacteria that can help clean up pollutants, including wastewater pollutants. What we've done is develop a system where we can put bacteria into little pellets. We can add these pellets to a tank. The bacteria are active, so we can put a lot of bacteria in there and keep them in the tank and they degrade all the wastewater. And if you do it at the site before the wastewater is diluted, you can treat the wastewater differently and actually generate methane gas, which can be used as an energy source onsite. In addition to using a lot of water, breweries use energy to heat the material to make the beer — also to heat the brewery in the winter. So you get added energy creation at the brewery, and then you save energy for treatment when you go to the wastewater treatment plant. Has Fulton Brewing been receptive to your research? They have been wonderful partners. They've been working with us on this process for years now. We did an initial pilot study at their brewery a few years ago, and that was really helpful to see what didn't work. And then we were able to get additional funding from the Department of Energy to continue to work on this process. We just finished up a second pilot study at Fulton where we were able to show that the system worked amazingly well.What else should people know about beer and carbon neutrality?I think we, just as consumers, need to keep in mind that there's all this additional work that needs to be done to keep these processes that supply us with the food and beverages going. So think about supporting clean water use, supporting treatment, and supporting research as you go along your day using these products.To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Minnesota has experienced four significant blowing dust episodes over the past few years, and the uptick in frequency has raised air-quality concerns across the state. Now, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will start issuing air quality alerts for blowing dust this summer. Matt Taraldsen, MPCA meteorologist, says the fine particle pollution from dust — technically known as PM10 — is similar to wildfire smoke. “People are very familiar with PM2.5 or fine particle pollution and wildfire smoke,” Taraldsen said. “PM10 can get into the airways and cause inflammation and cardiopulmonary issues even in healthy people — in the right concentrations.”Dust can travel to Minnesota from Texas or Oklahoma, and high winds can blow in dust from North and South Dakota as well. Low snowpack and dryer conditions in the Midwest have contributed to loose soil. “It used to be that we would get snow and it would stay on the ground relatively all winter, and that would prohibit any dust from being lofted because it's under the snow pack,” he said. “But the past several years, with the exception of 2023, we've had open and bare ground for much, if not most, of the winter. So anytime you get these big storms that come in, [with] sustained winds, it can pick up the dust in concentrations enough to impact health.”To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Minnesota has been a part of the solar energy boom that has swept across the nation over the past decade. Research has shown solar energy is now the cheapest form of electricity in the history of electric power generation, but politics on the state and federal level could trigger challenges for the renewable resource. MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner talked to Brian Martucci, an energy reporter with the Minnesota Reformer, about the issues solar power could face in Minnesota.

Recycled plastics reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30 to 80 percent compared to creating new plastics. But the process isn't always waste-free.Eureka Recycling, a 20-year-old mission-driven zero-waste recycler, has upgraded its facility to ensure recycled materials are effectively repurposed.“It's incredible how much less energy it takes,” said Miriam Holsinger, co-President and COO of Eureka Recycling. “We really work hard to keep the material we sort as local as possible — a lot of it stays right here in Minnesota, where it gets turned into new products, and 95 percent of what we sort actually stays in the Midwest.” Holsinger spoke with MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner about how the climate can benefit from recycling materials. To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Tech companies are looking to the land of 10,000 lakes as a suitable environment to expand their data footprint.About 10 tech giants, such as Microsoft and Meta, are vying to build data centers in Minnesota to support their growing AI networks. “The Midwest is kind of a big emerging market right now,” said Nick Halter, a Twin Cities reporter for Axios. “That's because we have abundant water, which oftentimes is used to cool these [centers] down, and also because we have much cooler temperatures.”That's because data centers in cooler climates require less energy to cool their facilities than those in warm Southern states. Some tech companies are also targeting Minnesota because of the state's renewable energy mandates, Halter said. “The big question here is: How can we get to a place where we have 100 percent renewable energy in Minnesota, which is our goal, while the 10 proposed [data centers] would be the equivalent of the entire state's households' electricity use?” To hear the full conversation with Nick Halter and Paul Huttner, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

The mighty Mississippi, which flows from its headwaters in northern Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, has topped an endangered rivers list.A report from nonprofit conservation organization American Rivers states that a combination of extreme flood, drought cycles, toxic runoff, and poor river management threatens the Mississippi. The 2,300-mile-long river is a water source for more than 50 cities in the U.S., including several in Minnesota.Cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (better known as FEMA) are also a concern.“There's just a lot of questions about what's going to happen to that agency,” said MPR News correspondent Kirsti Marohn​. “FEMA plays a role in reducing flood risks and supporting resilient development in communities along the river, and then also helping communities prepare for disasters and recover from them.” Marohn covers central Minnesota communities, water and the environment. She joined MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner to explain the threats the river is facing.To hear the conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Writer Tamara Dean knew she wanted to live lightly on the planet. Her search to live a productive life while lowering her carbon footprint led her to the Driftless Area of Wisconsin — also known as Bluff Country and the Paleozoic Plateau — with dreams of become a homesteader. Dean shares her experience in her new memoir “Shelter and Storm: At Home in the Driftless.” She spoke to MPR chief meteorologist Paul Huttner for Climate Cast.The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity and length.What prompted you to write this book? I had been spending most of my days in an office, like a lot of people in front of computers, and my partner, David, and I decided we wanted to live healthier lifestyles. We also wanted to live out our environmental principles. We didn't know where exactly we wanted to start over, but when we drove around the Driftless Area, which is mostly in the southwestern corner of Wisconsin, we recognized that this was a place where we wanted to live. You talk about being a citizen scientist in your book. What does that mean to you? A citizen scientist is someone who volunteers to study nature. In places like Wisconsin, where the Department of Natural Resources really doesn't have the funding and staffing to cover every species in the state, a citizen scientists can fill that gap and provide information to help professional scientists do their work. It's not only a rewarding opportunity for people, but it's also helpful for the state. We were citizen water monitors for the little river behind our house, and I became interested in surveys for fresh water mussels. They are some of the most endangered creatures in North America, but citizen scientists are studying where they're still thriving and that helps the people at the DNR know where to focus their efforts in helping their habitat. What do you think about the progress we've made on climate solutions so far? I think we have an over-estimation of our potential for solving the climate crisis with technology. It's definitely a necessary component of addressing the climate situation, but we also need to look at reducing our own footprints. There are ways we can do that pretty simply, whether it be reducing our travel, reducing our birth rate, or examining our diets. It doesn't have to be a hardship. It can be something easy and satisfying. You don't have to take it all on either. I think it can be a joy as well. What message do you have for anyone who wants to bring their life more in tune with our planet and our climate? I would recommend indulging your curiosity. Find what has energy for you — whether it's a particular type of landscape or a particular species — and immerse yourself in learning about that. I often think it's a shame that we think we have to go to Mars to learn something new, because all around us there are mysteries to pursue. I hope that's what my book leaves readers with. The idea that you can walk out your door and be curious and open-minded. And find a mystery that will ignite your own curiosity and passion, and pursue that to create your own story out of it. To hear the conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

There's a warming trend in cities across American, and that's extending allergy season for millions of Americans. A new study by Climate Central found five cities in Minnesota have increased their pollen season — in some cases by nearly a month. The Twin Cities allergy season has expanded by 27 days, Duluth is seeing an average of 24 extra days of allergy season, while Mankato is experiencing 11 and Rochester is averaging 10 extra days, said Kristoffer Tigue, a reporter for the Minnesota Star Tribune. “It's not just the extended pollen season that the studies have have shown are are making allergies worse for people,” said Tigue. “The plants themselves are growing larger, and that's because there's more carbon dioxide in the air. There's even research that suggests that the pollen itself is becoming more allergenic.”To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast

Minnesota experienced a seasonably cold but relatively snowless winter. Now, the spring months are making up for lost time by dumping sloppy snowstorms. State climatologist Pete Boulay said what Minnesota is seeing is over time is a different start and end times for the seasons. “Winter is shifting around a bit,” said Boulay. “We're not seeing as big of snow storms in November like we used to, but April is becoming a shining moment of winter.” Boulay said winters have also lost their cold edge. Minnesota isn't dipping into subzero temperatures like it used to, and each season is getting hard to predict. “I couldn't even tell you what next winter is going to be like right now, because anything could happen.”To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

By creating the Snow, Ice and Permafrost Research Establishment (SIPRE) in 1949, the U.S. military became one of the earliest climate research groups on the planet. The group's mission was to study the science and engineering of the warming Arctic and the national security implications that could follow. University of Vermont professor and geoscientist Paul Bierman wrote about this in his book, “When the Ice Is Gone: What a Greenland Ice Core Reveals About Earth's Tumultuous History and Perilous Future.”He spoke to MPR chief meteorologist Paul Huttner for Climate Cast. The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity and length.How and when did the U.S. military become interested with climate changes in the Arctic? They actually got interested during World War II, when they occupied parts of Greenland in part to rescue bomber and fighter pilots who'd landed on the ice and realized how ill-equipped they were to operate in frozen environments. They really stepped it up, though, in the early to mid-50s, fighting the Cold War in the Arctic.From the military's point of view, climate change is important in variety of ways. It's certainly important in the Arctic, where the very stability of the ground they're working on is questionable, but it's also very important in the sense that when you melt ice sheets, you raise sea level. That has huge implications for human migration around the world, and for things as simple as five of the U.S. aircraft carriers that are berthed in Virginia — which is a sea-level-rise hot spot and will find their docking facilities under water in the next couple decades. What does the military mean by the phrase ‘climate resilience is force resilience'?They mean that in the sense of trying to reduce the risks to active military, reduce the number of global conflicts that will come from climate change, and be prepared for the eventualities of bigger storms, higher temperatures — all those sorts of things that affect maneuverability on the ground to the safety of soldiers. So in one way, moving toward renewable energy takes them away from dependence on fossil fuels and the need to transport those fossil fuels. Another idea that jumped out at me in your book is that for the military, climate change is ‘too costly to ignore.' There are estimates that suggest if we let sea level rise uncontrollably, which would be from the melting of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, it could cost the global economy trillions of dollars in losses because of the flooding that's going to occur around every coastline. So the military is also looking, of course, at the prices of fossil fuels. We're at a point now where solar and wind are competitive, if not cheaper, than typical fossil fuel energy sources. The U.S. Army drilled the first deep ice core in Greenland. How old was it, and what did they find?The military drilled the ice core through almost a mile of ice, and then they drilled through about 12 feet of frozen soil. The ice itself goes back about 100,000 years, but the frozen soil takes us back millions.What's most important about what they found in that frozen soil is that the upper portion of it — dated to about 400,000 years ago — is full of plant fossils and fossils of insects. Those are important because they are very strong evidence that the ice sheet there had to vanish, and when it vanished, a mile of ice disappeared. If we don't control climate change and global warming, at this point, we're going to repeat the past, and a mile of ice is going to melt again. To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Wind and solar are among the cheapest energy sources available today, but even when clean-energy projects are ready to go, a cumbersome permit process is slowing down their implementation. Allison Prang wrote a New York Times article about a Minnesota experiment to cut the red tape that is impeding the state's ability to achieve its clean-energy goals. She spoke to MPR chief meteorologist Paul Huttner about her reporting.  The transcript below has been lightly edited for clarity and length. Minnesota has a goal of carbon-free on the electric grid by 2040. How does this new law help speed up that process?When I talked to Governor Walz, he said it was fair to say that without doing some reform for the state's permitting process, it would be tough for Minnesota to hit that goal.I talked to one lawyer who works with companies that are working on projects, getting them approved in the state. He said it's taken some as long as 13 months, and people are hoping that the permanent reform law could shave off the typical timeline by several months. If it does what they want, it could make it much quicker for projects to come online. Is this just in Minnesota, or is this a national problem, too? Permitting reform is a very unsexy and yet super crucial topic that the whole country is grappling with. In Washington, members of Congress have tried to tackle the issue, because it does have bipartisan support. But it's not just a national issue; there are things states can do to tackle the problem. Like Minnesota, other states have also passed laws trying to make the process easier at home, and sometimes localities are involved. It really depends on where an energy developer is working — what state, what area in the state? That's why it's so complicated. It really, really is situational. What should we be watching for with getting these projects to the grid going forward?The really big thing that's happening in the backdrop of all of this is that not only are we seeing the country electrify more broadly — and states and localities have these climate goals — but we're also going to see an increase in power demand like we haven't seen in decades. So that's happening at the same time, and part of that is because we're seeing more data centers come online. We just need more power as a country. A lot of people are watching if the new Congress will be able to get a permitting reform bill over the finish line, what that would look like, and asking would that make permanent renewables easier? It's going to be really interesting to see if the country can tackle this problem and make it easier, so that we can kind of meet this really crazy moment of this expected increase in demand.To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

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.

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.

Climate advocates are showing strong support for Gov. Tim Walz's vice presidential campaign. They point to his record. “Walz was responsible, or at least, signed into law several climate action bills that are progressive no matter which state you live in,” said Kristoffer Tigue, who wrote about Walz's climate record for Inside Climate News. “That includes a law from 2023 which requires Minnesota utilities to produce 100 percent of their electricity from carbon free sources by 2040. He also signed several other bills that do a lot to advance the effort to slow down climate change.” Tigue joined MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner to talk about Walz's record in Minnesota and what that might mean for the Harris-Walz ticket. “A lot of advocates and political analysts believe that the Harris-Walz ticket will probably walk a line that's similar to what Biden has been doing in his last couple of years as president, which is taking kind of a moderate approach, trying to appeal to a broader audience, rather than appeasing a smaller, more progressive climate constituency,” Tigue said. But there's not a lot to go on.“Both Walz and Harris have largely refrained from talking about climate change since announcing their campaign together, but in the debate with former President Trump earlier this month, Harris did address climate change, and the two have since released a platform, though the details on policy are still pretty slim,” she said.To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

A new report from the Global Carbon Project finds several sources of methane gas are on the rise.Sahrah Kaplan, climate and science reporter for the Washington Post says the powerful greenhouse gas is “the fastest way to heat the planet and we're doing that at an ever accelerating rate.”Kaplan wrote about the Global Carbon Project report and joined Climate Cast to explain how agriculture as well as human influence are contributing to the rise in this potent greenhouse gas. To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

David Lipsky, author of “The Parrot and the Igloo: Climate and the Science of Denial,” talks about the history of climate change and those who deny the science behind human-caused climate change. To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

The State Fair gates are open – but there's a noticeable absence in the Miracle of Birth Center: birthing cows and newborn calves. It's all due to the spread of avian flu, also known as bird flu or H5N1. So how serious is the spread of avian flu, and what does climate change have to do with the spread of viruses between species? Izzy Ross is a climate solutions reporter for Interlochen Public Radio and wrote about the threat of bird flu spreading to dairy cows for Grist. Ross stopped by Climate Cast to talk about the link between bird flu and climate change.

Recent abundant levels of rainfall across the state have pulled Minnesota out of drought for the first time since June 2022. Will this rainfall pattern continue? And how are Minnesota's precipitation swings a symptom of climate change? Kenneth Blumenfeld with the Minnesota State Climatology Office talks about recent rainfall across the state and explains how both dry and wet patterns — sometimes lasting several months — are connected to climate change. 

Scientists are concerned that Earth's temperature rise is accelerating, and certain factors known as “tipping points” could speed up the process. What will that mean for the planet and what can be done to keep the planet warming at a fast pace? Andrew Freedman wrote about the new study for Axios and explains the research behind the warming climate report.To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Climate change is putting stress on the traditional spruce and pines in Minnesota's northern forests — and there's real concern about their future.So, researchers are planting trees from the southern parts of our state in hopes of saving our northern forests.It's called assisted migration and University of Minnesota professor Julie Etterson is studying if it can be an effective strategy for reforesting and fighting climate change.

An increasing number of wildfires in Canada and the western U.S. is pumping smoke toward Minnesota.But how much smoke will reach Minnesota? And how do meteorologists forecast wildfire smoke events and trends across the state? The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's supervisory meteorologist Matt Taraldsen talks about the wildfire smoke that sullies Minnesota's blue skies and triggers air quality alerts.To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Flash floods and extreme temperatures — both heat and cold — are having a negative impact on infrastructure across the Midwest. These extreme weather swings take a toll on roads, bridges and railroads, leading to headaches for travel and daily commutes.Kiley Price wrote about the threat for Inside Climate News and joined MPR News meteorologist Paul Huttner to explain what's being done to address the aging infrastructure in the Midwest.

Climate change-enhanced rainfall events threaten nearly 92,000 dams across the U.S. and many are over 100 years old — including dams in Minnesota. Climate reporter Kristoffer Tigue wrote about aging dams and the risk for extreme rainfall for Inside Climate News. Tigue joined MPR News meteorologist Paul Huttner to explain how extreme weather events pose a threat to dams in Minnesota and the Midwest. To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Lakes are a part of Minnesota's Identity. While the thousands of lakes are cherished for their recreational accessibility across the state, some of those pristine bodies of water could — one day — help generate a vast amount of clean energy through solar power. Matt Simon wrote about floating solar panels for Grist. Simon talked to MPR News meteorologist Paul Huttner about floatovoltaics.To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.