Areas Of Heavy Rainfall Continue – National Weather Outlook For May 15, 2023

by | May 15, 2023 | Weather

National Weather Forecast

As we head into the work week, a frontal boundary from the Southwest to the Mid-Atlantic will bring storm chances from the Rockies to the Southeast. A few snow showers will also be possible in the Colorado Rockies. Some storms will be possible across the interior Northwest. A few record highs will continue to be possible in the Pacific Northwest.

Several inches of rain could accumulate through the first part of the week across the Southern and Central Plains. Only a few inches of snow will accumulate at the higher elevations of the Colorado Rockies.

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Controlled Burns Help Prevent Wildfires, Experts Say. But Regulations Have Made It Nearly Impossible to Do These Burns.

More from ProPublica: ““At this time of year, it’s a race against what we call green-up,” said Seth McKinney, fire management officer for the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, as eye-stinging smoke curled over newly emerging shoots of grass nourished by a wet winter. “We are threading that needle to find the right time in between a rainstorm, red flag conditions” — when winds, temperatures and dry conditions magnify wildfire risk — “and snow melt.” McKinney is trying to prevent conflagrations like the Marshall Fire, the most destructive wildfire in the state’s history, which killed two people and incinerated 1,084 residences and seven businesses in December 2021. That fire ignited in overgrown grasslands crisscrossed by unkempt ditches, which together spread flames into urban areas with unprecedented speed, according to scientific simulations and eyewitnesses.”

Rooftop Solar Panels Could Power a Third of U.S. Manufacturing, Study Finds

More from Gizmodo: “U.S. manufacturing takes up a lot of energy, but there’s untapped potential in solar power for that sector, new research finds. A study looked at how installing solar panels throughout manufacturing sites could meet a third of that sector’s power needs. Researchers used a survey from the Department of Energy and compared states to understand where rooftop solar could best supply electricity needs for manufacturing. They found that companies that focus on textiles, apparel, and furniture would benefit the most from transitioning to solar energy. Their work is published in the journal Environmental Research: Sustainability and Infrastructure.”

Biden administration seeks to boost carbon capture in power plants

More form Marketplace: “The Biden administration is out with a new plan to crack down on the electric power industry’s greenhouse gas emissions. Part of the plan calls for power plants that run on coal and natural gas to be outfitted with systems that can capture carbon. The goal is to remove 90% of industry emissions by 2035. A giant bundle of money is earmarked for these “carbon capture” systems in last year’s Inflation Reduction Act. So how does it work? Picture for a moment the smokestacks at a power plant. They’re designed to let carbon, produced while generating power, escape into the air. “You can’t just stick a straw into an emissions point source and just grab CO₂ because it’s in low concentration,” said Tip Meckel, senior research scientist at the University of Texas at Austin. He said one method isolates carbon dioxide, attaching it to a liquid.”

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