National Weather Forecast

On Friday, a departing low in New England will still bring rain chances, especially earlier in the day across Maine. A frontal boundary from southern Texas to Florida will produce a few showers and storms. A system out west will also bring storm chances.

The heaviest rain from Thursday through Saturday evening will be across portions of the Southeast due to Mindy departing the region, and across portions of eastern New England where some 3”+ tallies are possible.

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Summer 2021 neck and neck with Dust Bowl summer for hottest on record

More from NOAA: “Last month brought Hurricane Ida, numerous wildfires and devastating floods, capping off a summer of record heat and rainfall for many states throughout the country. … The average temperature during meteorological summer for the contiguous U.S. was 74.0 degrees F, 2.6 degrees above average. This technically exceeds the record heat of the 1936 Dust Bowl Summer, but the difference is extremely small (less than 0.01 of a degree F).The average summer precipitation total was 9.48 inches — 1.16 inches above average — making it the eighth-wettest summer in the historical record. Mississippi had its wettest summer on record while Alabama, Massachusetts, Michigan and New York had a summer that ranked among their five wettest. Meanwhile, Minnesota had its seventh-driest summer on record.

Biden administration says solar energy has the potential to power 40% of US electricity by 2035

More from CNN: “A new blueprint from the Biden administration shows how solar energy could play a massive role in transitioning the United States’ power sector to clean energy, and achieve the President’s ambitious goals to decarbonize the US economy. The Solar Futures Study from the Department of Energy, released Wednesday, shows that by 2035, solar energy has the potential to power 40% of the nation’s electricity and employ as many as 1.5 million people — without raising electricity costs for consumers. Though the report shows reaching 40% solar is possible, that goal is contingent on Congress passing legislation that incentivizes renewable energy as well as the widespread adoption of solar power. Congressional Democrats are currently negotiating a $3.5 trillion spending bill that includes tax credits for wind and solar power, but it faces a tough fight this fall.

U.S. connected 2.8 GW wind power capacity to the grid in Q2

More from Renewable Energy World: “The U.S. connected 2.8 gigawatts of wind power capacity to the grid in the second quarter of 2021, according to analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence.Q2 2021 was one of the strongest second quarters on record for wind power capacity additions, according to the analysis. The U.S. now has 127 GW of cumulative wind power capacity with a pipeline of 62 GW under development through 2025. “Wind power is the dominant source of renewable energy in the U.S., and it is helping to drive the transformation of the nation’s power grid away from fossil fuels,” S&P analysts Justin Horwath and Krizka Danielle Del Rosario wrote. “The turning point occurred in 2020 when renewable energy became the second-most prevalent source of electricity behind natural gas.”

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– D.J. Kayser