Kay Helps To Bring Heavy Rain To The Southwest – National Weather Outlook For September 9, 2022

National Weather Forecast

On Friday, we will continue to see heavy rain across portions of the Southeast due to an area of low pressure and stalled-out frontal boundary. Moisture from Hurricane Kay off of the Yucatan Peninsula will be moving northward into the Southwest, causing heavy rain and bringing a flood concern to the region. A frontal boundary in the upper Midwest will bring those areas showers and some rumbles of thunder.

Two areas of especially heavy rain are expected through the first half of the weekend – one in coastal areas of the Southeast, and a second in southern California. In these areas, rainfall amounts of 3”+ will be possible.

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California’s grid is about to get an overhaul. It needs it.

More from Protocol: “California is about to spend big on climate protection. On Tuesday, the heat hit with a fury. The next day, Gov. Gavin Newsom hit back, signing bills that include $54 billion in climate provisions to be spent over the next five years. That spending includes $1.4 billion in loans to extend the life of Diablo Canyon, the state’s last nuclear power plant and its biggest source of carbon-free energy. There’s also a new framework for carbon capture and storage. And the funding comes just two weeks after the state said it would ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. All of this comes with a new goal to cut greenhouse gas pollution at least 85% by 2045. Funding for the grid could be the lynchpin that holds these plans together — or causes them to fall apart. The state appropriated $8 billion for upgrading the grid. And hoo boy, is it going to need every penny of that.”

After a choppy first half, the outlook for solar turns bright

More from Renewable Energy World: “Unprecedented investments in clean energy and climate change in the Inflation Reduction Act have greatly improved the outlook for the solar industry’s growth in the U.S. following a first half to the year dampened by tariff risks and supply chain constraints, according to a new market report. The Solar Energy Industries Association and Wood Mackenzie published a report that increases their baseline forecast for solar growth over the next five years by 40% in response to the historic law. The groups expect the U.S. to add 162 GW of new capacity through 2027, a 62 GW boost from a previous estimate. If the projections hold up, installed solar capacity in the U.S. could reach 336 GW at that point.”

Green hydrogen: Short-term scarcity, long-term uncertainty

More from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research: “Green hydrogen from renewable electricity and derived e-fuels are uniquely valuable for achieving climate neutrality. They can replace fossil fuels in industry or long-distance transport where direct electrification is infeasible. However, even if production capacities grow as fast as wind and solar power, the growth-rate champions, green hydrogen supply remains scarce in the short-term and uncertain in the long term, a new analysis published in the journal Nature Energy shows. Green hydrogen would likely supply less than 1 % of final energy globally by 2035, while the European Union might hit the 1% mark a little earlier by about 2030. In particular, the EU’s 2030 plan to supply 10 million tons of green hydrogen with domestic capacity will be out of reach, unless policy makers can foster growth that is unprecedented for energy technologies. By 2040, a breakthrough to higher green hydrogen shares is more likely, but large uncertainties prevail, which increase today’s investment risks. However, history shows that emergency-like policy measures could yield substantially higher growth rates, expediting the breakthrough and increasing the likelihood of future hydrogen availability.”

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– D.J. Kayser