National Weather Forecast

For your Saturday, we’re expecting lake-effect snow downwind of the Great Lakes. A frontal boundary brings showers and storms from the eastern Mid-Atlantic to the Southeast. A system near the Southern Plains/Southwest in Mexico will bring precipitation chances. And, as we head into Saturday Night, a new system out west will start to bring in some rain and higher-elevation snow.

Lake effect snow will be possible downwind of the Great Lakes, with several inches expected to accumulate. The heaviest additional rain will be in parts of Florida, with 1-3” possible.

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Scientists discover signs of ‘modern’ glacier on Mars that hints at buried water ice

More from Space.com: “Remnants of a modern glacier have been found near Mars’ equator, suggesting ice may still exist at shallow depths in the area. If confirmed, such a discovery could have significant implications for future human exploration on the Red Planet. Using data from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), researchers from the SETI Institute and the Mars Institute detected light-toned deposits (LTDs) on the Martian surface. These features consist of light-colored sulfate salts, crevasse fields and moraine bands, which are signs of a “relict glacier.” This relict glacier is located near Mars’ equator at 7° 33’ S, 93° 14’ W, and is estimated to be 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) long and up to 2.5 miles (4 km) wide, with a surface elevation reaching up to 1.1 miles (1.7 km), according to a statement(opens in new tab) from the SETI Institute.

How climatetech incubators rallied to help startups after SVB collapse

More from Canary Media: “Climatetech incubators and startup accelerators help entrepreneurs turn their fledgling ideas into products and technologies by serving as early-stage investors, mentors and networkers that connect newcomers to more established firms. In recent days, however, such programs have taken on another role: crisis manager. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last Friday sent shockwaves through the U.S. economy and the clean energy industry in particular. More than 1,500 companies working on climate-focused technologies had their money tied up in the financial institution — including climatetech startups that suddenly had to worry about being forced to shut down just as they were gaining their footing. As the dust continues to settle, it’s still unclear how deeply the debacle will affect companies that are developing novel and expensive technologies geared at fighting climate change. Leaders of programs that foster and develop startups say their organizations can play an important role in helping entrepreneurs through this next period of uncertainty.

Clean electricity to reach as high as 90% by 2030

More from PV Magazine: “Following the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and The Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sees the nation on a path to rapid, near-term growth in emissions-free electricity, while reducing costs for consumers, lowering harmful pollution, mitigating climate change, and creating new economic opportunities along the way. In collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the DOE evaluated an advanced planning model that identifies least-cost power-sector investment portfolios accounting for major provisions of both laws. Provisions evaluated include, among others, tax credits for new clean electricity generation, energy storage, and carbon capture and sequestration and a variety of non-tax IRA and Infrastructure Law provisions. The analysis found that clean electricity as a percentage of total generation could increase to over 80% in 2030 under mid-case assumptions. The low-case and high-case projections place clean energy’s share of electricity generation between 71% to 90%. This is substantially greater than the 41% share emissions-free electricity achieved in 2022.

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– D.J. Kayser