Rain Bullseye Near The Ohio Valley – Tracking Heat – National Weather Outlook For August 5, 2022

National Weather Forecast

A frontal boundary on Friday extending from the central Plains to the Northeast will continue to produce the potential of showers and thunderstorms. Another frontal boundary from the Northern Plains to the western United States will also produce storm chances. More monsoonal rain is expected across the Southwestern states, and some storms will be possible near the Gulf Coast.

While a lot of the lower 48 could see rainfall over the next few days, the heaviest will likely fall across portions of the Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley, and Gulf Coast, with 2-3” of rain possible in some of these areas.

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Xcel’s $300M electric vehicle plan includes 730 high-speed chargers in Minnesota

More from the Star Tribune: “Anchored with a huge buildout of fast charging stations, Xcel Energy on Tuesday unveiled a plan to spend $300 million to greatly expand its electric vehicle presence in Minnesota. Minneapolis-based Xcel, in a filing with Minnesota utility regulators, proposed building 730 new fast-charging stations across Minnesota during the next several years — an investment alone of about $170 million. It also would operate those chargers. While other charging station initiatives are underway in the state, none comes close to Xcel’s proposal. Currently, Minnesota only has about 55 public DC fast-charging stations, though there are at least another 20 supercharging stations for Tesla owners.”

New report quantifies the costs of buying a home that has previously flooded

More from Grist: “Americans take a lot of factors into consideration before buying a new home: Is it in a good school district, how many bathrooms does it have, does it have good bones? New research shows people should also be asking about their home’s flood history, because the wrong answer could be costly. A new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council, or NRDC, shows that people who buy homes with a history of flooding in three U.S. states — North Carolina, New Jersey, and New York — can expect to pay tens of thousands more dollars in flood damages over the course of their mortgage than the average homeowner. The solution for prospective homebuyers appears to be straightforward: Make sure you take a look at the property’s flood history before signing your name on the dotted line. But in most U.S. states, including North Carolina and New Jersey, state laws don’t require sellers to disclose whether a home has flooded in the past. In New York, such a requirement exists, but sellers can bypass it by paying a $500 fee.”

New technology can help combat climate crisis

More from Northumbria University: “Scientists have created a novel technology that can help to tackle climate change and address the global energy crisis. Northumbria University’s Dr Shafeer Kalathil is among a team of esteemed academics behind the project, which uses a chemical process that converts sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into acetate and oxygen to produce high-value fuels and chemicals powered by renewable energy. As part of the process, bacteria are grown on a synthetic semiconductor device known as a photocatalyst sheet, which means that the conversion can take place without the assistance of organic additives, creation of toxins or use of electricity.”

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– D.J. Kayser