National Weather Forecast

Rainy weather is expected to end the week across the eastern United States, as multiple systems bring the potential for showers and storms from the Great Lakes to New England and the Southeast. Most of the rest of the nation will be fairly quiet.

Some areas of the eastern United States could see upward of ~2” of rain through the first half of the weekend.

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Texas economy slows as summers get hotter, Dallas Fed economists say

More from the Texas Tribune: “Each degree of warming in Texas slows the state’s economy, an analysis by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas found. Extreme heat this year may have cost the Texas economy $24 billion, or reduced the state’s nominal gross domestic product, or GDP, by about 1 percentage point in 2023, the economists calculated in a report released Wednesday. Using data from the last two decades, the economists found that in general, for every degree of higher temperature in summer, Texas sees a slowdown of 0.4% in economic growth. The results are in line with previous economic studies that have found hotter summers tend to reduce business activity.

The US just made its biggest-ever investment in the grid

More from Canary Media: “The Biden administration is making a historic investment in the core infrastructure of the energy transition — the country’s power grid. On Wednesday, the Department of Energy announced $3.5 billion in grants to expand capacity for wind and solar power, harden power lines against extreme weather, integrate batteries and electric vehicles, and build out microgrids that can keep the lights on during power outages. The announcement named 58 projects across 44 states eligible to receive federal funding. When matched by funds from state and local governments and utility and industry partners, they will represent more than $8 billion in investment. All told, it’s the ​“largest-ever investment in America’s grid,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a press briefing from Locust Grove, Georgia, one of the locations that will receive some of the funding.

The first solar panel factory built since the passage of the IRA is complete

More from electrek: “Solar giant Qcells announced today that it’s completed the expansion of its Dalton, Georgia, factory – what it calls the “largest manufacturing plant of its kind in the western hemisphere.” It’s also the first solar panel factory to be built since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. Qcells has added 2 gigawatts (GW) of solar capacity to its Dalton factory, bringing its full output to more than 5.1 GW. This is the third time the factory has expanded after opening in 2019. Two new solar products will be assembled there: the Q.TRON G2 residential solar panel and a bifacial panel for the utility market. Dalton is going to make nearly 30,000 solar panels per day. The factory expansion has created 510 additional jobs, and by 2024, Dalton will employ nearly 1,800 people.

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– D.J. Kayser