Strong El Niño likely and Arnold Schwarzenegger wants environmentalists to wake up

Summer is closing in across the U.S. but many already are dealing with the heat and that’s only expected to get worse.

Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy, and the environment. I'm Dinah Voyles Pulver, a member of Paste BN's national climate team.

A heat wave swept the Pacific Northwest over the weekend. Seattle and Portland saw record-breaking heat, adding to conditions that produced May temperatures as much as 20 to 25 degrees higher than normal from the Canadian border south to California. The arrival of El Niño could mean warmer than normal and drier than normal conditions in that region, during a time when they depend on rain and snow for much of their annual precipitation. 

Climate scientists say the chances are increasing for a strong El Nino in the Pacific Ocean by summer. Water temperatures in the El Niño region off the South American coast in early May were just a fraction below the threshold that marks the warm phase of the El Nino - Southern Oscillation, NOAA reported. 

With the projected warming from an El Niño on top of the already warmer-than-normal ocean temperatures across much of the globe, scientists in the U.S. and Europe say the chances are increasing that the world could soon see a new record high average temperature.

The World Meteorological Organization is "sounding the alarm that we will breach the 1.5°C level on a temporary basis with increasing frequency," WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas said this week.

April was the warmest month on record in the Southern Hemisphere and global average ocean temperatures set a record high for the month of April. 

Meanwhile, in California, hikers on the Pacific Coast Trail in early May grappled with record snow and other challenging conditions, writes Erin Rode with the Desert Sun. This year’s “big snow” was among the examples of how extreme weather and climate change impacts are reshaping the culture of the storied trail.

Transitioning to clean energy

Energy transition headlines this week focused on a debate over nuclear energy as clean energy in North Carolina, the use of electric school buses in Arizona, and Rhode Island’s planned phase-out of trucks and cars that use fossil fuels. 

North Carolina officials are debating a proposal to redefine “renewable energy” as “clean energy," Gareth McGrath reported. The measure would put nuclear power on an even playing field with wind, solar and hydroelectric power as the state works toward the goal of a carbon-free power grid. 

For the Arizona Republic, Joan Meiners wrote about efforts to snag federal grants to help buy new electric buses. Officials say the buses will protect children and help them learn.

In Rhode Island, Alex Kuffner reported residents won’t be forced to buy an electric car or give up their fuel-powered vehicles, but it might be harder to buy a gasoline-powered vehicle by 2030.

Arnold Schwarzenegger argued environmentalists are slowing the green energy transition in an opinion column in Paste BN. The actor and former California governor said it’s “time for our environmental movement to wake up to the new reality and to change and adapt.” 

“Our progress is moving so quickly that it is hard to imagine how we could ever fail,” Schwarzenegger said. “But I want to be clear: we can fail, and if we do, it won’t be a failure of innovation.”

Around the nation

A new wildlife management area opened in Montana, allowing the public into more than 100,000 acres of mountain foothills and prairie grasslands, while keeping that land open for ranchers to graze cattle, wrote David Murray at the Great Falls Tribune.

In Indiana, Sarah Bowman at the Indianapolis Star explored the new and expanded roles women are filling in agriculture, whether it’s on the farm or as agronomists, conservationists, and educators. The number of producers and female-operated farms in the U.S. increased by roughly 25% from just five years prior.

The mystery of what causes fecal contamination on beaches at Michigan's Lake St. Clair was investigated by an Ohio State University researcher, reported Keith Matheny with the Detroit Free Press. Turns out it comes from a variety of sources.

Read on for stories about how state wildlife officials are trying to figure out what new mystery disease is making Florida panthers sick and a debate on whether to move climate-threatened species. There’s news you can use on attracting butterflies or your improving chances of seeing the aurora borealis.

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