Climate point: A climate and culture odyssey in Arizona

Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. I'm Dinah Voyles Pulver, a national correspondent with Paste BN. Consider this your reminder that hurricane season for legions of folks in the eastern half of the United States is less than 100 days away and you might want to call ahead before traveling long distances to visit national parks or seashores.

For more than a year, the staff of the Arizona Republic examined the "5 C's" that Arizona originally shaped its identity around ‒ and how those C's have morphed over time. The C's are Copper, Cotton, Citrus, Cattle and Climate. The Climate story by Joan Meiners introducing the series is a fascinating read.

It covers the odyssey from the days when promoters lured people to the state by showcasing the its "healthful, sunny, even sexy climate," to the searing temperatures that many residents and visitors now find a "deadly and costly liability." But when you read to the end, it may leave you with an entirely different question. How in the world did that woman manage to recline against that cactus?

The Republic's Clara Migoya looked at how growth pushed the famed large citrus groves out of Phoenix. Today, some growers in Yuma give the industry no more than two decades, amidst the state's water issues and other challenges. Migoya also wrote about how the state's cotton fortunes have changed, talking to families who have farmed land for generations.

Hail watch

What's more costly and destructive than tornadoes? Hail. The world's largest ever field campaign to study the incredible ice chunks is set to begin in the Plains later this year. So what did the witty weather scientists name their project? ICECHIP.

“As the first U.S. hail-focused campaign in over 40 years, ICECHIP aims to make a generational leap forward in our scientific understanding of all critical aspects of hail,” said study co-leader Victor Gensini, a Northern Illinois University atmospheric science professor.

Energy watch

A new report shows solar power has exploded in popularity even as wind power has become less popular. “From the point of view of solar, things have been going very well," said Tom Rolands-Reese, head of research for North America for BloombergNEF, producer of the annual Sustainable Energy in America Factbook.

In North Carolina, the Trump administration's decision to pause offshore wind farms has created "stormy waters" for projects, wrote Gareth McGrath with the Paste BN Network.

Administration watch

Every federal agency with links to climate, weather, wildlife, parks, forests or energy seems to have been touched by terminations over the past two weeks or more as the new administration continues its quest to shrink the size of the federal government and reduce spending. Reporters across the Paste BN Network are examining the local impacts of those cuts.

In South Florida, Everglades supporters worry that cuts could hurt the planned restoration. "We have confirmed at least 27 positions at the Big Cypress National Preserve and the national parks (in south Florida)," said Eve Samples, director of Friends of the Everglades. "And there is evidence that the cuts that have already occurred will hamper the Everglades restoration."

In Wisconsin, tourism boards warn summer along Lake Superior's Apostle Islands may be threatened by federal work force cuts.

Here's what you should know about visiting national parks this summer.

In Rhode Island, Alex Kuffner at the Providence Journal talked to farmers about how the federal spending freeze is affecting them. The owner of one farm was under a contractual agreement with the USDA for a $36,000 purchase for new refrigerators and freezers as the last piece of an improvement project, but received no response after submitting a request for approval.

In Indianapolis, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful fears the word biodiversity in a project proposal to develop a more diverse tree canopy in the city may have been the reason the USDA revoked the grant, amidst evidence that federal agencies are searching for certain key words in grant projects, reports the Indy Star.

For weeks employees of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had been waiting for the hammer to fall for those who were on probation, either because they had been hired in the past couple of years or had been promoted to a new position. On Thursday, the agency learned 880 probationary employees would depart, to the chagrin of meteorologists, climate scientists, ocean advocacy groups and others who are interested in the role NOAA plays in the nation's data collection and climate change analysis.

Earlier in the week, NOAA's National Hurricane Center had just reported that it had its best season ever last year for forecasting the track of the many hurricanes. Forecasting hurricane intensity changes is a little bit bigger of a hurdle to overcome.

Read on for more, including how a group of sea turtles took a temporary detour to a rehab center after lingering too long in colder-than-usual water and the wanderings of two endangered North Atlantic right whales. Some stories below may require a subscription.  If someone forwarded you this email and you'd like to receive Climate Point in your inbox once a week, sign up  here.