A massive ocean heat wave is underway in the Pacific Ocean. The Washington Post reports that higher temperatures are apparent ‟across a 5,000-mile swath of the Pacific — from Micronesia to the coastal waters of California.” This is linked to a forming El Niño, and will likely ‟boost temperatures, humidity and the threat for tropical storms in the West during the months ahead.” There will be more moisture in coming months, which could bring some rainfall to drought-stricken areas, but this will also bring higher temperatures (especially warmer nights). ‟Then, later in summer, the marine heat wave and a forming El Niño could join forces to boost monsoonal thunderstorm activity across the West. This could enhance fire risks in the region — as dry lightning strikes can spark wildfires.”

The New York Times reports that ‟the U.S. Forest Service is closing 57 of its 77 research facilities in 31 states under a reorganization plan announced this week, threatening science that looked at how wildfires, drought, pests and global warming are putting pressure on forests.” The reorganization will also move the agency’s headquarters to Salt Lake City from Washington, which is expected to cause many employees to leave the service. The agency already lost 5,860 of its 35,550 employees during the first half of 2025 due to Elon Musk and ‟DOGE.” This move is being criticized for many reasons, including the fact that, at present, the western U.S. is suffering from a prolonged drought that will lead to a high risk of wildfires this summer.

Bill McKibben examines this change to the US Forest Service in The New Yorker. The new Chief of the Service, a former timber-industry executive, states that ‟The value of National Forest System lands is demonstrated by providing various forest products, such as timber, lumber, paper, bioenergy, and other wood products.” McKibben says that he was told ‟over a beer with one of the heads of the Clinton-era Forest Service, that its research showed unequivocally that the greatest value of those millions of acres was not timber or even recreation but the way that intact forests absorb and filter water, which reduces both flooding and the need for expensive artificial filtration.” This is an example of an ‟ecosystem service,” a valuable input to our economy that is rarely quantified (and I’m sure happily ignored by the Trump Administration).

In another example of physical evidence matching previous predictions from climate scientists, Scientific American notes that, in the Arctic, the annual winter maximum for sea ice extent in 2026 tied for the lowest amount ever recorded by satellite monitoring. This has implications for Arctic ecosystems, but what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic, because the Arctic ice cap reflects 90% of incoming solar energy back into space. The ice-free ocean water absorbs 70% of this energy, and that will change weather patterns and cause further ice melt.

Canary Media delves into efforts by utilities to manage increased electrical demand as homeowners switch to EVs and other electrical devices. By managing demand, consumers can still get the electricity they require, while utilities and consumers can avoid expensive upgrades to support short-lived demand peaks. The technologies described, if deployed at scale, could help utilities avoid billions of dollars in grid upgrades.

Meanwhile, many Americans are facing challenges paying their electric bills, which keep rising. The Insurance Journal describes the hardship this is creating for many ratepayers in West Virginia. Of course, with the astonishing drop in the cost of solar electricity, some countries are responding differently. The iPaper describes a plan to provide free balcony solar units to needy families in the UK. PV-Tech notes that ‟the Australian government has announced a new regulated electricity offer requiring energy retailers to provide free solar electricity to households during peak daytime generation periods, regardless of whether customers have rooftop solar installations.”

In another example of the “make America poisonous again” campaign, The New York Times reports that the EPA has proposed to weaken clean-up requirements for hundreds of sites that contain waste from burning coal. The action reverses a 2024 regulation adopted by the Biden Administration to address the threat to drinking water from coal ash (what remains after burning coal for electric power), as the ash contains ‟a toxic mix of metals and other pollutants, including lead, arsenic, cadmium, chromium and mercury, which can contaminate groundwater if not properly stored.”

There has been ongoing drought in the Southeast, and now major wildfires are burning across southern Georgia. The New York Times describes the fires, which are impacting air quality in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina. As of April 22, 54 homes had been destroyed and more than 5,000 acres had burned. Grist notes that Georgia Governor Kemp has issued disaster declarations for 91 counties. While wildfires in Georgia are not uncommon, ‟rainfall and water levels are far below normal across Georgia, increasing fire risk. Conditions like this are becoming more likely in many places as climate change worsens the intensity and duration of droughts.” Fires are also burning in northern Florida.

In The New York Times, David Wallace-Wells examines the impact of the war with Iran (and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz) on the transition to green energy. While some had predicted that coal burning would rise (and that has happened in certain places), overall the war appears to be accelerating the transition. ‟…between February and March, the world didn’t just tighten its fossil fuel use; it spent money on new green stuff. China’s solar, battery and E.V. exports grew 39 percent. The country’s solar exports alone more than doubled during that time. In South Korea, March saw new E.V. registrations double compared with the same time last year. In New Zealand, new registrations nearly doubled over two weeks.” Since the war started, France, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Turkey — among other countries — announced new clean-energy initiatives.

Reuters examines the jump in solar-panel exports from China in March. Panel exports surged 42.2% with imports ​by countries in Africa and Southeast Asia doubling from February. Imports by the Philippines, which is targeting faster solar additions through 2030, ‟nearly quadrupled from a year earlier ​to 109,513 tons.” I find it interesting that we now track solar panels by the ton.

The New York Times reports on the enormous investments in renewable energy being made in India. ‟By the end of last year, it had 55 solar parks, including one that stretched across 14,000 acres of desert. The solar farms alone were producing 40 gigawatts — enough energy to power about 80 million rural households. Smaller rooftop arrays sprouted seemingly everywhere. India announced last summer that it could meet 50 percent of its electricity requirements with renewables alone, years ahead of schedule.” India has a rickety and poorly-planned electrical grid, and so its challenge is delivering that electricity during peak hours.

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