Currently in the Twin Cities — August 15, 2024: A couple cooler days

The weather, currently.

We’re nearing that halfway point for August and it’s been a cool one so far. Thanks to the recent cool snap, temps are averaging 1 to 4 deg F below normal across the state. In the Twin Cities it’s our coolest August in 20 years so far! It’s an example of weather versus climate however. Of the past 25 Augusts, this is the 7th only below normal versus 18 that have been above.

We’ll have a couple more cooler than normal days on Thursday and Friday with lingering instability after Wednesday night’s rainfall. The weekend still looks dry and pleasant with highs near 80.

— Sven Sundgaard

What you can do, currently.

A Media Matters analysis found that last year — the hottest calendar year on record — network coverage of climate actually declined in the US. What’s worse, just 12% of reports about climate change mentioned fossil fuels as the driving cause. The media still reported on extreme weather, but stopped short of making the climate connection.

Independent climate journalism like Currently is needed more than ever. And this year, with all of these weather warnings already underway, we’ll unfortunately have plenty of opportunities to do better.