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- Currently in the Twin Cities — October 4, 2023: A return to fall weather
Currently in the Twin Cities — October 4, 2023: A return to fall weather
Plus, could a coalition Speaker of the House avoid a shutdown?
Sven Sundgaard & Eric Holthaus
October 03, 2023
The weather, currently.
A return to fall weather
The anomalous heat all comes to an end Tuesday night as the first of two blasts of cool air moves in. We’ll see overnight showers and thunderstorms Tuesday night followed by temperatures Wednesday that will actually be closer to normal (around 70 for a high).
In additional to several record breaking temperature readings over the past several days, we also broke another milestone: the most days at 80 degrees or warmer in the Twin Cities. The previous record was 98 days in 1955 but Tuesday marked the 101st day of high temperatures of at least 80 degrees. One third of those (33) were at 90°+ which ties for the 4th most ever.
What you need to know, currently.
A US government shutdown just become more likely — again.
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives voted out their leader for the first time in national history. What comes next isn’t readily apparent.
What are the odds we get 12 fully funded appropriation bills in the next six weeks? Zero or less than that? 🙃
— em dash aficionado (@imjacobnotjames)
11:43 PM • Oct 3, 2023
While the House is in a chaos of their own making, no business will get done. And the deal to stop a shutdown last weekend gave only a 45-day window — until November 17th — to formulate and pass funding bills for the entirety of the federal government.
The Washington Post has a good overview (gift link) of all the effects on the environment, climate, and weather operations of the federal government if the government shuts down. Some highlights:
Less enforcement of clean air and water protections. Closure of national parks and other public lands. Interruption of some environmental cleanups. Delays in new federal rules aimed at boosting clean energy.
Those are some of the potential effects of a federal shutdown — consequences that could compound the longer Congress is unable to agree on a way to keep the government operating.
While we are in the middle of an escalating climate emergency, having a functioning federal government is in everyone’s best interest — it helps direct disaster aid, it helps coordinate greenhouse gas regulations, it can stimulate investment in renewable energy.
There’s also a scenario in all this mess that Republicans effectively lose control of the House — and form a coalition government with Democrats — something that has hardly ever been tested in national American politics but is common in other parts of the world. Here’s hoping.
If there are 8 Republicans, perhaps moderate ones, interested in a Coalition government, even temporarily, Hakeem Jefferies would make a great Speaker of the House.
— MidwestCharm (@voter_indie)
12:26 AM • Oct 4, 2023
What you can do, currently.
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One of my favorite organizations, Mutual Aid Disaster Relief, serves as a hub of mutual aid efforts focused on climate action in emergencies — like hurricane season. Find mutual aid network near you and join, or donate to support existing networks:
