Currently in the Twin Cities — October 18, 2023: Cloudy and a few showers

The weather, currently.

A few showers are on the way for Wednesday but don’t look for a lot of measurable rainfall in southern Minnesota. This system will largely be moisture-starved after several days of a cool, dry northwest flow. Most of the Twin Cities area is likely to see under one-tenth of an inch but there could be a few lucky spots that get more.

The best chances of one-quarter to one-half inch will be in northern Minnesota. Thursday should be dry and slightly cooler but another system will clip us Friday with a few more spotty showers. The weekend is looking nice.

— Sven Sundgaard

What you need to know, currently.

The UN Climate Change Conference, COP28, is about a month and a half away. However, after last year's conference — which emphasized Climate Finances — wealthy nations are still falling far behind on financial commitments.

The majority of these promises are already overdue. In 2009 wealthy nations promised to pay $100 billion per year in climate finance to the Global South by 2020.

Earlier this month the UN's main fund created to support these goals — the Green Climate Fund — announced that it had raised $9.3 billion, falling short of a $10 billion target. This comes nowhere near the $200-$250 billion the UN estimates developing nations will actually need each year by 2030.

The US and China, the globe's two largest polluters, failed to contribute to the fund at all.

At least years COP, held in Egypt, countries also agreed to create a “Loss and Damage Fund.” A fund where wealthy nations would contribute funds to assist developing nations as they recover from inevitable climate disasters, i.e. loss and damages.

Almost a year later, there is no clear path forward for the creation or execution of this fund.

— Abbie Veitch

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: