Australia has had three days of nearly calm winds and the batteries -- that the magical thinking people of Big Climate thought would prevent wind energy failures -- failed on the first day.  The nation is now in serious trouble -- it is similar to the 2021 Texas cold wave and electricity crisis. Jo Nova has details here . These Rube Goldberg solar and [especially!] wind schemes are crazy. The drive down electric reliability and cause rates to skyrocket. 

Grok On one level, this piece by Australia's Jo Nova is hilarious . The Australian Bureau of Meteorology is joining companies like United Airlines and Wal•Mart in blaming the weather for their performance problems. Australia's Channel 7 news says: Australians are facing a new climate reality where traditional weather patterns no longer apply, with scientists warning that “climate whiplash” is making seasonal forecasts increasingly unreliable and costly. The phenomenon has left meteorologists struggling to predict what’s coming next, as one season can bring floods, fires, storms and record heat with little warning. My "favorite" comment?   But forecasters admit anything is possible in the current climate. So -- surprise -- the Aussie meteorologists want more money because it is getting harder to forecast the weather at 90 days in the future.  While I have zero experience forecasting 90 day weather Down Under, I do know that our 90-day forecasts are of poor quality no ...

In spite of subsidies.... Alternative energy has always been a bad joke. It is a shame so many otherwise intelligent people fell for it. 

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology still doesn't care about the accuracy of its thermometers . 

In Australia, where they are 'ahead' of the United States in renewables, suffered a collapse of wind energy due to an innocent high pressure system. The details are here .  Every day, the United States gets more and more vulnerable to this type of disaster. 

Since there's no football since the Chiefs' incredible victory over the Eagles, I'm providing two funnies this week.  Since watching a new electric car owner (college professor) brag and brag about how his new electric car has "no emissions," I thought this might be humorous.  More specifically, a load of "non-emitting fuel" 🙄 for your EV. 

When the  Washington Post  published an article  Wednesday about the human tendency to be unable to reverse one's opinions, regardless of the evidence, I thought of wind energy and the Rube Goldberg devices that are being patched onto it because of its many serious issues. For the young: Rube Goldberg was best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated gadgets performing simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. The cartoons led to the expression " Rube Goldberg Machines " to describe similar gadgets and processes. (Wikipedia) Below is an example. This machine was 'designed' to mail a letter.  In the world of electricity generated by coal, gas, hydro and nuclear, things are done in a straightforward way. Unfortunately, wind and solar are so filled with flaws, their workarounds increasingly resemble Rube Goldberg Machines. As a reminder:  Wind turbines only turn when the wind speeds are between about 6 and 30 mph and when the temperature is warmer than...

In Australia , they are installing a wind farm, an energy source that only works part time to begin with, in a location where it can be operated just seven months of the year! The reason for the part-time operation is that operating it the year 'round would endanger the Orange-Bellied Parrot. Really. Wind farms produce energy ~30% of the time. This wind farm, over the course of a year, will produce power an estimated 17% of the time! Plus, they have to spend hundreds of millions on transmission lines and an undersea cable.  This is utterly insane.  In Europe from last week: Wind Energy's Poor Production Just Gets Worse:  The above isn't the only recent study showing wind turbines failing prematurely. Here's another .  As Warren Buffet said, "For example, on wind energy, we get a tax credit if we build a lot of wind farms. That's the only reason to build them. They don't make sense without the tax credit." My opinion based on the evidence?       ...

Observations of the upper atmosphere, as measured by instruments carried aloft by balloons, are the mother's milk of weather forecasts. Other than a few hours in advance, weather forecasts cannot be made without them.  So, this report from Australia is highly alarming . It is especially the case because weather balloons, because of the lack of land mass, are so rare in the Southern Hemisphere. We are having issues with weather balloon launches in the USA.  Increasingly, we seem to have a lack of genuine management experience in meteorology. 

With earth's warmer temperatures we get longer growing seasons and record agricultural production . As compared to the cold of the 50's-70's, agricultural famine is nearly a thing of the past.  Global warming: Is there anything it can't do?!

Multiple tornadoes struck Australia yesterday. As you watch the video note the debris on the leading edge is moving from right to left. This is clockwise  which is opposite of most tornadoes in the United States. Note: See correction in comments Radar from Perth shows the hook echo associated with one of the tornadoes. Again, backward from the U.S., just as you would expect in the southern hemisphere. In Bangladesh, the news is tragic . (Reuters) - A tornado swept through nearly two dozen villages southeast of the Bangladeshi capital, killing at least 20 people, tearing roofs off houses and uprooting trees and power pylons, officials said.