New research from the University of Texas at Austin shows wind is largely responsible for droughts in California, not the amount of evaporated moisture or human activity. The finding, which was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, shows that while evaporation of the Pacific Ocean is a major source of California’s precipitation, the amount of water evaporating does not have a major impact on the amount of rain. The researchers note the Pacific evaporation rate does not really change from year to year, so rainfall rates wouldn’t change either. “Ocean evaporation provides moisture for California precipitation but is not the reason for droughts there,” Jiangfeng Wei, lead author and research scientist at The University of Texas at Austin, said in a press release. The finding helps scientists understand how the water cycle plays into extreme weather events, like the California drought, and could aid in drought prediction moving forward. The researchers say the current California drought is due to a high-pressure system that is disturbing atmospheric circulation. National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Sukup told The Daily Caller News Foundation that the high pressure system — or “ridge” as it’s known — has been “persisting above southern California for 5 years.” Sukup said a high pressure system forces “storm tracks to stay north” as opposed to dumping rain on California. “When high pressure patterns develop, they are hard to break through,” Sukup told TheDCNF. Sukup said it is normal for southern California to have a high pressure system in summer, but that it usually disappears in the winter, allowing storms to break through. The current high pressure system has been unusually stubborn. Wei attributed the system to global warming. “Although this is a very rare event, the probability of this kind of high-pressure system is likely increasing with global warming,” Wei said. A 2014 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) study, however, found global warming is not to blame for the drought. Droughts in California are not uncommon, according to NOAA. “It’s important to note that California’s drought, while extreme, is not an uncommon occurrence for the state,” Richard Seager, lead author of the NOAA study and professor with Columbia University’s Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, told USA Today in 2014. “In fact, multiyear droughts appear regularly in the state’s climate record, and it’s a safe bet that a similar event will happen again,” Seager continued. Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, found fault with NOAA’s research regarding the cause of the California drought. “The authors of the new report would really have us believe that [the drought] is merely a coincidence and has nothing to do with the impact of human-caused climate change,” Mann said in a piece published by The Huffington Post. “Frankly, I don’t find that even remotely plausible.” Climatologists in the 1970s blamed California’s droughts on global cooling, not warming. Follow Craig Boudreau on Twitter. Any tips or info? Email Craig at craig@dailycallernewsfoundation.org |

Energy

New research from the University of Texas at Austin shows wind is largely responsible for droughts in California, not the amount of evaporated moisture or human activity. The finding, which was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, shows that while evaporation of the Pacific Ocean is a major source of California’s precipitation, the amount of water evaporating does not have a major impact on the amount of rain. The researchers note the Pacific evaporation rate does not really change from year to year, so rainfall rates wouldn’t change either. “Ocean evaporation provides moisture for California precipitation but is not the reason for droughts there,” Jiangfeng Wei, lead author and research scientist at The University of Texas at Austin, said in a press release. The finding helps scientists understand how the water cycle plays into extreme weather events, like the California drought, and could aid in drought prediction moving forward. The researchers say the current California drought is due to a high-pressure system that is disturbing atmospheric circulation. National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Sukup told The Daily Caller News Foundation that the high pressure system — or “ridge” as it’s known — has been “persisting above southern California for 5 years.” Sukup said a high pressure system forces “storm tracks to stay north” as opposed to dumping rain on California. “When high pressure patterns develop, they are hard to break through,” Sukup told TheDCNF. Sukup said it is normal for southern California to have a high pressure system in summer, but that it usually disappears in the winter, allowing storms to break through. The current high pressure system has been unusually stubborn. Wei attributed the system to global warming. “Although this is a very rare event, the probability of this kind of high-pressure system is likely increasing with global warming,” Wei said. A 2014 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) study, however, found global warming is not to blame for the drought. Droughts in California are not uncommon, according to NOAA. “It’s important to note that California’s drought, while extreme, is not an uncommon occurrence for the state,” Richard Seager, lead author of the NOAA study and professor with Columbia University’s Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, told USA Today in 2014. “In fact, multiyear droughts appear regularly in the state’s climate record, and it’s a safe bet that a similar event will happen again,” Seager continued. Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, found fault with NOAA’s research regarding the cause of the California drought. “The authors of the new report would really have us believe that [the drought] is merely a coincidence and has nothing to do with the impact of human-caused climate change,” Mann said in a piece published by The Huffington Post. “Frankly, I don’t find that even remotely plausible.” Climatologists in the 1970s blamed California’s droughts on global cooling, not warming. Follow Craig Boudreau on Twitter. Any tips or info? Email Craig at [email protected]

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Chris White

July 6, 2016 5:36 PM ET

Tesla Motors was aware a man died using the company’s autopilot technology in May when it sold $2 billion in stock in an effort to raise capital to produce the Model 3, Fortune Magazine reported Tuesday.

Tesla said it “immediately” notified the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) about the accident and death of Joshua Brown, Tesla said in a statement issued June 30. Brown was killed when his Model S collided with a tractor-trailer.

NHTSA chose to sit on the information until announcing in late June.

Less than two weeks after Brown died, Tesla and CEO Elon Musk sold more than $2 billion of Tesla stock in a public offering at a price of $215 per share—the electric vehicle company did all of this without notifying its shareholders or the public about the wreck.

Musk argued in an email to Fortune Magazine Tuesday the wreck “is not material to the value of Tesla.”

Musk admonished Fortune for what he thought was misleading the public about the safety of Tesla’s self-driving technology.

“Indeed, if anyone bothered to do the math (obviously, you did not) they would realize that of the over 1M auto deaths per year worldwide, approximately half a million people would have been saved if the Tesla autopilot was universally available. Please, take 5 mins and do the bloody math before you write an article that misleads the public.”

News that Tesla hid information about the wreck from the public comes as shareholders and investors continue to fret the company’s business model may hurt its value.

CtW Investor Group, a group holding 200,000 shares of Tesla, raised warning bells in June, said the market’s “hostile reaction” to Tesla’s proposed merger to solar panel company SolarCity was induced, in part, by the group’s recognition that Donald Kendall, chief executive of investment management firm Kenmont, is the only person on the SolarCity board without deep-rooted ties to Musk.

Six out of seven board members with the solar panel company have direct connections with Elon Musk, the CEO and chairman of both companies.

“This is particularly questionable when six out of our seven board members have ties to SolarCity,” a CtW letter to Tesla noted. “This raises a serious question about whose interests the board is serving — the stockholders of Tesla or the stockholders of SolarCity.”

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