Climate Cast

Minnesota’s prairie, in the southwestern part of the state, is a biodiverse ecosystem that’s home to buffalo, bees and tall grass. In the book, "Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin and Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie," Josephine Marcotty and Dave Hage dig into the significance prairies have to the climate. MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner talks with Hage in depth about the American prairie. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation. What drew you to write about the American prairie?The book grew out of a series that Josephine wrote when we were both working with the Minnesota Star Tribune. She was the environment reporter. I was her editor. She had come across a pair of remarkable studies, which showed that today, we are plowing up the continent's remaining grasslands. That's grasslands west of here, into the Dakotas and Montana. We're plowing them up at the rate of a million acres a year. That's about as fast as we're destroying the Amazon rainforest. It's an environmental catastrophe, but nobody's paying attention. It's bad for wildlife, it's bad for clean water and it's especially bad for climate change.How do you think about the prairie in a climate context?These grasslands are one of the greatest carbon sinks on the planet. Grasses inhale carbon dioxide from the air. They exhale oxygen. They take the carbon from that carbon dioxide, and they store it deep underground in Prairie soils. You know, these grasses can have roots that go 8-12 feet deep. It’s estimated that the world's grassland soils hold about a third of all terrestrial carbon stocks. Jo Handelsman at the University of Wisconsin says grassland soils hold more carbon than human beings have emitted since the Industrial Revolution. When you plow open those grasslands, you release all that carbon into the atmosphere and you accelerate climate change.Tell us a little bit about how Minnesota is working on plans to protect the prairies.In Minnesota, we still have like 1-4 percent of the original native prairie. You find it in patches around southwestern and western Minnesota. But Minnesota is also home to the largest prairie restoration project in the United States. It's called Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge. It's up near Crookston, Minn., which was running out of clean water because of agricultural pollution. And they said, “Look, if we can convert this back to prairie, one of the things that prairie plants do is that they filter water and they give you clean groundwater.” They said to the city of Crookston, “We can guarantee you years and years supply of clean water, and so now you can go to Glacial Ridge.” It's just beautiful, huge expanse of tall grasses and wildflowers and butterflies and bees, and it's a magnificent spot.What's your main message about climate change and the prairie?Here's an amazing statistic we came across. There's a beautiful researcher, Tyler Lark at the University of Wisconsin, who does amazing work. He's become a buddy of ours, and here are just two data points from Tyler Lark’s work: One, he estimates that our current rate of plowing up grasslands is the same as adding 11 million cars to the road every year. It's releasing that much carbon as 11 million new cars to the road. But conversely, he also estimated that if we can just protect the remaining grasslands and wetlands in our part of the country, we could meet 20 percent of our commitments under the Paris Climate Change accords just by leaving prairies and wetlands alone, protecting what we've still got.

The University of Minnesota’s Community Climate Leaders program connects students with actionable climate science, impact strategies, and a local network of peers. Christy Marsden, who oversees the program, joined Climate Cast to explain how community members can get involved in climate action.

Earth’s oceans continued to reach record-high temperatures in 2025. And those hotter oceans are fueling stronger and wetter storms.St. Thomas University researcher John Abraham, who reported these findings with his colleagues in the journal “Advances in Atmospheric Sciences,” joined Climate Cast to talk about how the latest research on Earth’s warmer oceans affects the people of Minnesota.

Beneath the harsh winds and temperature of Antarctica, scientists have identified ice cores that give new insights into Earth’s past.Martin Froger Silva works with the National Science Foundation Center for Oldest Ice Exploration. He and a team of researchers have been drilling in Antarctica for ice millions of years old. Silva talked to Climate Cast host Paul Huttner about their research.

It’s not your imagination — the cost of your home insurance is going up. Weather-related extreme events have sent homeowners’ insurance rates skyrocketing. Federal budget cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency will exacerbate these issues, particularly affecting state budgets and risk reduction efforts. In Minnesota, homeowners insurance rates increased the last decade due to hail damage, leading to non-renewals and some companies leaving the market. Jordan Haedtler, a climate financial policy strategist with Climate Cabinet, based in Duluth, talks with MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner about climate-change-fueled risks and steps the state Legislature is taking to address to address the issues.

Climate change has amplified the hydrologic cycle in Minnesota. Our more erratic precipitation patterns are driving faster transitions from drought to floods. So, can AI-driven forecasts help predict floods on rivers like the Mississippi? “We need to make innovations in these sorts of models and in our flood forecasting in general,” said Zac McEachran, a research hydrologist from the University of Minnesota. McEachran talked with MPR News meteorologist Paul Huttner about a new flood forecasting model that uses AI to improve local flood predictions. Click play on the audio player above to listen to this episode or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Weather data suggests Minnesota has warmed more than three degrees in the past 150 years, and the state’s winters have warmed more than five degrees since 1970.So how are Minnesotans seeing and feeling these climate changes? “Here in Minnesota, we are experiencing climate change predominantly in the winter,” said Kristoffer Tigue, a reporter for the Minnesota Star Tribune.“We base a lot of our culture around our winters, and so to have our winters being the season that's changing the most, I think it tells a narrative of the direction we’re going as a state.”Tigue explained that the state is experiencing warmer winters, an increase in precipitation and melting. Tigue wrote about the many ways Minnesotans are seeing climate change — from warmer falls, to a lack of foliage color and wildfire smoke. Click play on the audio player above to listen to this episode or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Minnesota winters are not what they used to be. The bone-chilling season has warmed more than 5 degrees on average since 1970. Those warmer temps have contributed to another weather phenomenon: more snow — even if it doesn’t seem that way.How do we explain that paradox? Climatologist Kenneth Blumenfeld tracks snowfall trends for the Minnesota State Climate Office. He explained the connection between snowfall rates and higher global temperatures on Climate Cast.Click play on the audio player above to listen to this episode or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Minnesota has a goal to move toward 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040.That will have significant impacts on certain parts of the state where coal plays a major part in the economy — like Itasca County.So, how are people in this part of northern Minnesota adapting?Itasca County Commissioner John Johnson spoke about how the county is planning for the transition.Click play on the audio player above to listen to this episode or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

It was another beautiful fall color season in Minnesota, and we know seasonal temperature change is what drives our fall color show.But did you know those trees can react to more subtle microclimates around the state and even within your yard?Tyler Hesseltine is an arborist who works with trees all year long. He talked to Climate Cast host Paul Huttner about how even small landscaping decisions can have a big impact on tree health. Click play on the audio player above to listen to this episode or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Minnesota may be a long way from the ocean, but we have great seafood options.So, how can we choose and prepare seafood that’s delicious and climate sustainable?A new cookbook called “The Blue Food Cookbook: Delicious Seafood Recipes for a Sustainable Future” has some ideas.Minnesota native and four-time James Beard award-winning chef Andrew Zimmern co-wrote the book with seafood expert Barton Seaver.Zimmern shared tips and recipe ideas with Climate Cast host Paul Huttner.Click play on the audio player above to listen to this episode or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

How should Minnesota approach climate change action in the years to come?Minnesotans can have a voice in that process by commenting on the state's latest proposed Climate Action Framework, a comprehensive plan laying out steps Minnesota should take to address climate change and reach a carbon-free future. The last framework was released in 2022 and established a statewide target to reach carbon neutrality by 2050. That framework was adopted into state law in 2023. Kate Knuth, climate director for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, shared more about the framework and how people can get involved on this week’s Climate Cast.Click play on the audio player above to listen to this episode or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Almost 15 million acres in the Midwest grow corn on the same land year after year. That’s about 20 percent of all Midwest cropland.Growing corn in this way produces more greenhouse gas emissions than crop rotation because it releases more nitrous oxide — a greenhouse gas 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.That’s according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group.But cost-effective, climate-smart practices can reduce these emissions in a big way.Anne Schechinger is lead author of the analysis, and she shared more about the findings as well as solutions to offset the climate impacts of continuous corn with Climate Cast host Paul Huttner.Click play on the audio player above to listen to this episode, or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Seasonal migration is underway, and Minnesota's landscape is playing an important role in guiding birds down south.But milder winters across the state can impact the migration process, as well as disrupt food availability and breeding opportunities. “This [is] what we call migratory connectivity,” said Lynn Schofield, a biology instructor and staff biologist at St. Olaf College, “which is to connect all the dots between where the birds are spending their summers, where are they spending their winters and all of the places that they need to go between their summer and winter habitat.” MPR News meteorologist Paul Huttner talked with Schofield about warmer winters in Minnesota and how it’s disrupting summer and winter habitats.Click play on the audio player above to listen to this episode, or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Federal tax credits for solar projects are expiring at the end of this year, and some smaller towns in rural Minnesota have tapped into the benefits.For Climate Cast this week, MPR News meteorologist Paul Huttner talks to Minnesota Star Tribune reporter Kristoffer Tigue about the skepticism around solar power that many small and local governments had adopted over the years and the economic benefits that changed their minds.

Minnesota continues to bask in warmer temperatures, blurring our seasons together. “If you break it up month by month, the biggest change we've seen is Septembers,” said Pete Boulay, assistant state climatologist with the Minnesota State Climate Office. “September is evolving into an extension of summer.”Average temperatures for the fall season have been warming up about one degree a decade since 1970. “Averages used to be, statewide, about 55 degrees,” Boulay said. “Now we’re about 61 degrees for September temperatures, and we’ve had a lot more warmer than cooler Septembers since 2010.”MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner talked with Boulay about the state’s fastest warming month and how it could impact fall colors. To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

New research indicates warmer oceans may change ocean currents and atmospheric patterns in a big way.In this episode of Climate Cast, MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner continues his conversation with John Abraham of the University of St. Thomas about shifting currents in the Atlantic Ocean and the importance of measuring ocean temperatures.

Climate scientists have known about connections between oceans and the atmosphere for decades, but new research indicates warmer oceans may change ocean currents and atmospheric patterns in a big way. MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner talked with John Abraham of the University of St. Thomas about shifting ocean currents in the Atlantic Ocean. The following has been lightly edited for clarity. Click play on the audio player above to listen to this episode, or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.This study finds a higher chance than previously thought that the Atlantic Ocean may see some big changes. What do we need to know here?There’s what's called a conveyor belt in the ocean, and this is water that travels up the East Coast of the United States and then goes toward Greenland, Iceland and Northern Europe. The water gets cold, sinks to the bottom of the ocean and then it travels backward. It sort of goes in a like a loop — or a conveyor belt. That passageway of water is really, really important because it brings heat up to Europe, and it’s the reason why England’s temperatures are much more mild.These scientists discovered that this conveyor belt of water is slowing down, and it will likely stop in the future. It's going to have really crazy consequences for our climate. If that current were to slow down or collapse, how is that going to affect the weather in Europe?This event will likely make Europe colder. If this current shuts down, the heat from the ocean won’t go up all the way to Europe. But the paradox is that this is a result of global warming. So, as the Earth warms, we’re going to have some parts of the planet get really, really hot, and we’re actually going to have some parts get colder. Europe will be one part of the planet that will have this paradoxical outcome of getting colder as the rest of the world gets warmer. What do you think could happen here in Minnesota? How might it affect our daily weather maps?It's going to make our weather more wild. We’re going to have more extremes, especially the hot extremes. It’s going to increase temperatures in the Midwest, and it’s going to also make precipitation events more extreme. In Minnesota, we’ve seen this weather whiplash recently — where we go from cold and dry to hot and wet, back to maybe hot and dry — and we go from one extreme to the other. That is going to become even more significant as climate change continues. But one of the problems we’ve found is what's called a tipping point. And it’s a tipping point where, once you cross it, you can’t stop. It's like a locomotive going down a train track. You can’t just pull the brakes and stop it instantaneously. So this process has started, and it’s going to evolve over about 100 years. Even if humans take drastic action to reduce greenhouse gasses, that’s not likely going to stop this shutdown of this current. It looks like we’ve passed over a threshold, and the natural tendency of the ocean is to change its circulation in a way that redistributes heat. It looks like there’s not much we can do to stop it. The second part of this conversation about shifting ocean currents and climate change will be published next week.

The jet stream, a fast-moving river of air thousands feet above Earth, steers storms and weather systems around the globe.Scientists have been studying how climate changes impact the jet stream for decades. Now, one study in the scientific journal Nature, discovered a jet stream behavior change.“The jet streams are shifting,” said Larry Di Girolamo, professor and climate researcher with the University of Illinois. Di Girolamo worked with NASA to gather statistics from Earth’s atmosphere through the launch of a satellite carrying a Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer. Over the span of 25 years, his research showed that both subtropical and polar jet streams are shifting position and speed, leading to a change in weather patterns. “And this will continue as long as we continue to increase carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” Di Girolamo said.To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Summer is in its waning weeks and weather at the Great Minnesota Get-Together has been fair — for the most part. MPR News meteorologists Paul Huttner, Sven Sunggard and Mandy Thalhuber hosted their annual Climate Cast conversation in front of an audience at the Minnesota State Fair. Together, they reflected on weather patterns from all four seasons. Audience members shared their questions, too, about Minnesota’s changing climate and shifting climate patterns.This discussion was recorded at the Minnesota State Fair on Aug. 27. To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.