Jim Spencer

Oct 29, 2024 | windpowerengineering.com | Jim Spencer

The United States is on pace to miss its climate goals by a wide margin. In the 2015 Paris Agreement, the country pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030. But as of January 2024, nine years on, the reduction has been only 17%, leaving the remaining 33% to be eliminated over the next six years and requiring a threefold increase in the reduction rate.

May 24, 2024 | kxan.com | Nick Bannin |Kristen Currie |Rich Segal |Jim Spencer

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Meteorological summer begins June 1 and we're already talking about triple digit heat before our hottest season has even begun. The seasonal outlook from the Climate Prediction Center points to high confidence that all of Texas and most of the lower 48 states will experience a warmer-than-normal summer. The 30-year average number of triple-digit days per year in Austin at Camp Mabry is now up to 29 and the First Warning Weather Team expects we exceed that.

May 23, 2024 | kxan.com | Nick Bannin |Kristen Currie |Rich Segal |Jim Spencer

AUSTIN (KXAN) - While June 1 marks the beginning of meteorological summer, it also signifies the start of Atlantic Hurricane Season. A number of factors suggest that we could be in for a very busy few months ahead in the tropical Atlantic. Although a winter El Niño brought wetter-than-normal conditions to much of Central Texas, it didn't bring enough rain to the Hill Country. Now El Niño is in the process of wrapping up quickly as part of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation cycle, or ENSO.

May 22, 2024 | kxan.com | Nick Bannin |Kristen Currie |Rich Segal |Jim Spencer

AUSTIN (KXAN) - As Central Texas' wettest month of the year (May) draws to a close, some will see this as a missed opportunity for beneficial rain leading into the summer months. This May, though, has brought significant positives with drought improvement throughout much of the area, as well as significant rises in Lake Buchanan. However, Lake Travis continues to experience "one of its record low periods," according to Vice President of Water for the Lower Colorado River Authority John Hofmann.

Sep 14, 2023 | pasadenanow.com | John Fauvre |Jim Spencer

We are offered our first chance at public engagement on how best to restore our wonderful library system and to refurbish our emptying Civic Center next week on September 21. We need to prepare to air important questions and comments. At this point, City Council has considered just one approach to the complicated process ahead—to rebuild to the high standards and expensive methods prescribed for a historic landmark at a cost of over $ 200 million.