Weather and climate headlines - Hurricane Felicia in the Pacific, Cash for Clunkers effect

August 5, 2:16 PMDenver Weather ExaminerTony Hake

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Weather and climate headlines for Wednesday, August 5, 2009

A quiet hurricane season in the Atlantic but Hurricane Felicia reaches Category 3 status in the Pacific.  Also, what will the effect of the 'Cash for Clunkers' program be on the environment?

‘Cash for Clunkers’ program to accomplish little for the environment
One of the original premises behind the ‘Cash for Clunkers’ program was that it would help to clean the environment by getting gas guzzling older cars off the road. While it will do that, its net effect will amount to very little. Henry Jacoby, a professor of management and co-director of the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change at MIT told AP, "As a carbon dioxide policy, this is a terribly wasteful thing to do. The amount of carbon you are saving per federal expenditure is very, very small."

California releases plan to ‘adapt’ to climate change
The state of California has always been at the forefront of climate and environmental issues and now the state has issued a statewide plan on how it should handle climate change. Preparing for rising seas levels, temperature changes, wildlife losses and more will allow the state to be better prepared officials said.

Wednesday’s national weather outlook
Rain and thunderstorms can be expected over the eastern and southern parts of the nation. The central Plains may be ground zero for severe thunderstorms to the mid-Mississippi Valley. In the northwest, the high pressure that brought record setting temps to the area last week is finally supposed to start breaking down and moving out.

Hurricane Felicia now has winds of 115mph and could affect
Hawaii.  Image courtesy the Weather Underground.

Hurricane Felicia hits Category 3   
While the Atlantic hurricane basin has been unusually quiet this season, the Pacific seems to have picked up a bit with six named storms thus far. Hurricane Felicia grew to a Category 3 storm with winds of 115mph and may impact Hawaii but the Weather Underground’s Dr. Jeff Masters says the storm will weaken before it gets too close the islands.