An increase in water vapor in the atmosphere is driving more extreme weather around the world.

How is that playing out here in Minnesota?

John Abraham, thermal sciences professor and mechanical engineering program director at University of St. Thomas, shared more about the little-known but growing climate concern.

To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

This week brought another significant tornado outbreak to parts of Minnesota.

Downtowns for the Twin Cities, Rochester and Duluth were spared from any storm damage, but are cities safer from tornadoes than rural parts of Minnesota? Does the urban heat island effect spare urban residents from a tornado tearing through their cities?

“The urban heat island probably would not save you if the storm were in a position to enter that urban area,” said climatologist Kenneth Blumenfeld. “We should definitely disabuse ourselves of this myth.”

Blumenfeld, who has researched urban tornados, said the probability of tornadoes striking skyscraper-filled cities like the Twin Cities, or smaller downtowns, are just as high as elsewhere.

“All the big cities, [in] tornado prone regions like the Midwest, the South and the Great Plains, have relatively high amounts of tornado activity — it’s a lesson for all of us that tornadoes can and do hit cities.”

To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.

Electric vehicle use in Minnesota boomed over the past decade due to the popular fleet of Tesla vehicles driving into the market.

However, the Q1 auto sales report from earlier this year, showed a drop in sales for Tesla’s EVs. The indication that there might be a slowing popularity for the brand had some experts blame the company’s CEO Elon Musk and his relationship with American politics. Even Gov. Tim Walz took at jab at Musk and the company’s business woes.

“The governor has certainly continued, to some degree, his feud with Elon Musk,” said Walker Orenstein, energy, natural resources and sustainability reporter for the Minnesota Star Tribune. “[Walz] jokes about it not being the best idea, because Elon Musk is a very rich man.”

Politics could be a driving force in the drop in Tesla sales, but Orenstein explained the EV growing market is another culprit.

“Tesla’s share of the EV market was declining well before [Q1 auto sales] — I think that it reflects more options that are available to people,” Orenstein said. “At this point in time, the governor doesn’t need Tesla and Musk quite to the same degree, and that’s because the marketplace for EVs has just grown so much.”

New EV companies, and well-established automakers have been electrifying the EV market across the country, but cold weather and a lack of model options are also the reason why Minnesotans haven’t fully embraced the technology.

To hear the full conversation, click play on the audio player above or subscribe to the Climate Cast podcast.