Potential wind slowdown threatens renewable energy and fuels heat domes

Climate change may be causing long-term global wind speeds to slow down, a shift that will likely lead to a dangerous rise in local temperatures, worsening air pollution and disruption to renewable energy systems, Mongabay writer Sean Mowbray reported. A warming atmosphere is likely weakening the forces that govern wind speeds, leading to more frequent wind droughts or periods when air sits still for long stretches of time, a phenomenon known as “global stilling.” “What we’ve seen is that from the 1960s through to around 2010, wind speeds have been kind of generally slowing down,” Hannah Bloomfield at Newcastle University in the U.K. told Mowbray. “Interestingly, since 2010 winds have actually sped up again,” Bloomfield added. “But when we look forward using climate models, and then look f