You don’t fix a broken system by breaking it in new ways. I recently had AI help refine a paper I’m working on, as I tend to struggle with making my writing clear, concise, and easy to digest. Hopefully, this approach will resonate better. My previous attempts have earned me the nickname 'Professor Jagoff' (would’ve made a great screenname). Let’s see if this version works better. If you find this interesting I'd love to send you the rest.

“The cure for a fallible science is more science, not the abandonment of science.”

“The suppression of uncomfortable ideas may be common in religion or in politics, but it is not the path to knowledge, and there's no place for it in the endeavor of science."

"Solve the unsolvable; calculate the incalculable. Harness the uncontainable; control the uncontrollable. We may as well be possessed by a demon of entropy demanding incessantly that we defy the very nature we seek to restore."

1. The Turbulent Spoon: Mixing Up the Atmosphere

Wind turbines aren't just giant pinwheels spinning in the breeze catching the kinetic energy like a sail in the wind; instead they're like giant spoons stirring a pot of atmospheric soup. The result? Lots of eddies—with plenty of Turbulent Kinetic Energy (TKE)—the wild child of fluid dynamics that we experience in our everyday lives but still struggle to fully explain scientifically. In the wake of wind turbines, the air transforms from a kinetic energy in more of a laminar flow, into a chaotic dance of swirling vortices that transport energy, momentum, moisture, and heat. These eddies, small-scale yet powerful, are the fingerprints of turbulent wake trail downwind of wind turbines. Here’s why it matters:

The Blender Effect: Turbulent mixing doesn’t discriminate—it stirs everything. Vertically, this means dragging warmer air from aloft down to the surface while pulling cooler air upward. This homogenizes temperatures and disrupts natural gradients, like the ones responsible for nighttime cooling and dew formation. But here’s the nuance: when the air above is significantly cooler, such as during transient polar airmass events or when under the influence of the polar jet stream, turbulence can bring that cooler air down to the surface. In these cases, it can temporarily result in increased surface cooling. However, these are exceptions—short-lived anomalies—especially in regions like Texas, where warmer air typically dominates aloft.

Wake Recovery: Ever notice the swirling, sluggish water trailing behind a boat? That’s its wake. Wind turbines leave similar wakes of slower-moving, turbulent air. When turbines extract energy from the wind, they create a deficit—a void the atmosphere must fill. If fresh energy can’t flow in horizontally (blocked by other turbines or their wake fields), the atmosphere pulls energy from above, dragging down drier, upper-level air. This “recovery” process upsets the moisture balance, reducing humidity near the surface. It’s like tapping into an atmospheric energy reservoir you’d rather leave untouched—dry air that robs the land of moisture and destabilizes local weather systems.

Heat Generation: TKE doesn’t just stir things up; it breaks down. As TKE dissipates in turbine wakes, it converts into heat. The farther downstream you go, the more pronounced this warming becomes. It’s a subtle but measurable effect that, over large wind farm areas, adds up. This is a secondary impact to the turbulent mixing. Kolmogorov’s theory reminds us that turbulence cascades energy from large scales to smaller ones, dissipating it like whispers fading into heated silence. As Taylor famously put it: "Big whirls have little whirls that feed on their velocity, And little whirls have lesser whirls and so on to viscosity (hot air)."

Cumulative Impact: In large wind farms, and regional wind farm clusters, wakes from multiple turbines overlap, creating a patchwork of disturbed air. These interactions can amplify warming and extend the impact over a vaster area. The more turbines there are, the greater the scale of these cumulative effects.

Wind wakes are active players in the atmosphere, transferring energy, heat, and moisture wherever they go. Sure, TKE is found everywhere in nature—every fluid (the atmosphere is a fluid) will contain some—but when turbines amp it up, the atmosphere’s mixing process gets a turbo boost—and not always for the better. Add wake recovery into the mix, and suddenly wind farms aren’t just stirring the pot; they’re siphoning off moisture and destabilizing local weather systems.

And while cooler air can occasionally be mixed downward during polar surges, these moments are fleeting exceptions, not the rule, particularly for us here in Texas. For most regions—especially where warmer air lingers aloft—wind farms aren’t just stirring the pot; they're warming the climate.

2. Thirsty Skies: Plants, Transpiration, and Soil Moisture Depletion

Plants aren’t just sitting there helplessly—they’re sweating water, cooling themselves, and feeding the atmosphere with water vapor. They depend on a thin, protective layer of still air around their leaves to keep everything in balance. Wind turbines produce significant amounts of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE), which can persist and disperse over an wide region, particularly under shallow atmospheric inversions. These dry wake fields tend to flow across the landscape much like water navigating through a basin, following the contours of the terrain as they spread downstream. This turbulence tears apart the fine boundary layers of still air surrounding plants, a critical buffer zone for controlling water exchange. In response, they release water at a higher rate in an attempt to modulate their microclimate, depleting the soil moisture faster. If rainfall doesn't increase to match the higher rates of transpiration, plants lose their ability to survive heat. Crops wither, forests suffer, and ecosystems turn brittle as the following occurs:

Disrupted Microclimates: Plants rely on stable, calm air layers to maintain optimal transpiration rates, keeping water loss in check. That fine boundary layer of still air around leaves is their protective bubble. It regulates transpiration, the process plants use to release water vapor and cool themselves. When those layers are stripped away, plants’ stomata (the tiny pores that control water release) are fully exposed to the turbulent air. This forces plants to release water vapor at rates far beyond normal levels.

Increased Evapotranspiration: Turbine-induced turbulence amplifies vertical mixing, removing moisture from the air near the surface. This increases the vapor pressure deficit (VPD)—the difference between the moisture in the air and the moisture the air can hold. Higher VPD means plants lose water faster through transpiration, pulling more moisture from the soil to compensate.

Soil Drying: As plants work harder to keep up with evaporation, soil moisture is depleted more quickly. Crops and natural vegetation struggle to maintain their water balance, especially in already arid or semi-arid regions, such as the grasslands of the Great Plains.

Reduced Humidity Near the Surface: Wake recovery processes pull drier air from aloft, further decreasing humidity near the surface. With less moisture available, plants face increased stress and reduced growth potential. And while the reverse can be true if when moisture is aloft just as it is with temerature, this too is an exception, not the rule. Typically more so than not, the atmosphere will be drier above, particularly for Texas.

Turbines don’t just extract energy from the wind—they extract water from the land. It’s not just farms either—forests and grasslands are also impacted. Native ecosystems that rely on stable transpiration rates may begin to shift, die back, or become dominated by invasive species better adapted to these new, turbulent conditions (Snake Broomweed comes to mind). Moisture loss at the surface can also amplify drought conditions and reduce groundwater recharge, creating long-term challenges for water management in affected regions.

3. Breaking Nature’s Cap: Wind Farms and Atmospheric Inversions

Atmospheric inversions are like invisible shields in the sky—layers of cooler air trapped beneath warmer air, which act as a cap holding moisture, pollutants, and temperatures close to the ground. These inversions regulate rainfall, dew formation, and nighttime cooling. Without them, nature’s systems lose balance.

Breaking the Cap: Inversion layers, where warmer air traps cooler air beneath, act like a lid over the landscape, stabilizing local weather and preventing vertical mixing. Wind turbines, however, disrupt this balance through the generation of TKE. Like stirring a pot of water with a thin layer of oil at the surface, the turbulence breaks through the inversion (the oil), allowing warmer air to descend and cooler air to rise. Another way to picture this—a blender spinning with the lid off. This not only alters diurnal temperature ranges but can also influence precipitation patterns and local humidity levels. The disruption of inversions by wind farms creates a feedback loop, where stability is replaced by variability, often with unintended ecological and climatic consequences.

Moisture Vaporized: When turbines stir the atmosphere, they rip through inversions, blending the cool air below with the drier, warmer air above. This upward mixing evaporates condensed moisture in the inversion layer, robbing the air of its ability to form clouds or dew. Precipitation that should have been never gets a chance to fall. Cloud layers and condensed droplets are fragile. Add dry, turbulent air to the mix, and those water droplets disintegrate before they can ever combine into rainfall.

Surface Drying: When drier upper air is mixed down, surface humidity plummets. Plants and soil face a double hit: less rainfall and increased transpiration losses. Nighttime Warming: Inversions trap cool air at the surface, allowing the earth to shed heat overnight. Turbines erase this effect. When the air is stirred, the cooling stops, and the night stays warmer. Farmers, foresters, and anyone living off the land rely on those cool nights to regulate crops, soil moisture, and dew formation.

Nature put inversions there for a reason. They’re the planet’s moisture cap, quietly regulating moisture and temperatures. Wind turbines, in their quest to harvest energy, bulldoze through the lid, allowing moisture to escape. We lose the cool nights, the rain that should have been, and the fragile moisture balance the land depends on. It’s a one-two punch of lost water vapor and rising heat.

4. The Lifeblood of the Plains: The Great Plains Low-Level Jet (GPLLJ)

The Great Plains Low-Level Jet (GPLLJ) is the unsung hero of America’s breadbasket—a wind-driven river of air that surges northward from the Gulf of Mexico, bringing moisture, stability, and life to one of the world’s most productive agricultural regions. It is not just a regional phenomenon; it is a cornerstone of the North American climate system, feeding critical rainfall to the Great Plains and beyond. Without it, much of the U.S. Midwest would be an arid wasteland, unable to sustain its lush farmland and ecosystems. Here’s what you need to know:

Moisture Transport: The GPLLJ serves as a conveyor belt for moisture-laden air from the Gulf of Mexico, carrying it hundreds of miles northward. This jet stream delivers the water vapor that fuels thunderstorms, replenishes soils, and sustains agriculture across the Plains.

Rainfall Mechanism: The GPLLJ interacts with frontal boundaries and regional topography to create the lift necessary for precipitation. The moisture transported by the jet condenses into rain, which nourishes crops, recharges groundwater, and supports ecosystems that rely on this annual water cycle.

Stability and Balance: Beyond just moisture, the GPLLJ regulates energy exchanges across the Great Plains. It mitigates extreme daytime heating, reduces temperature gradients, and promotes stability in the lower atmosphere.

Critical Role in Climate Cycles: The GPLLJ also plays a key role in broader North American climate patterns, feeding into systems like the Midwest storm tracks and balancing moisture between regions. Its steady presence shapes the growing seasons, regulates hydrology, and determines drought or abundance across much of the continent.

Turbines and the Disruption of the GPLLJ Wind farms, as essential as they are for energy production, can interfere with this delicate atmospheric flow in ways that ripple across regions:

Momentum Extraction: Wind turbines extract energy and momentum from the GPLLJ. While this may seem small-scale, large wind farms can collectively weaken the jet’s strength, reducing its ability to deliver moisture farther north. A slower, less forceful GPLLJ means less lift, fewer storms, and drier conditions across the Plains.

Vertical Mixing: By enhancing turbulence, turbines mix drier, upper-level air downward into the GPLLJ flow. This dilutes the jet’s moisture content, reducing the overall amount of water vapor available for precipitation. Instead of delivering saturated air ready to condense into rain, the jet becomes a drier, less effective conveyor belt.

Disrupted Patterns: Turbine wakes introduce chaotic flows and persistent turbulence, breaking apart the organized, smooth flow of the GPLLJ. Over large areas, this disruption can shift where and how rainfall occurs, potentially leaving downstream regions high and dry.

Cumulative Effects: The Great Plains is dotted with wind farms, many of which sit directly in the path of the GPLLJ. As these farms grow in number and scale, their cumulative impact on the jet becomes harder to ignore. It’s not just a local effect; it’s a system-wide change.

The Great Plains relies on the GPLLJ like the body relies on blood flow. It’s a lifeline—a steady, reliable provider of moisture that keeps the breadbasket of the world alive and thriving. If we weaken or disrupt this system, we don’t just risk localized droughts or reduced crop yields; we risk throwing an entire continental system out of balance. And once the jet’s patterns start to shift, restoring them may not be as simple as flipping a switch. We need to ask: Is this the best way to harness the wind? Or can we innovate smarter, design better, and preserve the atmospheric systems that sustain life as we know it?