Water supply is critical to cooling data centers and power generation stations

Air quality alerts are back, but this time, wildfires aren't to blame

From JSOnline:

Caden Perry

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

atmos

Don't the Milwaukee skies look too clear for an air quality alert?

Yes and no. Your eyes aren't fooling you, the skies are clear Wednesday, June 3. Canadian wildfires are not at a level where smoke is carried across the Midwest yet.

But the air is still poor quality. The National Weather Service issued an air quality alert June 3 morning, the first one in 2026. An uncommon set of weather conditions is actually trapping ozone on the ground level we breathe in.

Normally, ozone emissions rise higher into the atmosphere. A layer of warm, slow air is holding those emissions down in what National Weather Service meteorologist Benjamin Sheppard described as a subsidence inversion pattern.

Ozone is highly toxic to the respiratory system and the American Lung Association describes it akin to a sunburn for your lungs. It forms in a reaction between nitrogen oxide and sunlight.

Milwaukee has an abundance of sunlight June 3 with sunny skies expected to persist all day Wednesday and Thursday, June 4.

Strung all together, industrial nitrous oxide is reacting to ample sunlight but the ozone byproduct isn't leaving our breathing air like it should.

Canada wildfires still too far away from Wisconsin for smoke concerns

It's tough to call out smoke forecasts very far in advance. Even if wildfires in Canada get to the abundant levels, the smoke might never affect Wisconsin if the weather doesn't carry the smoke to the area.

According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, there are only a handful of wildfires near the Wisconsin border, and most are being held back as of June 3 morning.

The biggest threat for smoky conditions in Wisconsin are two Ontario wildfires considered "out of control," one east of Lake Nipigon and another east of Thunder Bay.

With winds moving especially slow in Wisconsin, it is highly unlikely the smoke will carry over to any part of the state.

Forecast: Will wildfire smoke hit Wisconsin this summer? That depends on Canada

Canada wildfire forecasts through July

While smoke is unlikely for early June, there is still an open window for other smoky days you should close your window for this summer.

Natural Resources Canada forecasts wildfire conditions through July. The department reports that provinces on the Great Lakes borders will have a higher than average number of severe wildfires this year.

Manitoba province, mostly on the Minnesota border, is expected to have especially severe wildfires with seasonal conditions that favor fire's ability to spread rapidly.

This Year: Wildfires are down in Wisconsin so far in 2026. Here's why

From: https://www.jsonline.com/story/weather/2026/06/03/whats-causing-milwaukees-poor-air-quality-june-3-if-not-wildfires/90386493007/

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What is Fairwater? The name of Microsoft's AI data center network

From JSOnline:

Ricardo Torres

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Data center critics might see irony in Fairwater name

"Fairwater" is defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as a boat device, a streamlined bridge, and a submarine's conning tower.

It's also the name of Microsoft Corp.'s artificial intelligence data center network – which some data center critics might find ironic.

When Microsoft announced it was building a second southeastern Wisconsin data center, a small detail went overlooked: its Fairwater name.

"In addition to our Fairwater datacenter in Wisconsin, we also have multiple identical Fairwater datacenters under construction in other locations across the US," Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Cloud and AI for Microsoft, said in September.

The second Fairwater data center is in Atlanta. It was announced in November, and Microsoft stated in a blog post the two data centers are connected.

"This enables Fairwater sites located in different states to work together as an AI superfactory to train new generations of AI models far more quickly, accomplishing jobs in just weeks instead of several months," the post reads.

As for why the name "Fairwater"?

Microsoft says it was an internal code name the company decided to make public.

Water usage has been a key focus of data center critics. Microsoft has tried to calm anxiety around that issue.

"Lake Michigan has nothing to fear from our data center," Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith said during a September announcement of the second Mount Pleasant data center.

"We build data centers in the desert, that's because we've figured out how to run them without using a lot of water," Smith said, adding the company uses a closed-loop cooling system.

Closed-loop systems reuse most of that water, but they still need occasional flushing and refills. 

The Fairwater data center is expected to use 2.8 million gallons of Lake Michigan water in 2026.

But that's more of a floor than a ceiling. Microsoft is planning to build 15 more data centers in Mount Pleasant during the next decade or longer.

Microsoft could use up to 8.44 million gallons of water annually with that expansion, according to the City of Racine, which provides water to the development site. Roughly 6 million gallons are to be returned to Racine.

But even those projections might fall short of reality.

Microsoft's internal forecasts expects its annual water usage for roughly 100 data center complexes world wide to be around 28 billion liters in 2030, according to the New York Times.

In a comment given to the Times, Microsoft said it now expects to use about 18 billion liters of water by 2030. That's roughly 4.8 billion gallons.

Environmental advocate Milwaukee Riverkeeper has pushed for more transparency and action on data center water issues.

"This conversation shouldn’t be about branding – it should center on impact, accountability, and the long-term stewardship of our local waters," said Jennifer Bolger Breceda, executive director of Milwaukee Riverkeeper.

"Data centers place significant demand on water resources, and in a region defined by the Great Lakes, that should require careful consideration and thoughtful implementation," Breceda told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"When an out-of-state corporation proposes a project of this magnitude, there must be full transparency around water use, clear and enforceable safeguards, and a rigorous review process to ensure our people and waters are protected.

"We also need to take an honest look at the tradeoffs, including whether the long-term community benefits truly match the scale of resource use," Breceda said.

From: https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/business/2026/05/12/what-is-fairwater-the-name-of-microsofts-ai-data-center-network/89931395007/

Why Wisconsin gas prices are expected to jump dramatically

From JSOnline:

Caden Perry

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Expect gas prices to shoot up dramatically in southeast Wisconsin soon, gas experts told the Journal Sentinel.

Refinery issues in Indiana will choke many Great Lakes markets into higher prices as soon as April 29 through May 1, GasBuddy head analyst Patrick De Haan said.

While southeast Wisconsin will be hit hardest with these refinery issues, blockage issues at the Strait of Hormuz will also increase gas prices across the board.

"The ceasefire did nothing, is doing nothing. The Strait is closed. There's a continued block on crude oil, and that is driving oil prices back up slowly but steadily the longer it continues," De Haan added.

Individual gas stations will set final prices, but De Haan said he saw many stations buying gasoline at a more expensive rate on April 28 already.

"Some stations may go up a big amount all at once, other stations may go up a little bit here and there for the next few days, but the numbers point to a pretty noticeable rise in price," De Haan said.

According to AAA, the average price per gallon in Wisconsin was $3.93 on April 28, up from $3.70 one week ago on April 21, one month ago at $3.64 on March 28 and up from one year ago at $2.99 on April 28, 2025.

More: Gas prices keep going up in Wisconsin as war in Iran continues

Why are gas prices better in western Wisconsin than eastern Wisconsin?

There is almost a 40 cent price difference in average gas per gallon rates from western to eastern Wisconsin.

The lowest price per gallon in the state on April 28 was $3.669 in Pepin County. The highest average reached $4.099 per gallon in Florence County.

The issue, De Haan described, is with a major refinery outage in Indiana. The Times of Northwest Indiana reported BP's Whiting Refinery suffered a power outage on April 27.

That's the second major shutdown since a fire at the refinery shut operations down for more than a week in October last year.

Business and Industry Connection Magazine also reported an ongoing labor dispute at the Whiting Refinery has locked out about 800 United Steelworks laborers since March 19.

Wisconsin's gas markets are split down the middle: eastern markets feed from Chicago-centered distributors and western stations from Great Plains markets.

The Whiting Refinery outage affected the Chicago markets much more than usual because other refineries have begun annual maintenance with spring's arrival.

"The Chicago market is kind of white-hot," De Haan said. "There's not as much capacity in the system while refineries are doing maintenance. There's less margin for error because if a refinery unexpectedly goes down, it's not like the others can just spring into action."

De Haan said the spike could take weeks to smooth back out, and the gap in Wisconsin will widen even further before courses are corrected.

Wisconsin average gas prices by metro area on April 28

Here's the average price per gallon for gasoline on April 28 from lowest to highest, according to AAA.

• Eau Claire: $3.68
• La Crosse: $3.77
• Superior: $3.83
• Pierce-St. Croix County: $3.84
• Janesville-Beloit: $3.93
• National average: $3.93
• Appleton: $3.94
• Milwaukee-Waukesha: $3.95
• Racine: $3.96
• Oshkosh: $3.96
• Madison: $3.97
• Wausau: $3.97
• Sheboygan: $3.99
• Kenosha: $3.99
• Fond du Lac: $4.00
• Green Bay: $4.00

From: https://www.jsonline.com/story/money/business/2026/04/29/wisconsin-gas-prices-to-jump-due-to-refinery-issues/89841879007/

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