Aerosol particles, directly and through their enhancement of clouds, reduce near-surface wind speeds below them. This reduction may explain a portion of observed “disappearing winds” in China and may decrease the energy available for wind-turbine electricity. In California, slower winds and cooler surface temperatures due to aerosol particles reduce emission of wind-driven soil dust and sea spray and reduce evaporation and moisture advection, contributing, along with the second indirect aerosol effect, to reduced precipitation and water supply by 2-5%.