diff --git a/.buildkite/Manifest-v1.11.toml b/.buildkite/Manifest-v1.11.toml
index 4b61a724a2..f045a203bf 100644
--- a/.buildkite/Manifest-v1.11.toml
+++ b/.buildkite/Manifest-v1.11.toml
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
 # This file is machine-generated - editing it directly is not advised
 
-julia_version = "1.11.5"
+julia_version = "1.11.3"
 manifest_format = "2.0"
-project_hash = "04945e2a7116cfacb2d57340f477dbe23e208227"
+project_hash = "a25db2ac38461b28c1b3a6176008dee03780354b"
 
 [[deps.ADTypes]]
 git-tree-sha1 = "be7ae030256b8ef14a441726c4c37766b90b93a3"
@@ -1818,7 +1818,7 @@ version = "2.5.4+0"
 [[deps.OpenLibm_jll]]
 deps = ["Artifacts", "Libdl"]
 uuid = "05823500-19ac-5b8b-9628-191a04bc5112"
-version = "0.8.5+0"
+version = "0.8.1+2"
 
 [[deps.OpenMPI_jll]]
 deps = ["Artifacts", "CompilerSupportLibraries_jll", "Hwloc_jll", "JLLWrappers", "LazyArtifacts", "Libdl", "MPIPreferences", "TOML", "Zlib_jll"]
@@ -2539,8 +2539,10 @@ uuid = "b718987f-49a8-5099-9789-dcd902bef87d"
 version = "1.0.2"
 
 [[deps.Thermodynamics]]
-deps = ["DocStringExtensions", "KernelAbstractions", "Random", "RootSolvers"]
-git-tree-sha1 = "bff801ad0a9bbb5c1bf38ffe89a83907a1b145cd"
+deps = ["DocStringExtensions", "ForwardDiff", "KernelAbstractions", "Random", "RootSolvers"]
+git-tree-sha1 = "1c6b10882d535f28b5c79be9d8d782a12f5592f9"
+repo-rev = "zs/test_autodiff"
+repo-url = "https://github.com/CliMA/Thermodynamics.jl.git"
 uuid = "b60c26fb-14c3-4610-9d3e-2d17fe7ff00c"
 version = "0.12.15"
 weakdeps = ["ClimaParams"]
diff --git a/.buildkite/Project.toml b/.buildkite/Project.toml
index 613c15fcb9..f6d0fca812 100644
--- a/.buildkite/Project.toml
+++ b/.buildkite/Project.toml
@@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ SnoopCompileCore = "e2b509da-e806-4183-be48-004708413034"
 Statistics = "10745b16-79ce-11e8-11f9-7d13ad32a3b2"
 StatsBase = "2913bbd2-ae8a-5f71-8c99-4fb6c76f3a91"
 Test = "8dfed614-e22c-5e08-85e1-65c5234f0b40"
+Thermodynamics = "b60c26fb-14c3-4610-9d3e-2d17fe7ff00c"
 YAML = "ddb6d928-2868-570f-bddf-ab3f9cf99eb6"
 
 [compat]
diff --git a/src/prognostic_equations/implicit/autodiff_utils.jl b/src/prognostic_equations/implicit/autodiff_utils.jl
index 17300215ea..93bee59afc 100644
--- a/src/prognostic_equations/implicit/autodiff_utils.jl
+++ b/src/prognostic_equations/implicit/autodiff_utils.jl
@@ -143,6 +143,29 @@ end
     return ForwardDiff.dual_definition_retval(tag, val, deriv, partials)
 end
 
+# Set the derivative of max(x, y) to handle cases where x == y. When x == y,
+# the derivative is set to the derivative of x (the first argument) to ensure
+# continuity and avoid numerical issues. This is a common approach in automatic
+# differentiation for max functions.
+
+@inline function Base.max(d::ForwardDiff.Dual{Jacobian}, r::Integer)
+    tag = Val(Jacobian)
+    x = ForwardDiff.value(d)
+    partials = ForwardDiff.partials(d)
+    val = max(x, r)
+    deriv = 1
+    return ForwardDiff.dual_definition_retval(tag, val, deriv, partials)
+end
+
+# @inline function Base.clamp(d::ForwardDiff.Dual{Jacobian}, r1::FT, r2::FT) where {FT}
+#     tag = Val(Jacobian)
+#     x = ForwardDiff.value(d)
+#     partials = ForwardDiff.partials(d)
+#     val = clamp(x, r1, r2)
+#     deriv = 1
+#     return ForwardDiff.dual_definition_retval(tag, val, deriv, partials)
+# end
+
 # Ignore all derivative information when comparing Duals to other Numbers. This
 # ensures that conditional statements are always equivalent for Duals and Reals.
 for func in (:iszero,)