Going on a week straight of fog and stratus here in the Yakima Valley, but got to "escape" to the clear skies of Seattle briefly last weekend:

Photo by Pierre Lavie. Yes this is me. And I threw my Leica. It landed on the bass plate with hardly a scratch. Another Photographer grabbed it along with my phone and I was able to track him later. I was held face down tear gas deployed right in front of me and pepper sprayed directly into the eye.

Some nice lenticular clouds in the lee of Mt. Adams earlier this week...before the freezing fog set in. #wawx

Oh come on. My toddler can lie better than that.

Fun geology find in Spokane last weekend: a geology/Missoula Floods themed playground. Complete with interpretive signs and a J. Harlen Bretz quote! ⚒️

Posting my 10 favorite images from 2025 in the last 10 days of the year: #1: another wildflower photo...simpler than yesterday's image, just some spring balsamroot backlit by the setting sun. H Happy New Year! #wildflowers #washington

Posting my 10 favorite images from 2025 in the last 10 days of the year: #2: the densest patch of bitterroot I've ever found + surprise afternoon storms = a great day for photography #landscapephotography #wildflowers #washington

Posting my 10 favorite images from 2025 in the last 10 days of the year: #3: City photography isn't usually my thing, but I had a blast strolling and trolley-ing around Lisbon on this evening back in August. #photography #portugal

The fear and uncertainty extends beyond the orchards. It is palpable on campus and in the classroom as well.

Posting my 10 favorite images from 2025 in the last 10 days of the year: #4: A stark scene along the southwest coast of Portugal this past summer. This one reminds me of all the "artist's impressions" of exoplanet surfaces that I've seen over the years. #landscapephotography #portugal

Posting my 10 favorite images from 2025 in the last 10 days of the year: #5: One of my favorite mountains (Mt. Adams) with one of my favorite wildflowers (beargrass). #landscapephotography #washington

Posting my 10 favorite images from 2025 in the last 10 days of the year: #6: A repost from last month, but my mid-November rattlesnake encounter definitely makes the list. #photography #wildlife

Posting my 10 favorite images from 2025 in the last 10 days of the year: #7: 2025 was no match for 2024 in terms of celestial events, but we did get a couple of nice aurora displays, including this one just last month. #photography #aurora

Posting my 10 favorite images from 2025 in the last 10 days of the year: #8: A smoky sunset flying over the Canadian Rockies back in August. #photography

Posting my 10 favorite images from 2025 in the last 10 days of the year: #9: Takeoff #photography #birds

Posting my 10 favorite images from 2025 in the last 10 days of the year: #10: A lone western larch on a talus slope, Wenatchee National Forest, WA. #photography #washington

Snow levels are dropping rapidly here in central Washington. First snow of the year in Yakima! 🌨️ #wawx

Had a clean window and clear skies flying from PHX to PSC yesterday. Amazing views from Sedona all the way up to Great Basin NP. Come along with me on an aerial geology tour across the Colorado Plateau and Great Basin! ⚒️ #1: Beautifully eroded Paleozoic sedimentary rocks near Sedona, AZ

Lots of murky water hugging the west bank of the Columbia River, presumably from the flooding on the Yakima River. This is above Wallula Gap, 20-ish miles downstream of the Yakima/Columbia confluence. #wawx

It’s really demoralizing how many colleagues are using AI. Your job is literally to use your brain- your extremely unique, highly trained brain 😭

A brief summary as the atmospheric river finally tapers off, with the worst flooding along the Skagit river still to come.

I'm walking to a meeting in a T-shirt right now. Yakima's normal high temp for Dec 10 is 39°F. The record high for this day was 64°F back in 1946, so we've shattered that by at least six degrees and it's not even 1 o'clock. Insane. #wawx

Found the source of the mudslide that came across I-90 last night by North Bend, took out a portion of the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail A roughly 200 foot landslide #wawx

Minimal precip here in Yakima so far, but the Yakima River is cooking with more woody debris moving downstream than I can remember in seven years here. #wawx

As a former 10-year employee of the NPS. This is racist.

Some #FridayFolds and #FridayFossils on the last day of fall quarter classes. Managed to have a nice field trip this afternoon despite getting our rental vans three hours late! ⚒️

Remember, when you order something from Amazon, Jeff Bezos won't even notice the difference in his bank account. When you order something from an artist, you're helping them buy more art supplies, pay living expenses, or maybe even get a little treat.

This is a legitimate scientific revolution in meteorology. Also, to be clear, these models are not the AI LLMs that most people are familiar with. They are machine learning algorithms trained on observations (actually reanalysis).

Neat geology find in Portland this evening. The Washington Park light rail station (260' below ground) has a drill core from station construction on display, complete with interpretive signage. ⚒️

Another one for the "Why should we care about astronomy?" file...

Since BlueSky seems to like (or dislike enough to hit "like") snakes, here's my favorite photo of a snake I've taken: A smooth green snake knots its tail in a last-ditch effort to avoid being consumed by a garter snake. Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, CO. #photography #snake 🐍

Almost stepping on a rattlesnake was not on my radar for a hike in mid-November. Tieton Nature Trail outside of Naches, WA. #photography #wildlife #washington

Well that was fun while it lasted! Easily the 2nd best aurora borealis display I've seen. (#1 was May 2024) Alas the clouds have now swallowed our aurora: #aurora #wawx

Update: it is indeed a good night!

Aurora alert! I can see a bright red glow with the naked eye from my backyard and it's not even dark out yet. Could be a good night! #aurora 🔭

I got my start in astronomy education at Lowell in 2006. The opportunity to work adjacent to and learn from so many amazing scientists made it a really special place. This is devastating news.

Beautiful fall day mushroom hunting around Mt. Rainier! #StratovolcanoSunday

Professors, some of your students just lost their access to food. This will put a strain on their ability to pay rent and focus in class. They might need to not pay electric to make ends meet. They might be coming to class hungry. Please be aware that the loss of SNAP will impact your students

A beautiful shot! That makes two years in a row I've been gifted a bright comet for my fall planetary science course. The comet looked great tonight in a 6" scope even from Bortle Class 6 skies. 🔭☄️

"The NOAA aircraft left the storm early after experiencing severe turbulence in the southwestern eyewall." These men and women are not being paid due to the US government shutdown. Not to mention that according to AOML's director emeritus Robert Atlas, they are down 40-50% staff. #Melissa

Finally got a cloud-free evening to get a good look at Comet Lemmon. This is a stack of 30 1-sec exposures from my front yard. Comet and tail easily visible in binoculars. Probably a naked eye object if not for the house across the street trying to mimic a Vegas casino...🔭

Kicking off year 7 as a full-time faculty member this week! If any planetary science folks would be interested in speaking to my Solar System astronomy course about their research later this quarter, please get in touch! 🔭

I found a phrase that is resonating with my Intro Geosci and lab students this semester: It’s not about “right answers” in our labs, it’s about “reasonable answers” based on evidence. They’re taking a lot more chances and seem to be even more engaged than usual.

Quite a bit of activity on the Wildcat Fire today. This is a ~30 minute time lapse taken from the Ironstone Mountain Trail late this afternoon. Triangular peak in foreground is Mt. Aix. #WildcatFire #wawx

Differential weathering in thin beds of marine sediment exposed near Praia de Odeceixe, Portugal. It was stunning to see this silhouetted against the darkening sky just after sunset! ⚒️

Glad to see Dioptase has returned. Its loss last year made me seriously question the judgement of the geoscience community, so I'm hoping my faith is restored this time around.

Today, the National Park Service opened a one-month comment period during which the public can share their recommendations or concerns about visitor services at the parks. This is an extraordinary opportunity to tell them exactly what we want to see, do, learn, and experience in national parks.

Sunset folds and tidepools, Praia de Odeceixe, Portugal #portugal #landscapephotography 📷 ⚒️

Without a doubt, the best part of my job is when students stop by to ask questions that aren't about grades.

One of WA's most interesting geological sites and a common geo 101 field trip destination. Very sad.