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.

Shades of blue, Parque Natural da Arrábida, Portugal 📷 #portugal #landscapephotography

About 2:30 pm we crested a ridge on the Jug Lake Trail and saw the pyrocumulus through the trees. A little surprising given that winds by us (only ~8 miles S of the fire) were non-existent to light. Hoping for favorable conditions as crews try to get this one under control! #wawx

Sunset at Praia de Odeceixe, Portugal. The beach is basically a huge sandbar at the mouth of the Rio de Seixe, with the river on one side and the Atlantic on the other. One of the most spectacular beaches I've seen. ⚒️📷 #portugal #landscapephotography

Unexpected geology find last week: absolutely spectacular folds in Carboniferous marine sediments along the western coast of Portugal near Cabo Sardão. ⚒️

Not sure what's more unsettling: "Cool American" being a flavor descriptor, or Doritos earning a "B" on the EU's A-F nutrition ranking system.

Imagine a fire is threatening where you live, and ICE & CBP take the firefighters AWAY from the fire…all in the name of meeting a quota of mass deportations. Please tell me how this is putting “America First”, because I don’t see how this is helping anyone…

Found in a summit register on Shellrock Peak this morning, deep in the William O. Douglas Wilderness of central Washington:

I asked it to "Make me a diagram of the United States with all of the national parks labelled." It spent five minutes telling me it couldn't do that, then eventually said it could and gave me a download link that returned a "File not found" error when clicked. 😑

Picked up this gem at a used bookstore in Homer, AK last month. It is 10x more gruesome than you're imagining. A little dated but lots of interesting stats and practical advice.

Life, rock, and ice. Byron Glacier Alaska. #alaska #landscapephotography 📷

Some neat differential weathering in porphyritic andesite from yesterday's hike in the Goat Rocks. Most of the groundmass has oxidized to an orange-pink color but the true dark gray color can be seen on broken surfaces. The large plagioclase phenocrysts are relatively unweathered. ⚒️

~10 years ago I spent a summer working in education & outreach for a county parks & open space program in Colorado. It was a well-run outfit funded primarily by a voter-approved 1/4 cent sales tax. I've always been surprised that this isn't more common here in WA.

Two peaks on the Kenai Peninsula peak out of the clouds as seen from Homer, Alaska. #landscapephotography #alaska

Just finished this book about a corner of North America I knew almost nothing about. Engaging narrative, but the omission of any sort of map feels criminal for a book so rooted in geography. I'm guessing not many readers have a mental map of the Mackenzie River Basin... #booksky #reading

Finally getting around to a closer look at photos from our trip to Alaska earlier this month. One unexpected surprise was this view of Denali from Anchorage. It's not a great photo, but it's better than anything I got through the clouds and smoke on our visit to Denali National Park in 2019.

Recent Astro bachelors grads: looking for a job in the field? Consider being an "Observing Specialist" (telescope operator) at Apache Point! I worked there right after college, before going to get a masters, and it is a really lovely place careers.nmsu.edu/jobs/telesco...

Pure anarchy on the beaches of Puget Sound today:

I legitimately don't understand how folks on the east coast survive the summer. I just went for a run at 82°F with a dew point of 52°F (which is high for Yakima!) and feel like I just crawled out of a swimming pool.

Sad to hear about the loss of Grand Canyon Lodge, but this one hits closer to home. I spent three amazing summers working at Black Canyon in the early 2010s. I hope the NPS has the resources it needs to combat these blazes, but that seems like wishful thinking given the current *situation*

#StratovolcanoSunday (with bonus bald eagle)

Beargrass and Mt. Adams from Takhlakh Lake Campground, Washington. Not pictured: the hellacious swarms of mosquitoes. Gotta be the most picturesque developed campground I've ever stayed in though. (Open to being proven wrong in the replies...) #landscapephotography #washington

Great Horned Owl, Snow Mountain Ranch near Cowiche, WA. #photography #owls

The view last weekend from some of the acreage "eligible for sale" in the SENR bill: #publiclands

as a park ranger, this is certifiably insane. trails are built where they're built for a reason! yeah ok there's a shorter route maybe but it's probably straight down a 70-degree slope where you'll fall down go boom.

A 4x speed walk down the #NoKings protest line in Yakima (okay, technically Union Gap...) Washington this morning.

Currently 91F with an RH of 21% at the site closest to the #RedBridgeFire. Winds are currently NW 5mph gusting 16. I'm very concerned that winds are forecast to increase through the Kittitas over the next 2-5 hours. #wawx #wawildfire

Partly cloudy night sky from Manastash Ridge, WA last weekend. Skyglow on the right is from Seattle Metro area, ~75 miles away. It's a little tough to see in the compressed version, but if you zoom in you can actually see the lamps of two climbing parties on Mt. Rainier, about 50 miles away!

Yakima is forecast to hit 102 °F on Monday, 6/9. If that happens, it would be over a month earlier than the mean date (July 11) across the period of record (1946-present) at the Yakima Air Terminal. #wawx

Federal weather & climate science is under threat. Starting TODAY at 3:00 PM ET, join a coalition of scientists--including AMS leaders--for a 100-hour livestream. Learn what federal science does for you, ask questions, and help build awareness to "Save Our Forecasts": wclivestream.com

Speaking of wildfires, the 2021 Schneider Springs Fire scar is still producing lots of burn morels four years later. Collected these over the weekend. If anyone knows the exact species, I'd love to know. #fungi #mushrooms 🍄

This is absurdly early for wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, but given that the Upper Columbia River basin is nearing record low snowpack for this time of year, not surprising. (Graph from USDA SNOTEL network.)

You have three days, starting today, to leave a public comment with the FDA about, say, why COVID-19 boosters should remain available to everyone and also free. "Individual consumer" is the category you most likely want (unless you are one of the other categories; if so, choose that).

What a beautiful looking volcano!

We've had some volatile (by Central Washington standards...) weather the last few weekends which has made for nice backdrops for spring wildflowers. Here's a lovely bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva) above the Naches River valley: #landscapephotography #wildflowers #washingtonstate

After almost six years in Yakima and hundreds of miles hiked each year, we finally ran into a western rattlesnake (Crotalus oreganus) yesterday. A couple hours later we found a second one. My lucky day I guess! 🐍

This is amazing, but have any geo-folks ID'd a primary source? I'm seeing a YouTube video, which credits a Facebook page, which credits "BP Energy Myanmar" with no link. Would love to show this to my students, but I'd be failing my own policy on sourcing based on what I've got so far... ⚒️

From 2016-2019 I worked at a national monument about 2 miles from the Cedar City, UT Doppler radar. The number of conspiratorial comments I fielded about it was off the charts. This isn't new sadly.

Successful trip yesterday to see the Pediocactus nigrispinus in bloom! #wildflowers #washington

Some of the nicest columnar basalt you'll ever see + spring wildflowers. Columbia National Wildlife Refuge, WA ⚒️🌼

Eastern WA folks! We're doing our first Astronomy on Tap Seattle Roadshow event, taking the AoT magic and coming to a town near you (WOO!) We'll be in Yakima at Single Hill Brewing on May 7... help us get the word out! www.facebook.com/share/1F3gFN...

Can confirm that the wildflowers in Yakima are, for a couple of weeks at least, top-notch. We've been out on wildflower hikes the past several weekends...probably my favorite time of year for photography!