FLAG: The Postmaster General confirmed at a Senate hearing that under a new proposed rule, the Postal Service would not deliver mail-in ballots in states that decline to hand over sensitive data about voters to the federal government. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

Happy Caturday! 11 year old Merlin had a burst of kitten like energy playing with his favorite toy this morning.

Looking north from Zion, IL at 6:17 pm CT along the Lake Michigan shore.

🌊🌊🌊

CMU and UIUC teams are near the IL/WI border for our second consecutive day sampling Lake Michigan's influence on thunderstorms using a Doppler lidar, two different radiosonde systems, and a mobile mesonet. Very interesting outflow and lake-breeze frontal structures observed so far!

The spring semester is almost over, which means it's time to get ready for giant pumpkin growing! These seedlings all come from 2,000+ pound pumpkins, so they have some serious genetics in their favor! 🌱🎃

NOAA GOES 18 weather satellite’s Geostationary Lightning Mapper (GLM) instrument detected the atmospheric re-entry of NASA’s Artemis II Orion capsule over the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and southern California just before 23:56 GMT — too cool! #ArtemisII #NASA #NOAA

Science is good. We should fund it.

Reminder

More context on this #Artemis II image: * This is the night side, lit by moonlight. You can see city lights in Spain & Portugal, & a sliver of day at lower right * The Sun is entirely behind Earth, which makes it a kind of solar eclipse, but w/ Earth doing the eclipsing instead of the Moon: ☀️🌍🚀🌕

GOES-19 and GOES-18 captured the prominent exhaust plume left behind by Artemis II when it launched from Florida today. Atmospheric winds dissipated the plume as sunset approached.

Tonight marks 5 years since the Newnan, GA EF4 tornado. I'm so thankful that the tornado missed my brother's home (by less than a mile). I'm keeping the family of the one person who passed in my thoughts.

Obligatory excited gardener post, since these are the first blooms in my yard this year!

The Gulf of St. Lawrence is beautiful from on the ground, too - in both winter and summer. Photos are from the north shore of PEI, near where my husband grew up.

The full complaint is worth a read. There are several additional overreaches in there that I wasn't previously aware of.

JUST IN: A consortium of universities filed a lawsuit Monday to stop the Trump administration’s planned dismantling of Boulder’s NCAR, alleging that the planned reorganization violates the Constitution and federal law.

For those short on time, I had Claude do an executive summary of the entire lawsuit and I thought it did a good job (though, if you do have time, the source material is better).

Today's cold and damp weather motivated me to get my St. Patrick's Day cooking done early. Guinness beef stew and two loaves of Irish soda bread. ☘️🇮🇪

On the good news side for #saveNCAR, last week the Senate science committee reported the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Reauthorization Act of 2026 (S. 3923) with a @rosen.senate.gov amendment to block NSF from breaking up NCAR for at least 60 days.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is a cornerstone of U.S. weather science. AMS urges a transparent, community-driven review before restructuring such critical infrastructure. Read our response to NSF's "Dear Colleague Letter": https://bit.ly/4bglx16

News: Congressman Neguse of Boulder CO region says whistleblower reported to him that OMB is already negotiating specific transfers of pieces of NCAR to private companies, raising legal/ethical issues and undermining NSF process of requesting input on NCAR reorganization. tinyurl.com/2s4jftv3

We might be talking about a different hail record than just the Illinois state record…

Reminder for everyone to submit your response to the NSF DCL about NCAR by this Friday! Tell your friends. Also call your representatives while you’re at it 😅 agu.quorum.us/campaign/154...

70s on Monday and freezing rain today. Yep, it's spring in the Midwest.

An impressive view of the tornadic supercell that produced massive hail in Illinois earlier today.

The NSF has provided no evidence to justify dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Doing so would undermine one of the nation’s most vital scientific institutions. @ncar-ucar.bsky.social Read the letter UCS submitted today: 🔗 act.ucsusa.org/3NeWZh1

First 70 degree day of the year! I celebrated by wearing shorts and going for a long walk.

Hi everyone! With the abstract submission deadlines for the 2026 AMS Madison Joint Summit coming up, wanted to advertise these student award and travel opportunities available via the AMS WAF/NWP conferences. Feel free to spread the word to any interested students!

This was a wonderfully nerdy way to spend the evening! My husband and I saw this performed live at Midland Center for the Arts. svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14341/

Satellite imagery captured the storm that produced a destructive tornado in southern Michigan this afternoon.

I just submitted my letter to NSF responding to its proposal to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). I argue that doing so would be an astonishing and avoidable misstep, and that federal support for the institution should in fact be *increased.* [1/4]

KH and some turbulence on this sunny first day of meteorological spring.

The Trump administration plans to dismantle NSF’s National Center for Atmospheric Research, potentially closing its main lab in Boulder. UCS's @carlonimbus.bsky.social explains how NCAR keeps us safe and how you can help protect it. Take action: act.ucsusa.org/4ceWei9

I'm easily entertained by patterns in melting snow.

Merlin is stealthily trying to learn about geometry. I am surrounded by nerds.

What so many seem not to understand is that if you start breaking everything into separate entities, you lose any efficiency and additive benefits you had by having them all as a single NCAR. It's worse than shooting ourselves in the foot. It's significant amputations when there's no infection.

If you have personal testimonials about how @ncar-ucar.bsky.social has benefited your career, submit your story to @ametsoc.org via this web form. #SaveNCAR docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

If only I could spend a few days back home in NY! Check out the 72 hour 50th percentile snowfall forecast from WPC.

A major insurance industry professional organization submitted a letter in support of the Nat'l Center for Atmospheric Research, calling it crucial infrastructure for understanding weather & climate risk, and saying dismantling it threatens US insurance coverage. tinyurl.com/4aaxh22d

We have a super easy letter campaign to save NCAR. Takes 30 seconds to yell at your Congress Critters and you’ll can do it every day! @standupforscience.bsky.social fight2win.standupforscience.net/campaign/152...

Freezing fog rolling in this morning in Mount Pleasant, MI.

Great piece out today in Physics Today on historical origins, contemporary relevance, & fundamental irreplaceability of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which remains at imminent risk of dismantling for partisan political reasons.

At #AMS2026, Tom Fahy said to expect pain with respect to NCAR. It’s only going to get worse. I’ve never seen a government so consistently try to make things incrementally worse.

Now is the moment to speak up for NCAR. @aguscipolicy.bsky.social has a tool to help you submit a comment to NSF on why NCAR matters for science, public safety, and preparedness. Submit: buff.ly/Q0I8rs0 #SaveNCAR

Out of curiosity, I took a quick look at CoCoRaHS snowfall data for the November - January period in Midland, MI going back to 2015. This is the snowiest start to winter for Midland during that period and the first year with Nov-Jan snowfall over 2 feet since the winter of 2019-2020.

To Catherine!

❤️

An appropriately nerdy way for a boundary layer meteorologist to return home from #AMS2026. It was a wonderful week learning about outstanding science!

What sits with me after this week of #AMS2026 is that despite everything we’ve seen over the last 12 months, the science is resilient. It is hurt and handicapped and hamstrung but it endures. And the students, despite EVERYTHING **still** want to work for NWS or in broadcasting.