The Ranger Road Fire in Oklahoma burns brightly at night among city lights. Imagery captured early this morning by NOAA-20.

Combined with record low snowpack across the CO Rockies with no relief in sight. Fire Season’s gone be lit 🔥 (Not in a good way)

This local Wolfdog joined an Olympic ski event and triggered the finish-line camera. This is Nazgul. He snuck into a cross-country skiing sprint this morning and raced the homestretch with some competitors before being escorted home. 14/10 someone get him a medal

Detections from the Next Generation Fire System comes in geojson format. Cool to see more potential applications for a wildland fire detection and monitoring!

In a study published today, researchers reported that the ideal conditions for major wildfires are now aligning across different parts of the world at more than double the rate they did 50 years ago. @umairfan.bsky.social for @vox.com: www.vox.com/climate/4795...

The 43 Road Fire burned over an @mesonet.org site yesterday in Woodward, OK. Remarkably, the site partially survived! www.facebook.com/share/p/1AZu... #Wildfire #OKWX

Given the timing of the aerial reconnaissance, it took ~25hrs for the Ranger Road #wildfire🔥 to go from ignition to 283k+ acres. 🫨 Absolute insanity. Day 3 of Critical Fire Wx conditions expected tomorrow. #okwx

Near surface smoke forecast for the CONUS area. Model run: 20260218T11:00 UTC Data from NOAA's HRRR CONUS (https://rapidrefresh.noaa.gov/hrrr/) Note that this product comes with absolutely no guarantee of availability, accuracy or completeness. #Wildfires #Smoke #AirQuality

The Storm Prediction Center issues Day 1 Fire Weather Outlook (Max Risk: Critical) at Feb 18, 7:16z Link

Applications for #SPOTTR 2026 are officially open! Deadline: 3/13/26. Questions? Email or DM the instructors, @tornatrix.bsky.social and @meteodan.bsky.social. A PDF version of the flyer below can be found here: drive.google.com/file/d/19iLu...

This organization shouldn’t get a penny more of taxpayer money

Receiving four notifications after ordering a single coffee makes me want to run into the woods, screaming, never to be heard from again.

For awareness, the @nws.noaa.gov has just released a tool to visualize certain #severeweather and #wildfire threats based upon climatology, or a historical record of past events. Link: www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/datavi...

Now if only the @nytimes.com can look into—or even ask about—the allegations against the POTUS. Heard 10x more about the Kennedy Center from mainstream media than the POTUS’s involvement of the latest release of files.

All of these track 100%. English is such a weird language.

This is the weirdest—and most useless—thing to lie about.

Never thought I’d get a shout out in a fire-weather-themed romance novel, but I can check that off the career bucket list! ✅ If the combo of romance + suspense + weather & ocean science is you thing, check out my friend Allison’s: Cupid Meets Crime Scene series on her site. allisonbettes.com

❤️ This, college isn’t just job training, it’s building better people though differing perspectives of the world. Never mind the jobs you had; tell me five classes you took in college: Elements of Psychology 🧠 Creative Writing ✍️ Public Speaking 🎤 Native American Music 🪘 Rock Climbing 🧗‍♂️

THEY DID IT. EVERY SENATE DEMOCRAT just voted on an amendment to DEFUND ICE (rescind the BBB slush fund that keeps ICE open during a shutdown.) This amendment failed, but it shows broad support! KEEP CALLING and make it a demand to vote for the DHS funding bill!!

All be cause the house was on recess… Yet again… Right around a MAJOR funding deadline… Do they EVER work? The whole “we passed it, now we’re bailing so you can’t change it” shtick is getting old & not how government should function.

Tesla doubled its income last year to $5.7 BILLION. Its board approved a pay package that could make Elon Musk a trillionaire. And it just reported $0 in federal income taxes for 2025. Our tax code is so, so rigged. Tax the rich.

First time back at #AMS2026 in ~10 years, and it was so invigorating to be back in that atmosphere. Plus our amazing team shared some great updates from the Fire Wx Testbed! Ready to leverage new insights & connections to continue elevating the FWT’s place in the fire wx community!

In my newsletter this morning, I shared the experimental real-time freezing rain ice accumulation analysis developed by the winter weather research group at NSSL. This is the kind of R2O NOAA does that has clear societal benefit - and that the admin wants to curtail. tinyurl.com/43kcrhmb

Stoked to have worked on this with @kmanwx.bsky.social and the Hazard Services Team to advance Fire Warning utility! If you’re an @nws.noaa.gov forecaster wanting a hands-on experience, 👀 for a Call for Participants in the coming weeks!

We’re just not a free country. Any American watching this play out between regime forces and journalists overseas would recognize it for what it is.

Love this summary by Paul Markowski of Roger Wakimoto’s legacy of mesoscale observations - “observing the atmosphere with purpose” #AMS2026

Prelim results of the GS-1340 survey (n=146) from #AMS2026 town hall. Respondents were asked how important it is for federal mets to have coursework in ___ (on a 5-pt scale). This interactive page breaks down answers by sector. gs1340update.org/GS1340_Surve... Spoiler alert: Synoptic won!

Couldn’t make it to #AMS2026 this year … but our poster did! Come see it at 3 pm CT in the EIPT section (#566). We’re working on a fire warning product and tool in Hazard Service to be tested at the NOAA Fire Weather Testbed. Contact me or @kylethiem.bsky.social with questions or comments!

The use of “victims” here is interesting b/c in Dec, a leaked memo of talking points about the Epstein files pushed the DARVO strategy which is: Deny, Attack, and… Reverse Victim and Offender. Do who’s really being protected?

“Oof, you called out my unjustifiable lies and propaganda in the simplest way, so now I have to run away from the question”

Multiple times… - In the back - While unarmed - While restrained - Never reached for his firearm - Didn’t even hit back, just tried to protect himself and others

Sen. Dick Durbin, another one of the 8 Democratic YES votes on Nov funding bill, is a NO on this DHS measure: “I will not vote to fund the illegal DHS and ICE operations that terrorize Chicago, Minneapolis, and many other communities.” This bill doesn’t have the votes.

A message from a Veterans Affairs federal worker and member of the Federal Workers Alliance for Democracy. We lost one of our own today. Share this. Spread the truth. #AlexPretti

Boy, I am just a former state public defender and federal criminal investigator but someone is going to have to explain to me how federal agents who are not on federal property are able to block state law enforcement from accessing a crime scene Sounds like pretty clear Obstruction of Justice to me

An ICE\CBP goon sadistically mocked the murder of Alex Pretti telling people protesting his death "boo hoo" before walking away. Cruel and deplorable.

The nurses are pissed

Da heck they mean REGULARLY?!?!

Also, may I say that I don’t agree with people saying ICE and CBP need “more training.” They’re doing exactly what this administration has trained them to—impose a reign of fear in blue cities. They don’t need more training. They need to be ripped up root and branch.

DHS is systematically out of control. They’ve purposely: • Escalated tensions and stoked fear and chaos through violence, aggression, taunting and agitation. • Instructed actions that violate American’s constitutional rights • Lie at every opportunity and push false narratives to sow division.

JFC

Also called 👇 Obstruction of Justice Call it what it was. Name the crime, and demand they be held accountable.

💯 Every. Fucking. Word.

Talks of snow may be exciting, but dangerously cold temperatures bring even more risk this weekend. -50F wind chills in the Plains, and sub-freezing temperatures all the way down to the Gulf Coast pose a life threatening risk this weekend. Have a plan to stay warm! www.weather.gov/safety/winte...

One painful lesson I’ve repeated learned from my years of forecasting in the Southeast: Never bet against the wedge.

Worth noting losses to federal science extend well beyond these programs, e.g., to Dept of Agriculture, Dept of the Interior, and elsewhere. We've lost 30% of our federal colleagues at the USGS National Climate Adaptation Science Center in the past year. Rebuilding will take decades.

Wildfires in Chile rage for third day, entire towns wiped out u.afp.com/SB5w

Insanity

Damn good Heisman Moment. Probably just cemented his spot as the #1 overall pick with that Draw.

The lives we could have if American culture and politics revolved around the working class and not the wealthy elite. This is why culture war is pushed over class war. United, THEY fall.

Family and work: Parents would get 25 weeks of paid parental leave. Workers would get 27 days of guaranteed paid time off per year. We'd work 231 fewer hours per year—nearly six fewer weeks. Net childcare costs would fall by 60%.