I like big fronts and I cannot lie.

Have you heard? The Geoscience Data Exchange platform is running and ready for community use! Designed to accelerate discovery and collaboration, GDEX ensures that scientific data are accessible and preserved for the research community, increasing discoverability and enabling collaboration.

Typhoon Kalmaegi strengthened as it crossed the South China Sea before making landfall earlier today in Vietnam as a Category Three equivalent storm.

I’m organizing an education-focused session at #32SLS! I plan to showcase all the great work the community is doing to teach severe weather and use storms to motivate learning. Please submit abstracts (due 3/19/26)! Look for this session in the abstract submission portal. @ams-sls-stac.bsky.social

I spy @storm-spotter-k.bsky.social !

Applications are open for the @ncar-cisl.bsky.social SIParCS summer internship program! It's a great opportunity for computationally-inclined students to get experience with real-world research problems spanning computational and Earth System Science. Link: ucar.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/UCAR_C...

I keep seeing journalism described as an "ecosystem" and I guess that tracks because it's undergoing an extinction crisis caused by billionaires, too.

News: Another fed contract cancelation, this time by the FAA, looks to mean the loss of surface weather observations from dozens of sites, primarily in NC and MD. More: https://tinyurl.com/yp57f2ck

Unidata had issued a public notice regarding the change in bucket name in August 2025: www.unidata.ucar.edu/blogs/news/e...

One of my students noticed that the AWS NEXRAD Level II bucket is returning “Access Denied” errors. s3.amazonaws.com/noaa-nexrad-... I am really hoping this is due to the government shutdown and not something more nefarious. We’ve been watching weather and climate data disappear for months.

“As the federal government cancels funding streams and fires the employees in charge of overseeing special-education programs nationwide, the result will be an uneven, state-by-state patchwork of special education… That future is already playing out across the country… it’s about to get even worse.”

Not what people ANYWHERE on the Pacific coast need. #akwx #AlaskaSky "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is halting a contract that makes it possible for the federal agency to…monitor for potential tsunamis…and quickly warn at-risk communities." alaskapublic.org/news/alaska-...

The death toll in Jamaica from Hurricane Melissa rose to 28 on Saturday. Authorities and humanitarian workers acknowledged that they had yet to reach dozens of communities that were hardest hit by the devastating storm.

The magnitude of the #Melissa disaster is becoming clearer: BBC reporting that food and water are becoming scarce in parts of devastated Jamaica. How will the US respond without USAID - and how you can help those impacted. Also, a warm Oct for much of US closes. https://tinyurl.com/m5a8dfdt

Today marks 60 years of Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) at the Met Office. This marked the transition of the Met Office into the world-leader in weather science and forecasting that it is today. bit.ly/4nOqrH3

PSA: This time of day this week won’t be the same time of day next week. #DaylightSavingTime

ICE Agent, 7-Year-Old Both Wearing Same ‘Military Commando’ Halloween Costume

We have progressed from data collection to data analysis.

STORM CHASER SQUID GAME: Teams that successfully intercept tornadoes will advance to the next round. Any teams that bust will be eliminated.

NOAA’s hurricane research division staff has been cut from 52 in 2020 to 28 in 2025, almost a 50% cut. They’ve resorted to using volunteers to man the critical radar and dropsonde stations on Hurricane Hunter flights. Senseless cuts in an era of climate change making the strongest storms stronger.

“I’ll admit, it gives me a certain sadistic pleasure to watch you all completely lose hold of basic reality. I can feel a warm, quivering tingle deep in my footnotes.”

Regarding the sonde from yesterday morning with the 219-kt spot wind, highest dropsonde wind ever seen in a TC, AOML/HRD shared the raw data and I took a look this morning. They’ll have the final call, but I see nothing wrong with the ob and I suspect it’s going to hold up.

“Experts say they saw no major problems with NOAA’s hurricane forecasting ability… critical ahead of Melissa’s landfall in Jamaica as a violent storm that is not expected to strike the U.S. Many NOAA employees are considered essential, which means they are working during the shutdown without pay.”

“Hurricane Melissa should prompt a collective moment of disbelief that should make America — and indeed, the world — redouble its efforts to keep people safe and prepare for the future.”

Thanks to some vigilant friends out there, I have a nearly-complete 87-hour radar loop of #Melissa 's approach to #Jamaica. The loop abruptly ends when the radar is lost (either loss of communication with it or loss of the actual structure). bmcnoldy.earth.miami.edu/tropics/radar/

I want to acknowledge that the hurricane hunters have been working relentlessly and in dangerous conditions - *without pay* - to do their best to help other countries (in this case). I wish some in our federal government had half the dedication to public good and fellow humans.

#Melissa has made landfall in #Jamaica, and has preliminarily tied the record for the lowest pressure of any landfalling hurricane in Atlantic history: 892 mb. That was last observed 90 years ago with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane. The storm does not look like it even notices Jamaica being there.

Per NOAA/AOML/HRD’s Sim Aberson, the 219 kt reading will be the fastest wind ever measured by a dropsonde if it passes final quality-control checks.

Meteorologist Matthew Cappucci flew into the eye of Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm that is projected to hit Jamaica. “It was equal parts scientifically stunning and horrifying from a humanitarian standpoint,” he wrote, flying in one of two groups of hurricane hunters. https://wapo.st/42XpWmq

Echoing colleagues: Think before you (re)post. #Melissa is about to impact a relatively poor part of Jamaica. I doubt we will know the true extent of the devastation for days or weeks. Information vacuums fill with disinformation. Expect a lot of “breaking wind” on SM. Map source: World Bank

The last hurricane hunter flights into Melissa have departed before its landfall in Jamaica. As always kudos to them for their work powering through especially powerful storms like this to collect invaluable data.

The only other instance coming to mind of 30-kt rapid intensification in the Atlantic that started (continued?) at category 4 strength was Dorian (2019) which went from 130 to 160 kt in 24 hours during a lengthy RI phase. Melissa is in truly rare territory. 😔

1-minute #GOES19/#GOESEast Visible and Infrared images with plots of GLM Flash Points showed prolific lightning activity within the inner eyewall of Category 5 Hurricane #Melissa as it approaches the SW coast of Jamaica. Low-altitude mesovortices persist within the eye.

This meso loop of #Melissa from CIRA is absolutely stunning at it makes its closes in on landfall in southwestern Jamaica. rammb-data.cira.colostate.edu/tc_realtime/... #hurricanemelissa

Keep the people of Jamaica in your thoughts today. The 9am update from NHC has the pressure down to 896mb and peak winds at 180 mph, cementing Melissa as the 5th most intense hurricane on record in the Atlantic Basin.

You VERY rarely ever see a satellite presentation like this anywhere in the world. And you certainly don't expect to see it this close to a mountainous island. As of 5am EDT on Tuesday, #Melissa is the 8th strongest Atlantic hurricane on record by central pressure (901 mb).

Live Jamaica web cam montage. Very few people are out. They seem to be taking the hurricane seriously, at least at these locations. #HurricaneMelissa www.youtube.com/live/mCT5dMO...

What’s in that spaghetti plot? Which models are better in data sparse situations? Why is the GFS called AVN? Tim Vasquez teaches the alphabet soup of hurricane models! youtu.be/n9zWTZhpESo

From a crewmember on yesterday's Teal 74 mission into now-Category 5 Hurricane #Melissa. As clear of an eye as you will see in the Atlantic basin.

It is only now Monday afternoon starting its direct approach.... I do understand that there are some that feel the warnings are being dismissive of experiences of Jamaicans....but this is nothing experienced there. Gilbert was weaker by 2 categories than Melissa. We wish everyone the best outcome

We had an inspiring time during the @ncar-ucar.bsky.social Annual Members Meeting! Your ideas and discussions will further enrich our education and training resources. Thanks to those who tested the VR demo for our radar lesson series developed in collaboration with @tornatrix.bsky.social!

“Step 1. A tropical disturbance is created when Mneseus, son of Poseidon and reigning King of Atlantis, strikes a deadly blow to a multi-headed hydra by ramming his trident through its heart“ theonion.com/how-hurrican...

Lightning flashes within the powerful eye wall of Hurricane Melissa. Incredible imagery this morning of Melissa, a Category 5 storm, south of Jamaica.

Mission 20 FOMO: They've circled the eye twice this morning. It must be a once-in-a-lifetime sight. #HurricaneMelissa

Atlantic Hurricane Melissa Intermediate Advisory Number 24a ...NOAA AND AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTERS INVESTIGATING CATEGORY 5 MELISSA... ...DESTRUCTIVE WINDS AND STORM SURGE AND CATASTROPHIC FLOODING WILL WORSEN ON JAMAICA THROUGH THE DAY AND INTO TONIGHT... Additional Details Here.

A special 1800 UTC sounding from Kingston, Jamaica, reveals that the tropopause is above 100 mb. The large temperature difference between the cold tropopause and warm sea surface temperatures is very favorable for intense tropical cyclones. #Melissa

Reminder to students that @bmcnoldy.bsky.social has an amazing repository of tropical cyclone-related imagery and loops at bmcnoldy.earth.miami.edu/tropics/radar/

A true catastrophe is likely to unfold in Jamaica, as multiple days of rain followed by a direct hit from a top-end hurricane push the limits of what the country has seen historically. Details on the forecast, which aren’t much changed today below and at theeyewall.com.

Sunrise on Hurricane Melissa. Melissa is now a Category 4 storm with sustained winds of 140 mph.