Suit up, scientists in training! 🥼 Super Science Saturday is just around the corner on November 1st from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm at the NSF NCAR Mesa Lab in Boulder, CO. Heroes unite to harness the superpowers of science!

What does it mean when an ozone alert is issued?

Next week members of our team are excited to attend and present at the Smithsonian Affiliations Virtual Conference! Tuesday afternoon we will be giving a presentation on building a network of community-centered ozone bioindicator gardens to help create a healthier future.

HEROES ASSEMBLE! 🦸 Calling all nerds to attend this year's Super Science Saturday on Saturday, November 1st at the @ncar-ucar.bsky.social Mesa Lab. Become a hero for science and use your knowledge superpowers to explore our natural world at this year's event. No cape required and the event is free.

When you are in Boulder - Come check this out!! @ncar-ucar.bsky.social @ucarscied.bsky.social www.dailycamera.com/2025/09/02/n...

Interested in one of our award-winning field trips but can't come in person? Good news! We offer virtual options as well, all you need to participate is a computer, webcam, and internet access. We bring the science to you!

This weekend, members of our team will be attending and presenting at the @sciencecenters.bsky.social Association of Science and Technology Centers 2025 Annual Conference in the San Francisco Bay Area!

Back to school means it's time to dive into hands-on science! Our Feeling the Heat classroom activity helps students explore the urban heat island effect right outside their school doors. First, students investigate which areas of the schoolyard are warmer.

What does a scientist Look like? They look like anyone! Stop by the NSF NCAR Mesa Lab Visitor Center to check out our recently updated installation and learn about some of the fascinating careers and projects of the @ncar-ucar.bsky.social community.

Spring 2026 field trips reservations are open! Whether your class wants to join us in-person or virtually, we offer free, interactive, programs that bring science to life and help students, PreK-12, explore the world around them! scied.ucar.edu/visit/ncar-f...

From improving storm warnings to enhancing wildfire forecasts, research plays a critical role in protecting lives & communities. For the next few weeks, we’re sharing how publicly funded research benefits everyday Americans. Follow along & reshare: researchworks.ucar.edu

The dense ball of gas at the center of our solar system, our Sun, is pretty impressive. Brush up on your Sun knowledge with these quick facts (1/3)

Science exploration doesn't always happen in classrooms, sometimes it's in kitchens! Check out our Cooking up a Storm series to see how basic kitchen tools and ingredients can be used to explore Earth science at home. You might be surprised by the connections to our planet and Sun!

It’s a royally radiant glow up!☀️ The newly revitalized Sun-Earth Connections exhibit is back and better than ever, complete with interactive games and tactile elements that are both engaging and educational! Learn more from our friends @ucarscied.bsky.social & stop by our Visitor Center!

Most thunderstorms go through three different stages as they form! With the right conditions, what starts as a puffy cumulus cloud can turn into a towering cumulonimbus and even a thunderstorm cell. Want to learn more about the stages of thunderstorms and how they form? Check out our Learning Zone!

We’re rolling out the sunshine yellow carpet for our newly renovated and enlightening Sun-Earth Connections exhibit at the Mesa Lab Visitor Center! ☀️➡️🌎 #MesaLabMonday 🧵

Wildfire risk, especially in the Western U.S., is a growing concern, but researchers are developing and using models to help predict and understand wildfire behavior. Models allow researchers to use large sets of data to run different scenarios of a wildfire event.

Air pollution doesn't just form a haze on the horizon, what we breathe has a direct impact on our health too. While modern developments have made life easier and more convenient in many ways, they also contribute to conditions that harm the environment and our well-being.

Have you heard of urban heat islands (UHIs)? While the name might make you think of a tropical getaway, urban heat islands are a very different kind of island.

What has @ncar-ucar.bsky.social done for you? A public tour of the Mesa Lab is a great way to get to know our impact. Our research has been protecting lives and property across the United States since the 1960s, and we'd love to tell you about it!

What are the conditions that lead to a thunderstorm? What is storm intensity? Make a virtual severe thunderstorm on our website to test your knowledge about a thunderstorm's recipe scied.ucar.edu/interactive/...

💦Dive into the Mesa Lab’s latest community art show “Exploring Water through Art” on display in our cafe thru Oct! The show explores the ways that water has many forms+facets: nurturing yet dangerous; soothing yet tempestuous. Featured art includes textile art to paintings and more!

Have you ever wondered if plants can "see" air pollution before we do? 🌿👀 The National Ozone Garden Network features gardens from across the U.S. that are growing ozone-sensitive bioindicator plants that are sensitive to ground-level ozone and can show visible signs of damage from poor air quality.

Have you ever counted the seconds between a lightning flash and hearing thunder? You're not alone! And there's real science behind that instinct, because lightning causes thunder! ⚡

Looking for ways to bring real-world science and data analysis into the classroom? Check out "Using ArcGIS to Analyze Storm Story Data Geospatially"! scied.ucar.edu/hurricane-re...

Most tornadoes form during supercell thunderstorms—the strongest type of thunderstorm—but not all supercells produce tornadoes. So what makes the difference? The key lies in atmospheric conditions.

This year has been very active for tornadoes so far, depending on where you live. Tornado Alley is rightly named because it has the highest average number of tornadoes each year. So, which two states top the list? Test your knowledge on our Learning Zone quiz: scied.ucar.edu/learning-zon...

Happy first day of summer! As the days get longer and we spend more time outside, it’s important be ready for whatever the weather brings—like summer afternoon thunderstorms. Do you know what to do when lightning is in the forecast?

Last call for our K12 Teacher Professional Development Workshop, next Tuesday, June 24. Lunch is included in the cost. We are so excited to connect with local educators and provide tools to teach about Earth system science in your classroom! scied.ucar.edu/educators/te... #ScienceTeachers #BoulderCO

Have you ever wondered why coastal areas tend to have milder seasonal temperature variation, while places farther inland experience more extreme heat and cold? It’s thanks to the ocean’s considerable thermal inertia, its ability to absorb heat slowly and release it just as gradually.

Summer field trips to the NSF NCAR Mesa Lab are in full swing! Kids will learn about Earth’s extraordinary atmosphere and how changes in the air impact plants, animals, and humans. We still have a few spots open for summer or fall 2025. All our field trips are FREE!

We are one month away from our summer teacher workshop, "Planet Earth: Wonder, Awe, & Rejuvenation". K-12 teachers in the Colorado front-range area are invited to join us on Tuesday, June 24, from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm MT.

Our next Explorer Series event combines art and science to explore the changes in Arctic marine ecosystems. Join us on June 4 at 7PM MST to hear more from Courtney Payne and NSF NCAR’s Anna Lindemann about the intersection of art & science. Reserve your spot: www.eventsquid.com/event.cfm?id...

Are you seeing May flowers from April showers? Or are your May flowers endangered by hailstorms? 🌷 Hail is born in a storm cloud when a small piece of ice collides with a supercooled water droplet, which freezes on the ice's surface and forms a microscopic hailstone. (1/2)

Happy National Pun Day! Are you stratus-fied with your cloud knowledge? Want to learn even more? Check out our Learning Zone for some cirrus-ly cool cloud facts, the sky is the limit!☁️ scied.ucar.edu/learning-zon...

🚨FINAL CALL🚨 There’s still time to share your thoughts and help shape the Learning Zone! We want your feedback on our teaching resources. Fill out the quick survey by May 15, 2025 and be entered to win a $50 Visa gift card. Don’t miss your chance to make an impact! scied.ucar.edu/lzsurvey

🎉 Happy 75th Anniversary to the National Science Foundation (NSF)!🎉 Thank you for 75 years of empowering science, discovery, and innovation! #NSF75

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a storm chaser? On Saturday, May 17, get a glimpse of what it’s like to chase hailstorms at the free ICECHIP field day, which kicks-off the In-situ Collaborative Experiment for the Collection of Hail In the Plains (ICECHIP) field campaign!

Thank you, teachers! #TeacherAppreciationWeek is a chance to reflect on all of the impactful work that educators provide.

Live update: there's a giant sunspot on our Sun right now! Still holding onto those eclipse glasses? This sunspot is so big, that you can see it through the glasses or by putting the glasses over a zoomed-in phone camera. Using eclipse glasses, try to see it for yourself over the next day or two! 🌞

Next week, join us in celebrating 75 years of ground-breaking discoveries and research at the National Science Foundation (NSF)! In honor of this milestone, we are offering special guided tours at the NSF NCAR Mesa Laboratory and the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC) on Friday, May 9! 🧵

Clouds can reveal a lot about the weather. The Clouds Memory Game by @ucarscied.bsky.social makes learning fun & interactive—students match tiles to test their memory, & each correct pair reveals a description of the cloud type, deepening their understanding of meteorology.

Free field trips to the @ncar-ucar.bsky.social Mesa Lab for the Fall 2025 semester are now open! These PreK-12 field trip spots go quickly, so teachers should book their class visit soon. Spring 2026 field trips will open in August. Find out more about our field trips: scied.ucar.edu/visit/ncar-f...

🌳Happy Arbor Day!🌳 Do you think of trees as part of the water cycle? You should, they play an important part! Through a process called transpiration they release water vapor into the air from their leaves. This helps cool the plant and the air around it and keeps the water cycle in motion!

How do ice, water, and water vapor behave at the molecular level? In this teaching guide created by @ucarscied.bsky.social, students explore the fascinating phases of water by creating physical models that demonstrate how molecular movement changes with temperature.

Help us decide what to include in our online learning resources! Your feedback will help shape new tools and make our free materials more relevant and responsive. Let us know your thoughts by filling out our quick survey with a chance to win a $50 Visa gift card. survey.alchemer.com/s3/8232435/U...

#EarthDay is a perfect chance to come explore the @ncar-ucar.bsky.social Mesa Lab Visitor Center and appreciate the Earth science research happening in your Boulder backyard. Visitors can use our Self-Guided Tour App to explore the exhibits. scied.ucar.edu/apps/tour-ap... #EarthMonth #BoulderCO

We invite K-12 Front Range teachers to join us for a unique teacher workshop. We will offer a day for you to reconnect with yourself, peers, and the mystery of our Earth. Yes, you'll still walk away with teaching resources to inspire your students, but we'll take time to reconnect with our planet🌎 💙

Interested in a SciEd field trip but can't come in person? Good news, we offer virtual ones too! Book one of our FREE interactive programs with a live educator for your class or a group of students. All you need to participate is a computer, webcam, and internet access. We bring the science to you!

❄️✈️ Join us on Wednesday, April 16 for the next Explorer Series event about plane icing from experts Julie Haggerty and Dan Adriaansen. Register here: www.eventsquid.com/event.cfm?ev...