When my eyes first saw the graph, I thought it was a picture of this year's awful snow/water content of the western US, but then realized it's just a graphic of a major source of funding for my career field that studies things like this year's awful western snows.

CatGPT code assistants can be unreliable but this morning they showed up to do work.

The 12-month running average temperature is now at a record high for both Utah and Colorado. Seems bad. 🔥

No tornadic storms yesterday in OK/KS but it was far from a bust. The mammatus clouds and lightning were exceptional. Here’s a timelapse of the two phenomena, which includes a cameo from lightning bugs at the very end. Set to Stars of the Lid music.

It was a delight having breakfast this morning with the winner of the 2026 Carl-Gustaf Rossby research medal, Wayne Schubert, this morning, along with some of his former grad students. Although long retired, Wayne wielded his notebook of unsolved problems in PV dynamics for lively discussion.

Photos of Cara in the last 24 hours.

That flow tho.

A camera trap picked up a mountain lion waking up and falling asleep next to it

True Color RGB images from @noaa.gov #GOESEast / #GOES19 revealed the formation of mesolows in southern Lake Superior, off the coast of Upper Michigan: geosphere.ssec.wisc.edu#playing:true...; #MIwx

The Euro ensemble (here) and GEFS suggest a brutal western ridge in the first week of February, suggesting meager near-term relief to this warm and dry winter in the central Rockies. Some pattern signals of ridge breakdown in the following week, but that's too far out to really conclude much.

Modeled near-surface wind structure (20 m grid spacing) for onshore hurricane flow from the ocean (right) to land (left).

congrats to all of the #AMS2026 award winners, especially the great @csuatmossci.bsky.social teacher, research pioneer, and colleague Wayne Schubert

The winter trail running conditions this afternoon were perfect.

US weather for any AMS annual meeting in all of recorded history

One reason I have faith in NOAA's survival is that Cruz depends on its data for his vacation planning.

With inland temperatures from just below 0 to the single digits F, 1-minute @NOAASatellites #GOESEast / #GOES19 True Color RGB images showed nearshore ice in southern Lake Michigan (along and just off the coast of Wisconsin. Illinois and Indiana). geosphere.ssec.wisc.edu#playing:true...;

The mountains induced some neat swirls in the clouds today.

A brutal record low achieved for the state of CO snowpack, with a 14-day forecast that increases the probability of a record low peak snowpack in March. For the sake of our already stressed forests, I hope somehow the pattern changes in Feb. or March.

I’m only two chapters in, but if the book continues to cook like it has so far, this will prove an ‘essential read’ recommendation.

A WRF semi-LES depiction of low-level wind speeds for offshore flow, with transition zones from cellular, convective patterns over warm land into boundary layer roll patterns over the sea.

For Colorado, December 1980 has long stuck out as the warmest December on record. December 2025 just beat it out. #cowx

In David Attenborough's voice: On the slick, glacial flank of a Minnesota hill, a rare but needed migration unfolds: marchers adopt an efficient tactic--seated and sliding--letting gravity ferry them swiftly to a justice march below, where they start to steer their tyrants back into the shadows.

Ken Burns Announces New 10-Part ‘Mr. Biscuits’ Documentary After Adopting Cat https://theonion.com/ken-burns-announces-new-10-part-mr-biscuits-documentary-after-adopting-cat/

Reading and learning history helps one put into perspective negative societal behaviors, and what we see today is not unprecedented, but this reckoning does not do much to alleviate a weight of sorrow and paralysis induced by increasing levels of societal moral bankruptcy.

In the latest carbon budget, we revised... * up land-use change emissions * up the ocean sink (now takes up 29% of total emissions) * down the land sink (now takes up 21% of total emissions) * the "budget imbalance" now has zero trend What does this mean? www.nature.com/articles/s41... 1/

Grocery store parking lot skies in Lafayette this evening.

Lenticular timelapse #COwx

In Marin County, flooding left motorists stranded and kayakers paddling Saturday in areas where bicyclists usually pedaled. The high tides prompted a coastal flood advisory in effect through 2 p.m. Sunday for much of the Bay Area and Central Coast. 📷: @stephenlamphoto.bsky.social/S.F. Chronicle

Humans have emitted 2750 gigatons of CO2 since the industrial revolution from burning fossil fuels and land use change. To put this in perspective, this is more than the (dry) mass of all living things on earth and everything humans have ever built combined:

per preliminary data from PRISM, it was the warmest October through December period on record for the majority of Colorado. In many places, by a large margin (e.g., here in Fort Collins it was 2.4°F warmer than any previous Oct-Dec). #cowx

The sunrise this morning in south Boulder.

a lot of people are aware that you can factor 2025 = 45² i'm honored to announce the factorization 2026 = (45-i)(45+i)

Welcome to 2026. 🥳😮‍💨

I put together a few maps and stats on tornadoes across the U.S. and Canada in 2025. Both countries saw above-average tornado activity this year. I forgot to put a legend on the tornado damage surveys. Just imagine the tornado rating increases from cool to warm.

I found this handsome donkey on a run this morning. Not surprisingly, she doesn’t support political retribution against the people of Colorado.

Wildfire risk and fire behavior depend on many connected factors including weather conditions, vegetation, and terrain. Scientists use computer models to help predict and understand how wildfires behave.

I love a good Lake Michigan beach run.

The NWS Denver/DIA forecast high for today is 73 F, well above the record high of 70 F for the date. I'm avoiding this heat wave with a visit to Wisconsin right now, but impressive warm anomalies are now moving into this region.

It was amazing seeing so many people turn out for NCAR in Boulder today. I was so busy talking to friends, colleagues, and new acquaintances, I scarcely had time to document the event. Here's a short video capturing a few of the scenes. A top highlight: Joe Neguse complimenting my ugly sweater.

The classic mountain rains of Christmas are forecast to move in.

Now up to three separate spots with 100+ gusts in/near Boulder, two within the past hour. Again: It's considerably drier than Wednesday, and the wind started earlier (longer lasting wind event). Hence the extra concern today compared to Wednesday. #COwx

Just now might be the first time in my many years of calling my US senators and representative that I got through immediately and talked to someone in all 3 phone calls. Meaning, their phone lines are not busy enough hearing about why NCAR is important ;-)

Based on what I have been hearing about the NCAR situation, no one knew anything until the USA Today article came out. That means there isn’t much actual organization inside the administration to pull this off and a chance to fight back. Call your congresspeople today! Especially republicans.

Before the 1990s, plane crashes caused by microbursts used to kill planeloads of people fairly regularly. Dr. Ted Fujita and NCAR scientists figured out how to detect microbursts and warn pilots about them. Since then? Zero airliner crashes from microbursts.

I learned of this just now on social media here, and not from NCAR.

Javier, our new CEO, wanted to thank everyone for a fun and motivating first week. You all have made his transition process enjoyable. He has much to do but insisted on relaying that his initial numbers indicate that the dogs are all very good and will likely continue to be ❤️

It appears we’ve been gifted a new tree ornament this evening #CatsOfBluesky

Jordan Love throwing a TD to his team’s CB6

We have this up on our TV like a Yule Log

Some scenes of Boulder this morning.