A five-minute masterpiece to brighten your day ❤️

“White House officials characterized the dismantling of NCAR as a return to the center’s original mission—to make the weather great again… Weather and climate aren’t easily separable, though, and never have been.” www.theatlantic.com/science/2025...

For example: “In 1987, NCAR began testing a new Doppler radar that predicted dangerous wind shear events and alerted pilots…There has not been a microburst-induced crash of a commercial airplane in the United States since 1994.”

I love how so many news outlets have spotlighted NCAR’s deep back catalog of scientific advancements. www.cpr.org/2025/12/19/s... @coloradopublic.bsky.social

The Trump Administration's plan to dismantle the @ncar-ucar.bsky.social is senseless & dangerous. It would weaken weather forecasting, climate research, & the science that keeps people safe. We urge that this plan be abandoned. Call Congress to #SaveNCAR today. buff.ly/7ka1BQA

In case you want to share with your networks, this is a good article by the NYT on the broad scope of work done by NCAR and some of the key discoveries (e.g., microbursts and aviation accidents).

On Kindness, Power, and Hypocrisy. “And [Stephen Miller] says to me, ‘You know, you have a lot of power in the discretion you use to be kind to people.’ And I looked at him and I said, ‘You know, you do, too.’” [kottke.org]

Join us for a critical conversation on the future of U.S. atmospheric science. UCAR President Antonio Busalacchi hosts this town hall on what’s at stake if NSF NCAR is dismantled. buff.ly/jR6tGwo

Check out #CIGLR's new blog post: Lake-effect snow is dramatic, but hard to predict. A recent study by #CIGLR’s @abbathehut.bsky.social w/ @NOAA @UMich & @UofIllinois explores how snowflakes grow in these storms & why models often struggle: ciglr.seas.umich.edu/big-lakes-bi... #GreatLakes

California's Central Valley has been shrouded in Tule fog for the last 16 days.

Join us TODAY @ 12pm! for a #GreatLakes #seminar titled: "Modeling the Fate and Transport of Plastic Pollution Using Great Lakes Hydrodynamic Models and Exploring the Potential Impact of Data Assimilation" Who: Matthew Hoffman (RIT) Registration & more: ciglr.seas.umich.edu/event/120420...

Lovely, intricate map of all the rivers in the US (lower 48). [kottke.org]

winter measurements of temperature throughout the water column of Lake Ontario suggest it "appears to be a warm monomictic lake, rather than having a dimictic mixing pattern as previously described—there is no sustained ice cover or inverse stratification that inhibits vertical mixing in winter."

Climate Central has brought back the U.S. Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database, tracking the nation’s costliest storms, floods, and fires. In the first six months of 2025, there were 14 events totaling $101 billion in losses. Read more from Desk reporter Hêctor Alejandro Arzate.

Simply incredible imagery of Hurricane Melissa this morning as it approaches Jamaica.

"NOAA has built a reputation for world-class research...For every dollar invested in NOAA, the country’s return is orders of magnitude greater in productivity, transportation, farming, fishing, business development, and savings to communities in insurance and public safety."

And there we have it. #Melissa's WV eye temperature has broken -5°C, making it warmer than any other eye observed through geostationary water vapor imagery. Takes an upper echelon warm core for this

Women may experience a three-fold reduction in mortality risk from coronary heart diseases, when following recommended exercise guidelines, compared to men, according to a study in Nature Cardiovascular Research. go.nature.com/47t8eZq #medsky 🧪

Satellite image of a beautiful midlatitude cyclone over the Great Lakes

Speechless. A fisheries science center that has a 100 year history in Ann Arbor.

very cool timelapse this evening #COwx

The most important thing universities should do in a world with AI is to greatly increase the number of professors, so that classes can be smaller and more class time can be spent directly interacting with students as people.

This is SUCH an important point. Most people are worried about climate change: but most people feel helpless and think nothing’s being done (so why should they do anything?) This is why my weekly newsletter always includes good news on climate solutions as well as actions we can take!

Granted - I never learned how to code properly. But at least I *know* I never learned how to code properly. Thanks Stack Overflow!

Printing presses kept their letters in cases. Capital letters went in the upper case. Smaller letters went in the lower case. This is why we say ‘UPPER CASE’ and ‘lower case.’ Ok, but what did we call them before the invention of the printing press? MAJUSCULE and minuscule.

The Oatmeal’s take on AI art. “When I consume Al art, it also evokes a feeling…until I find out that it’s Al art. Then I feel deflated, grossed out, and maybe a little bit bored. This feeling isn’t a choice.” [theoatmeal.com]

✨New publication alert✨: “Recommendations from the Sea Grant-Led Invasive Species Language Workshop” — a report on the workshop I organized in DC last year! #BiologicalInvasions #InvasiveSpecies 🧪 www.reabic.net/journals/mbi...

A powerful story of pathology done right - and the sacrifices a mom was willing to make

Very interesting!

THIS is exactly why federal funding is necessary for clean water and Great Lakes restoration. #GreatLakes www.mlive.com/environment/...

Whistleblower report on NASA funding from the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation www.commerce.senate.gov/services/fil...

Changing water temperatures and human-driven introductions of fish have altered the composition of fish populations in streams and rivers across the USA over the past three decades, a study in Nature suggests. go.nature.com/47ZCcWH 🧪

The federal government has censored the work of dozens of scientists, including work by my lab, on the impacts of climate change on Acadia National Park. Signs have been removed from Cadillac and Great Meadow. They’re also removing signs about the Wabanaki’s sacred connections to Cadillac.

Some lightning today

ACOG reaffirms that acetaminophen is safe for managing pain and fever during pregnancy. No reputable studies support suggestions like those in HHS’s recent announcement linking acetaminophen use in pregnancy to autism; in fact, high-quality studies show no such risk. https://bit.ly/47Wxc59

🧪 New National Academies report concludes that rising greenhouse gas levels imperil public health and the 2009 endangerment finding “has stood the test of time.” Game on. Gift link: Top Scientists Find Growing Evidence That Greenhouse Gases Are, in Fact, a Danger www.nytimes.com/2025/09/17/c...

How Climate Scientists Saw the Future Before It Arrived. “‘The goal of climate modeling is really to build a fake version of the Earth,’ a coarse-grained copy of the planet that’s stripped down to ‘the processes we think are relevant.’” [quantamagazine.org]

This is AI2ES, my AI institute. No way around it other than to say this is really awful. We are doing so many amazing things! We want to keep doing amazing things but without this level of funding, we will not be able to do so.

*cracks knuckles* okay so you know how the media has a problem with taking snippets of scientific studies out of context and writing articles which mislead the public? now imagine a computer program is doing that when you ask it questions about scientific literature but also it makes stuff up.

The American Meteorological Society's formal response to "foundationally flawed" DOE mis/disinformation report on #ClimateChange is excellent & timely. Frankly, I have been more impressed w/@ametsoc.org's ability to effectively meet the moment this year than other scientific professional societies.

A new IAGLR survey shows how federal actions are disrupting Great Lakes science—lost data, careers, & collaboration. On #WorldLakeDay, we’re reminded that protecting freshwater means supporting both the science & the people behind it. 📖 https://bit.ly/ll26 #GreatLakes #FreshwaterScience

Look at that wobble southward during the ERC!

1/ I've been trying to think through why the brag of "PhD-level expert in your pocket" bothers me as a frame, and here are two: 1. A PhD is about how to rigorously examine and interrogate information, not transmit it. To reduce a PhD to a mere disseminator of information misunderstands what we are.

Storm Floris has now cleared the UK, and is tracking across Norway today Here’s a 24 hour satellite view showing Floris crossing the UK on Monday 🛰️

Motherfucking windfarms. In Europe, they’re called Royale with Breeze. (I stole that joke from Bluesky.) [youtube.com]

“That is the project of Trumpism: becoming the only people in the room again. Becoming both the protagonists and the intended audience, the only people whose laughter counts”

The peer review process is a flawless system that has no issues whatsoever /s

Michigan field guides? Online for free? Yes, please!

From Beautiful Public Data, a look into the Internet Archive’s collection of 5000 images from the NASA Ames Research Center. “Browsing through this amazing archive gives you a unique view of decades’ worth of breakthrough research.” [beautifulpublicdata.com]