The National Weather Service office in Fort Worth, TX is looking for student volunteers this summer. This is a great experience if you are interested in a career with the NWS or more broadly within operational meteorology, research-to-operations, and related fields.

Just bought some flair for my work bag.

Well hell. Watch the Stranger Things finale with a box of tissues.

Find yourself a friend like @jenwalton.bsky.social, who buys you a matching SPC 5% tornado (avocado) onesie. 😂🥑🌪️ When are you coming to visit so we can get a picture together, Jen? 💀 (yes, I’m holding a pet tornado)

Since SPC isn’t on BlueSky yet, I’ll share these fun “Wrapped”-style graphics here. Here’s a look back at SPC product issuances in 2025. Stay tuned for a more thorough review of the severe storm season coming in the new year.

Academics and technologists are sounding the alarm about a growing crisis in scholarship as we know it: AI-generated citations of nonexistent papers that have infested real journals. Despite being fake, the sources are widely assumed to be authentic the more they appear in published literature.

NCAR’s Vin Lally (1922-2005, under the balloon) was a pioneer in the field of atmospheric measurements, and a generous mentor to me when I was a green NOAA lad learning about dropwindsondes. Few were more important to my career development than Vin. Thank you, Vin, and thank you NCAR.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), an operational research center crucial to furthering our understanding of weather and helping to save lives and property, is at risk of being dismantled. We must not let that happen. 🧵⬇️

I’m reading a book and this quote had me absolutely cackling. Anyone in academia or who has ever done research/presented their work understands. 😆

Our administrative staff decorated the office and made everyone ornaments. It’s so festive and just a total mood booster after a rough year. I was so excited that my ornament had a tornado on it!

First snow! ❄️☃️

Thinking about never returning to Norman. 🏝️☀️

🥰🫶🏼 So sweet.

😍

One of the best nights ever! 😍🚀✨

First Blackstone meal success! Fajitas for the win.

I’m seasoning my new Blackstone on this cold, and very windy afternoon. All the weather nerd in my can think about as I watch the oil burn off is fire weather. 😂🔥🌬️

Obvious wavenumber-5 mesovortex pattern within #Melissa’s eyewall earlier today — when the simulation matches reality. Just two decades ago, the very existence of mesovortices was still a matter of debate.

The National Weather Festival is this Saturday from 10a-2pm at the National Weather Center in Norman, OK!

I was worried for my crew mates when I saw them circling in the eye for over 20 mins. Looks like the very rough ride was confirmed. Plane had to leave early. They reported svr turb and a "sawtooth" eye. Looks like they moved 600-700ft up & down during this stretch in ~1 min.

**6th most intense. Sorry for the typo.

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.

The 2pm ET public update advisory for Hurricane Melissa has the central pressure down to 906 mb with peak winds of 175 mph. This makes Melissa the 10th strongest hurricane in record in the Atlantic Basin.

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.

My kids are living their best lives right now. Watched lightning from this severe warned storm over OKC from our back porch as long as we could. Threw them in the car and drove to the library which has wide open views to the east and they are losing their minds over the prolific CGs. 😍⛈️

I’m reminded today that sometimes, all you have to do is ask to get what you want. My son recently has been very interested in immunology. I asked for book recs for him on the topic, & a friend spoke w/ someone who recommended reaching out to a biomed lab in town to see if they could offer a tour.

Today was False Fall Part 2. Summer Part 3 will return tomorrow. Then it looks like Actual Autumn arrives later this week.

My daughter earned her first Girl Scout badge. Of course it was the meteorology badge. 😄⛈️

Update: My son gave it a -1 out of 10 because they burned books. Then upgraded it a 1 because the dog lived. 😂

Tonight’s disaster movie is The Day After Tomorrow. And I forgot how awful the Los Angeles tornado scene was. Rolled my eyes so hard they may never be right again. 😂

Wow. Mateer has had an awful game. Our defense has gone downhill. That TX touchdown was probably the game winner. This looks more like the OU team I expected this year (my preseason prediction was a 6-6 record).

This OU performance is shameful. Just awful.

Me at the half…

Update: I think my son is not a disaster movie fan. He said it’s too stressful. He gave Dante’s Peak a 2/10 and both points were because the dog didn’t die. 😂

We are having a disaster movie marathon during fall break. We started last night with Armageddon (My son gave it a 4/10 because he said drilling on an asteroid wouldn’t work 😂). Tonight we are watching Dante’s Peak. 🌋

Me, trying to recover after mids.

Just finished a book that made me want to throw it across the room and totally crash out. My hats off to authors who can weave stories that cause my emotions to run the gamut from joy to devastation. They are truly magical beings.

I may never sleep again after discovering this nightmare fuel on the back patio. Some sort of bug was dragging a wolf spider around. I made @horseyj.bsky.social go out there and take pics so we could identify it. Apparently spider wasps are a thing. So. That’s great.

Thank you random internet weirdos for reminding me why I haven’t been very active on social media the past year. Have the day you deserve. 🫡

I met my husband @horseyj.bsky.social on America Online in 1995 when I was 12 and he was 15. We met in a teen chat room and bonded over our love of horses and fantasy novels and games. 😄

Just a reminder that NWS is considered essential during a government shutdown. Meteorologists will still go to work, forecasts will still be made, watches and warnings will be issued, data will flow. We won’t be paid until the shutdown ends, but we’ll still protect life and property as always.

Government shutdown. My son woke up with a 103° fever. We’re not having a very good day here. 😞

What a beautiful beast of a storm.

I’d rather be annoyed/inconvenienced by a lightning delay than dead… 🤷🏻‍♀️

Do I have a followers who are biologists - specifically immunology? My brilliant kiddo’s latest scientific interests have expanded into this area & he’s asked for book recs. He’s 12 but reads at a high school/college level. He’s built a model of the immune system out of Lego & wants to expand it. 😅

Y’all, this would only happen in Norman. The kids went to a program at OU tonight. When I picked them up, one of the guys that runs the program said “I thought I recognized your kids last name. I’m a big fan of your work!” 😂 He was talking about my SPC outlooks.

Yellowcard was so good! As always. Freaking love them so much. Each interlude between song was 80s themed and they opened with the Top Gun music. It was epic. 🤘🏼💛

All of the tour busses are parked at our hotel. I want to go knock on a door and ask if they need weather support. 😂 Cause it’s not looking good for us right now folks… 😭

Headed out of town for the Maximum Fun tour. Fingers crossed we don’t get rained out. 🤞🏼

Walked into my daughter’s room and she was looking at the @mesonet.org on her iPad and reading severe thunderstorm warnings. 😄