Suffering from a chronically overloaded upper left Eisenhower chart quadrant

Beautiful (and large) mesoscale convective system rolling through Córdoba province this evening.

Trying to do catering at an upcoming annual meeting we know and love. Holy smokes!

Redunculous - even in the middle of Champaign, IL

Little short wave from the NNE clipping Champaign, IL for a few inches of early season snow!

We dove deep into questions about Hurricane Melissa - hosted this Weather Realness episode with @climasillinois.bsky.social Professors Deanna Hence and Jeff Frame will.illinois.edu/weatherrealn...

Bills are 1-0 since I dressed up as a zombie for Halloween celebrating the Bills Super Bowl 109 victory

After helping a very close relative with evacuation, watching the destruction in real time, and loss of a family home from Hurricanes Helene and Milton last fall - I have to say I’m feeling it for the people of Jamaica. For those that can, please consider helping those in need. www.redcross.org

The disappearance of America’s leadership class at a time like this means that the rest of us have to be leaders. We can no longer wait to be led by those with the power and authority to lead. You must lead, I must lead, all of us must lead. We are the leaders we’ve been waiting for.

I think there can be too much communication

Timeline cleanse 🍂 Busey Woods, Urbana, Illinois this weekend

Maybe the government becoming politically weaponized is actually the problem?

Higher Ed, brought to its knees

Nice turnout in Urbana, Illinois today

Today, Treasury Sec. Bessent floated a $40B Argentina bailout. But, the White House's FY26 budget includes $18B in cuts to NIH, $5B cuts to each of NSF, NSF, EPA and CDC ($20B more) and $1.7B in cuts to NOAA, also a total of ~$40B. Seems like the executive branch has a different set of priorities.

He’s also cancelled grants to protect Chicago, Detroit, and Baltimore from flooding (one was ours), so time to bookmark this one.

Months before catastrophic floods swept through an Alaska Native village on Sunday, the Trump administration canceled a $20 million grant meant to protect the community from extreme flooding. At the time, the EPA administrator said he was eliminating "wasteful DEI and Environmental Justice grants."

Always fun to take data from an advanced data analytics class a little further. Here's a visualization of spring and fall freeze events over Illinois. Growing season is getting longer, especially in the last 55 years!

NOAA PSL certificate authority has expired during the shutdown…

Calling all prospective grad students! 🚨 Come learn about CliMAS during our annual Prospective Graduate Student Webinar - featuring our internationally recognized on campus and online MS and PhD programs. RSVP here to receive a Zoom link: forms.gle/CYsLWz5uoRNm....

Achievement unlocked - after may decades of flying, got to experience what happens when someone lights up in the restroom…

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

Are you forking kidding me? As someone from Buffalo, this is revolt material!

Please share with anyone who cares about NSF support for graduate students and take 30 seconds to sign and leave a comment. The deadline for the 2025 Graduate Research Fellowship Program is about one month away and literally no one can apply. #NSFGRFP jasonjwilliamsny.github.io/grfp2025/

So far it’s more like Eliminating Funding, full stop. But that’s just me.

Listen Russ, you are a malignant political hack. We will not be intimidated by your threat to engage in mass firings. Get lost.

Incredible moment here. You’ve got the premiere scientific voice against a destructive political force that is literally tearing down the scientific enterprise and its ability to consult the government. apnews.com/article/clim...

THREDDS server down. Happy coding!

Josh Allen had 251 pass yards in the 4th quarter, his most in any quarter in his career, per ESPN Research.

Never a doubt #gobills

Interesting piece on Illinois higher ed. The headline is shocking, but the piece reveals that the cost increases are mostly at smaller universities due largely to state pension costs as a share of state allocations increasing 5,143% over 16 years! www.illinoispolicy.org/illinois-sta...

Pro tip: do not ask for reference letters for all faculty candidates. Sometimes the referees know. :)

Beautiful night for football in Champaign

New AMS statement outlines five foundational flaws that make the Department of Energy's Climate Synthesis Report "inconsistent with scientific principles and practices." Read the full statement: https://bit.ly/3UQRC82

As a meteorologist, it’s satisfying when predictions verify. Climate scientists wait longer, but we’re seeing their predictions verify too - including sea level rise. That’s why sustaining long-term Earth Observations is important for our future. agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

Happy Sunday! Despite this article being depressing, emphasizing scientific independence from politics, science communication and emphasis on value, and presenting evidence of government waste (yes, recklessly cutting funding is waste) is not activism, sorry. www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...

Making the decision to eat less meat a little…..easier *gulp*

2 bits of data from new Economist/YouGov poll..... 13% support for cutting research funding to universities. 24% among Republicans. Polling on this continues to be catastrophic for the Rs, suggests Dems should be learning far harder into standing up for science and our universities. 1/

This Air Force Hurricane Hunter pass sealed it. Erin now officially a 160 mph Category 5 hurricane with a 917 mb pressure. Incredible for any time of year, let alone August 16th.

22-hr IR + GLM loop of #Erin shows the bursts of organized convection that helped the storm intensify dramatically, 65 knots in 24 hours according to NHC

ICYMI

Opening a drive thru giant sugary coffee place right next to a bunch of dorms and campus building is a choice…hope it has walk through too? I guess it is better than having 2 circle Ks next to each other, but what about…housing Urbana?

Totally horrible. Taking the Metro is something I wouldn’t do every time I visit DC.

This is an important article about the recently released DOE climate report which is immediately being used to remove important federal action on climate change. This quote summarizes the situation quite well. A “tell me how you really feel” moment. www.cnn.com/2025/08/08/c...

Got a phone call from a journalist in the UK looking for this guy. I explained that I was definitely listening to him on a certain day in 1986, but, no, I’m not the guy. And I’m not Steve Nesbitt, Jr., sorry man!

I don’t understand half of what is in here, but I have a feeling that this is not going to make my job easier. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Taking a few days completely off as an academic Department Head is basically impossible - but fortunate to get away and take some stretches over a few days and reconnect with family in the homeland.

Better Call Saul about the accuracy of this AI

McGowan: He seems to be getting rid of statisticians and climate people and weather experts and scientists and anyone who doesn't agree with what he wants to tell or what he wants to say.

CliMAS is proud to partner with Illinois Public Media to create a new podcast called Weather Realness - we’ll get real about the what’s and why’s about weather and climate and how it impacts you. Our first episode airs on WILL-AM 580 at 11 am this Saturday, August 2 and anytime on the WILL app.