Trying to teach my students about being empathetic and professional is kind of hard when POTUS is out here saying, "whole civilization will die tonight" and "open the f*cking strait" on social media. We hold 5 yr olds to higher standards. Anyway, time to go teach like none of this is happening.

I did another thing... A 1988 Martin D16 A (Ash). Martin only made 818 of these. The Ash back and sides are brighter and more of a "glassy" voicing compared to the more common D18 (Mahogany) and D28 (Rosewood). Given emerald ash borer issues nowadays, I had to snag one of these from my birth year.

Colloquium today Joy Pochatila National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) Coordinator, US Geological Survey

New Paper Alert. 3 former undergraduate students and I worked on this. We created indices that allow us to determine where tropical cyclone disasters are most likely to occur... Hint: It's not just coastal counties. Inland flooding is a major driver of #disaster! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Really good new study. As expected, tropical cyclone (TC) impacts are high for Atlantic and Gulf Coast counties due to high TC hazard + population exposure, but also for many *inland* counties in the SE and NE due to flash flooding from TCs + vulnerable communities.

Aw man I wish academics had headlines like this. “Stephen Aguilar (existential dread) is not expected to write today, per @mpolikoff.bsky.social”

Here is a photo of my dog. That is all.

I guess my dog decided to become an Eagles fan. As a Bills fan, I don't know how I feel about this. I guess, go birds.

Twenty years ago today, Hurricane Katrina (2005) made landfall in Louisiana. Four years ago today, Hurricane Ida (2021) made landfall in Louisiana. This animation shows Katrina on the left and Ida on the right over the same 24-hour period using NOAA Merged IR (left) and NOAA ABI Band 13 (right).

Hurricane Katrina resulted in nearly 1,400 deaths, according to revised statistics from the National Hurricane Center, and remains the costliest storm in U.S. history at around $200 billion in today's dollars.

I think a lot about how the Cubs just let him go... www.mlb.com/news/kyle-sc...

20 yrs ago. Since then, disaster counts, costs, vulnerability have risen. Disasters are a product of society, and are caused by extreme events interacting with societal vulnerabilities through multifaceted human decision-making processes. We are not ready for the next one... #Katrina #NewOrleans

When we think of disasters in the Gulf we often think of places like New Orleans and Houston...but the data shows how per-capita damages are often worst in smaller places like Refugio County, Texas ($92k damage per capita from 2005-2024) or Harrison County, Mississippi ($65k).

Been getting back into watches and picked up this cheap Timex Indiglo Expedition. Cousin had one of these when I was 8, and he was 16. I thought he/it was the coolest. I begged for one. Mom and Dad did get me one, but it has long since disappeared. Today, its replacement arrived. #Oldiebutagoodie

Nearly 1,400 people died after Hurricane Katrina crashed into Louisiana and Mississippi. Most of the deaths were in New Orleans, which has had an uneven recovery in the past 20 years.

First day of the 32nd grade.

I am okay and not on campus. I am at home.

Far too many people are unknowingly stuck on Child's Hill... Hey, when I was 4 yr old, I thought thunder was the sound of clouds colliding and if I stared at my arm when lightning happened I could see bones like an Xray. Then, I actually became an atmospheric scientist...

Scientists spend their lives becoming experts on specific things. Then, someone who has thought about that topic for 5 min tells you that you're wrong. It's like me going up to a commercial pilot and giving him notes because I flew a drone a few times. Is it all Dunning-Kruger and projection? Yes.

The hazard and disaster mitigation dilemma in 140 characters or less...

Bumping this for visibility since I posted it over the weekend. It may just get lost in the constant barrage of bad news we get, but its something near and dear to my heart that I have worked on for a decade now. #mobilehome #manufacturedhome #tornado #wx #disaster

Also, this is what happens to these homes *with* steel chassis when they meet a strong tornado. All research in this area suggests construct. standards are too weak. This says, "We want them weaker"... Want to guess how the area of the country with the greatest number of manuf. homes voted?...

This will not end well... 50% of tornado deaths occur in these homes despite them only making up 7% of the U.S. housing stock... Why?... Poor build quality and lack of anchoring to ground. Another decision that will kill people... #wx #tornado #disaster www.businessinsider.com/cheap-starte...

Back to back days with wetland/prairie walks = happy puppers

Me trying to work on my climate change and disaster research and reading the news every day...

Shocked, I tell you. Shocked... www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Now for some good news. We have finally had a visitor at our hummingbird feeder after 3 weeks of nothing. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

Die from pollution to own the libs. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/c...

"I don't draw pictures"

Oops: Part 2...

I did another thing. #wx #tornado Where is tornado alley? How the deadliest storm zone in the U.S. is shifting east | National Geographic share.google/EvVg02zp7AH2...

This documentary is fantastic. I am having my Natural Hazards course students watch it for an assignment. Much of the lessons here are repeated over and over again... Katrina, Sandy, Harvey, Helene, Texas Floods, etc... Highly recommend. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P1q...

Proposed NOAA budget zeros out ALL climate laboratories and cooperative institutions. GFDL, NSSL, GML, etc. This appears to also end the US greenhouse gas sampling network, including at Mauna Loa, the oldest continuous carbon dioxide monitoring site on Earth. www.commerce.gov/sites/defaul...

More great news... I am so tired...

It's better up here than down there.

Awful. More horrible science news "The NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) learned yesterday that the Department of Defense (DoD) will stop processing & delivering the Special Sensor Microwave Imager/Sounder (SSMIS) data no later than 30 June 2025."

Because I'm constantly exhausted with everything going on and my mental health has suffered, I'm sharing a photo of my dog at daycare loving life.

Discrete tornado-producing supercells, derecho with a textbook bookend vortex & rear inflow jet development, MCS-supercell mergers... this is one of the most meteorologically impressive radar loops I've put together.

She doesn't even know how crazy the world is right now. Just knows, walks, play, food, love, and naps...

What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders? We still have multiple theories on how tornadoes form. We have evidence supporting each of these theories. As a result, we do not know what makes one rotating storm produce a tornado while another rotating storm does not...🤷

Proud owner of a slightly used stick.

In my mind, I'm sitting on my back porch surrounded by the woods with my wife reading a book next to me, my dog beside me, and a guitar in my arms... That's all I want.

Just because they want to bury heads in sand doesn't mean that the water won't come... This country is run by the stupidest, grifting, ill-intention people. Every single day it is something... All because of greed and shortsightedness. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

In-situ says, correct.

Meanwhile, the head of FEMA, "What do you mean hurricane season? What is this 'Season' thing?"

Tune in next week when we ban bigfoot, the loch ness monster, and unicorns. www.newsweek.com/louisiana-pi...

It might be time for a Monday beer... why?... Because ⬇️

Efficiency www.cnn.com/2025/06/02/w...