weatherist

[weatherist]

OP: What to do when driving through a sandstorm in Northwest China

[weatherist]

cyanometer  for measuring the  blueness of the sky

1789

[weatherist]

As mass firings of career experts and scientists continued to roil the federal government, officials confirmed Friday that cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had left a single set of wind chimes as the sole predictor of approaching hurricanes. “In the wake of hundreds of layoffs at the National Weather Service, we would advise citizens to listen for the gentle tinkling of these wind chimes to gauge whether a tornado, flash flood, or other severe storm system is drawing near,” said NOAA spokesperson Andrea Kopit, expressing the administration’s hope that the characteristic jingling of the chimes in the breeze would provide information as accurate as that gathered from the former network of weather satellites, Doppler radar systems, and aircraft observation overseen by 12,000 staff members in an effort to prevent catastrophic property damage and casualties. 

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[weatherist]

Move along, nothing to see here. Just blizzards in Florida + record snowfall in Mississippi and Louisiana + climate change.

[weatherist]

[weatherist]

People who think 50°F isn't cold (10°C)

[weatherist]

I really wish we'd teach about seasons based on where the kid lives and not on this midwestern/northeastern ideal of spring/summer/fall/winter.

My kiddo is learning about leaves changing color and falling off trees while she lives in Florida. She asked us when the leaves would fall here and I had to break it to her: never.

What I wished she'd learn instead, and which she will:

Autumn isn't falling leaves in Florida -- it's hurricanes and wildflowers. We tend to the monarch butterflies passing through and don't clear out the brush lest we clear out their chrysalises. We reclaim the evenings from summer's last grasps and await every cold front.

Winter isn't snow and ice here -- it's enjoying the beauty around us, exploring the woods, going outside without risking exsanguination by mosquito. Winter is our season of bounty, of relief. And sometimes, yes, we have to cover the plants to protect them from frost and we leave footprints on the grass in the morning. Here is our season of abundance, of frost-kissed oranges and lemons, of strawberries picked with your breath clouding your hands, of blueberries gathered in skirts. Kale and lettuce, beets and greens, it's all here for us in winter.

Spring isn't the season of hope it is up North. It's an end, a swelling of heat so sudden you swear by it. Florida kids need to know it's lovebug season and every bug season, it's gator baby season, it's beach before tourists season, and it's also fire season. The air is sticky but the trees are dry and an early thunderstorm could ignite it all, so be careful. Be careful.

Summer is our winter and it's shit. You step outside and you melt. It's hurricane season, but not really. More like hurricane preparatory season. They should teach kids here to check their supplies and how to chart a hurricane's movement. Summer is about wearing a jacket inside, because everywhere has the a/c cranked up. Kids need to learn how to cover themselves head to toe in insect repellant and sunscreen.

Instead of learning all that, my kid's gonna come home this week sad again that we don't have snow.

[weatherist]

Virgo is so beautiful (I think).

Curtains of rain off to the west, J-Six Ranch, Cochise County, Arizona.

[weatherist]

April 3, 1974. Cincinnati, Ohio.

[weatherist]

Supercell, Brownlee, Saskatchewan

herry.with.an.e

[weatherist]

Satellite image of Hurricane Alma in the Gulf of Mexico

June 7th, 1966

[weatherist]

Mathematicians approximating pi vs. engineers approximating pi

From the National Museum of Mathematics in the US, https://x.com/MoMath1/status/1819006916946805162

[weatherist]

[weatherist]

Two days in a row and still nothing! And a couple weeks ago, AND again a few days before that. give me my thunderstorm!!!

[weatherist]

Your local meteorologist would like to gently remind you that news outlets use fear mongering on their weather reports too. Things are almost never as dire or as impossible as they make it sound. Panic pays and the goal is money not accuracy.

[weatherist]

[weatherist]

When Mother Nature says fuck you in particular