Jo Nova (I recommend her blog) has a fascinating story that demonstrates Greenland was ice free much more recently than previously thought. You'll find it here .  But, the primary thing it shows is that we know far less about climate than many global warming alarmists believe. 

There's a new movie to consider. I have three heroes: St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Winston Churchill and Ronald Reagan. I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Reagan and hear him speak three years before he became president. His spreech was wonderful. I have read four biographies of Reagan along with Reagan in His Own Hand . Reagan wrote most of his own speeches and kept a daily diary. The book reproduces more than 50 of them. He was brilliant and prescient. Most importantly, he was a true patriot who loved this nation.  The reactions to the movie are sadly predictable, so far.  Only 26% of the critics have liked it, so far. The audiences love it -- 97%! I haven't seen it yet but I will soon and am really looking for it. 

I've written up fewer of the National Weather Service's missed tornado warnings this summer because I fear they have become repetitive reading. However, because yesterday evening's situation in northern South Dakota was straightforward, it is quite concerning no tornado warning was issued.   I am publishing the Twitter/X advisories that I provided to my followers not to boast but to disprove the National Weather Service's (NWS) past contentions of "Monday morning quarterbacking" which are silly. That said, if I was able to provide advance warnings from Wichita, there is no reason the NWS local office serving northern South Dakota couldn't, also.  6:14pm Advisory: While there were issues with the North Dakota tornado situation ("T" above), let's focus on South Dakota in this posting. The southern circle (orange arrow) showed an area of rapidly increasing rotation (right panel, below) in the Doppler wind data.  If the NWS or other organization ...

Minnesota may have tornadoes this afternoon and evening. As of 1:35pm, there is a line of thunderstorms in the western part of the state that will strengthen as it moves east. Please keep an eye on the weather the rest of the day.  Update: 3:32pm, first tornado warning  of the afternoon issued (red polygon).   The amber outline is a severe thunderstorm watch. Please continue to monitor the weather along and ahead of the line of storms, including in the Twin Cities.  Note: This will be the last blog update on this storm. Please follow me on Twitter/X @usweatherexpert. 

USAir 1016's wreckage on the west side of Charlotte-Douglas International Airport Many times, we have discussed the terrible airline crashes caused by downbursts. Examples, here and here . Several times this summer, there has been significant downburst damage to towns and cities.  But, Ted Fujita's discovery was important to atmospheric science in other ways. Kathleen and I were cleaning out some files last week and ran across this.  Notice the sub-headline, Tornado May Have Hit Trailer Park.   The local emergency management and National Weather Service personnel informally agreed to call the damage a tornado because there wasn't anything else, they thought, to call it. The problem was there was no "hook echo" (this was well before Doppler), the atmosphere over south central Kansas was not conductive to tornadoes, and no one saw a funnel cloud.  Just five months earlier, Dr. Ted Fujita and his mentor, Dr. Horace Byers, published their landmark paper in Monthly We...

Post-Dispatch St. Louis' Ted Drewes has passed away. Virtually everyone in St. Louis or its frequent visitors of the past 60 years knew Ted and his amazing frozen custard.  When we moved to STL in 1979, our attorney and his wife took us out to dinner at Balaban's in the Central West End. The food and atmosphere were amazing. Then, Arthur said, "we aren't ordering dessert here. We're going out [someplace other than Balaban's]." We couldn't imagine to what he was referring.  A half-hour later we knew: Ted Drewes' frozen custard. With the first bite, we were officially St. Louisans. The custard stand has been in business 94 years and it's custard is amazing. I only got to speak briefly to Ted a couple of times but the reason it was amazing was because of the ingredients. Every day, they cut up a fresh pineapple. They used real coconut.  During our visit, Art and Fran informed us of the Ted Drewes etiquette: Get in line (there is always  a line, lo...

In addition to tornadoes, here is also an enhanced risk of hail 2" in diameter or larger in the yellow area.  As of 4:50pm, the first thunderstorm is forming on the border south of Bismarck. Please monitor the weather the rest of the evening!

Prior to this afternoon, I can't remember the last time I watched The Weather Channel (TWC). It was probably during March, 2023, tornado outbreaks.  I was shocked by what I saw. I didn't realize it had become such a propaganda outlet for climate alarmism.  The segment began with the discredited NOAA Billion Dollar Disasters .  The anchors made a ridiculous claim that only 1% of the U.S. population has been unaffected by this year's [NOAA] " disasters ." NOAA arrives at 19 disasters by combining small events -- on different days and in different locations -- and calling it a single billion disaster.  Then, they invited a social scientist ( not  an actual climate scientist) from the lobbying group the Union of Concerned Scientists. The union has been 'concerned' since 1969 and the Vietnam War. Evidently, Big Climate has deployed their focus groups again. They have named May through October "Danger Season." Why? Because of "wildfires, floods a...

How did our modern tornado warning program begin? It started in Oklahoma in 1972 with plucky meteorology students and experimental radars. With the huge success of Twisters  this summer and 1996's  Twister before it, it is likely most assume storm chasing has been around forever. Not true! Storm chasing began in 1972 in a classroom of stinky Felger Hall at the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Joe Golden, a scientist with the National Severe Storms Laboratory addressed a meeting of the OU student chapter of the American Meteorological Society.  Joe asked us to chase tornadoes so the efficacy of two experimental Doppler radars could be tested. I was going through some files in my office last week and found the original plans of the storm chase program.  This was well before the era of cell phones. That first season, we spent a lot of time running around Oklahoma under blue skies or cumulus-filled skies -- with few intercepted thunderstorms, let alone tornadoes. But, we lear...

Tornado Risk This is more of an all-day risk than usual. There are already thunderstorms developing in central South Dakota.  Derecho Rixk Here is the color code: Yellow has a significant risk of wind gusts of 60 mph or stronger.  Red has an enhanced  risk of wind gusts 60 mph or stronger.  Hatched = wind gusts of 75 mph or stronger.  Prepare for damaging winds.  Bring in law furniture and other items that might be blown about. Put your car in the garage.  If a wind warning for 80 mph or stronger is issued, get indoors and stay away from windows. Mobile homes are not safe in winds of this strength.  Of course, if a tornado warning is issued, go to the basement or take your usual tornado tornado safety measures.  Damaging Wind Risk There is also the potential for 60 mph or stronger winds in the yellow area on the map of New England.  Tree damage is possible along with scattered power outages. 

As of 12:08pm Hawaii time, the center of Hone (circled) has passed the Island of Hawaii. None of the other islands will be significantly affected other than with heavy rain. 

So far, the good news continues. Keep your prayers coming that when storms do develop, they stay out to sea. 

This Discovery Channel series, In the Eye of the Storm, depicts major storms and storm situations across the United States. It did a pretty good job (grade B) but it really needed a meteorologist-editor because there were so many unnecessary errors that were, at least to this meteorologist, annoying. I'm hoping that there will be a second year and I offer some suggestions for improvement.  A recurring minor annoyance. Use of a backward hurricane symbol (it shows clockwise rotation rather than counterclockwise which occurs in the Northern Hemisphere) when discussing tornadoes and other types of storms. Example below. It would be better not to use a hurricane symbol when discussing tornadoes.  In the episode about the horrible Buffalo blizzard of 2022 (47 killed in Buffalo, 100+ total from the blizzard), there was a story about wonderful people who went out into the extreme cold and snow to rescue a man who was freezing and trapped. They asked for help to get him to a hospital ...

There has a great deal of confusion about "landspouts" in the weather community in recent years.  A genuine landspout looks like this. There is no thunderstorm associated with it. Thanks to the NWS in Nashville for getting it right.  This is not  a landspout, regardless of the caption. It is a dangerous tornado.  Again, contratulations to the Nashville NWS. 

A tropical storm warning is in effect for the Island of Hawaii as Hone passes to the south. The orange shows the area of tropical storm-force winds. Peak winds are forecast to be in the 65-70 mph range as the center passes to the south.  Meanwhile, still nothing in the Atlantic. 

Boeing Starliner capsule docked to the space station This is no surprise and the safer decision. 

At last, a ruling in a case that has been bouncing around the courts for 14+ years. The ruling, however, is appalling.  More on the law suit, here .  From the behavior of the federal government's public health agencies during COVID and since, it is clear they are not on the public's side.  It is appalling the law allows drug companies to engage in a form of fraud as long as the FDA and CDC go along with it! These same government people pushed a vaccine of dubious benefit. And, the same government ( NIH ) people funded the Wuhan lab which may have created COVID. Making things even worse, the Biden Administration continues to send our tax dollars to China to fund this lab! While I do not have much hope, civil service reform needs to be at the top of the new president's agenda once he/she is sworn it. 

The person Jeff Bezos (owner of Amazon)  wants you to think he is: Versus his Alaska-size carbon footprint.... The story is here .  Publicly available flight data showed that Bezo's plane made 28 flights in 39 days -- leaving a carbon footprint of 264 tons, or 17 times what the average American emits in a year.  The story doesn't mention his previously-acquired CO2-emitting toys.... Nor does it mention his multiple mansions... I'm sure the Obama's will take Jeff off their Christmas card list after Michelle's DNC speech where she said,  My parents were suspicious of folks who take more than is needed.  Is there any field which generates more hypocrisy than climate change??