Eric Kemp

The US Senate empowers NASA to fully engage in lunar space race Our bill authorizes critical funding for, and gives strategic direction to, the agency."

Remarkable: Senate cmte quickly adjusts NASA funding bill to bless Isaacman cancelling EUS and Mobile Launcher 2 in favor of a new SLS upper stage and end SLS block 1B and Block 2. Cruz had been at odds before but went along now. House?

arstechnica.com/space/2026/0...

ALERT: With 5 Republicans joining Democrats, House Oversight Committee has just voted to subpoena Attorney General Pam Bondi to testify as part of their ongoing Epstein investigation

Breaking: Senate Commerce and Science Committee approves Weather Act Reauthorization bill Bill moves to full Senate for consideration. Other news: WMO retires the name "Melissa" from the Atlantic tropical cyclone naming lists.

Breaking news: Senate Commerce & Science committee approved Weather Act Reauthorization bill this morning, sending bill to full Senate that would legislatively push back against OMB efforts to drastically cut and reorganize a number of NOAA weather science programs. tinyurl.com/yay8pevv

The US Agency for Global Media, which is run by Kari Lake, has just failed an audit. The organization's finances are too chaotic even to assess.
www.stateoig.gov/report/aud-f...

If anyone is friends with any Georgian air traffic controllers, buy them a nice bottle of wine. As guardians of pretty much the only narrow gap still available between Europe and Asia that avoids both Iran, the Gulf, Ukraine and Russia, they are under some substantial pressure.

The Prairies blizzard that caused 12-metre snow drifts - The Weather Network A historic blizzard in March 1966 swept through the eastern Prairies, building snow drifts so deep that they covered windows and doors

It's the 60th anniversary of the infamous Plains/Prairies blizzard of March 1966, which produced the iconic photo of a man standing near the top of a utility pole.

www.theweathernetwork.com/en/news/weat...

Update from John Ismay

"Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the U.S. used a submarine-launched torpedo to sink an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean — the first time an American submarine has been used to fire a torpedo against an enemy ship in combat since World War II."

Tuesday 3:32 pm: A frontal system moving through Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, southwestern to eastern Iran is producing a band of clouds and showers today.

after absolutely eviscerating Kristi Noem and calling for her resignation, Tillis is applauded. He thens threatens to hold up nominees if she doesn't stop stonewalling him. My God.

"Truth Social is neither. Discuss."

Blizzard of 1978
vs.
Blizzard of 2026

Beautiful von Kármán vortices whorl over the East China Sea.

This is one of the prettiest satellite loops I've seen in a long while. 😍

For those familiar w/ "ARkStorm/ARk2.0" flood scenarios for California, a comparable event has been unfolding on the Iberian Peninsula. These ridiculous rainfall accumulations, caused by a long series of extremely moist atmospheric rivers, have brought widespread severe flooding to Spain & Portugal.

“.. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), said he is inclined to vote to end the tariffs on Canada.

“.. ‘We have a trade agreement with them, and I don’t like how the White House has treated our neighbor and ally,’ Bacon said Monday in an interview.

@politico.com
www.politico.com/live-updates...

Don’t resist the lures of the Big Game!

Conservatives Boycott All Forms Of Entertainment WASHINGTON—Decrying the un-American nature of any activity intended to provide amusement or the slightest bit of diversion, conservatives across the country announced an immediate boycott Tuesday of a...

Conservatives Boycott All Forms Of Entertainment

Report: Even Grok grossed out by how much Elon Musk is in Epstein Files

Oh I'm about to be rich

A Dry, Warm January Leaves the West With the Worst Snowpack in Decades
www.drought.gov/drought-stat...

❄ Y'all. We can't even with this. ❄ We regret to inform you that Mount Airy City Schools will be closed for students on Friday, February 6th. While melting has occurred, there will be black ice. ❄ We will forgive today’s snowday and make April 30th a full day. ❄ Tomorrow’s snowday will be made up on April 7. ❄ An updated calendar will be provided when this madness stops.

Tomorrow is the 10th consecutive snow day for many kids across northwestern North Carolina.

Some school systems are keeping their humor about it.

JUST IN: A federal judge has barred ICE and DHS from using taxpayer information provided by the IRS.

Judge Talwani says that DHS' view that noncitizens lack 4th amendment rights — combined with ICE use of administrative warrants — is a recipe for abuse.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

#nationalweatherpersonsday
Graphic by Jared Rackley

https://www.atmos.albany.edu/student/abentley/realtime/images/northamer/500g_anom/500g_anom_57.png

Impressive ridge/high pressure over the west with 2.5-3.0 standardized geopotential height anomalies. (Link in Alt Text).

#weather #azwx #weathersky

Amazing - the Trump administration has turned against the 2nd amendment now

(From @atrupar.com )

Chicago’s Metropolitan Capital Bank becomes first U.S. bank failure of 2026 Metropolitan Capital Bank & Trust was closed by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, citing “unsafe and unsound conditions and an impaired capital position.”…

Metropolitan Capital Bank & Trust, a so-called Universal Bank that focused on small- to medium-sized businesses, was closed Friday by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, citing “unsafe and unsound conditions and an impaired capital position.”

Remember, it's a rodent not a meteorologist or climatologist....Honestly, it is all in fun and folklore, but there is a sizeable part of the public that thinks the Groundhog and Almanac are credible while dismissive of actual scientists.
#groundhogday

Image via K. Klockow-McClain

It's a rare day indeed when Trump, Thune and Schumer are all telling the House to pass the spending bill with no changes

Schumer: "Speaker Johnson should tell these SAVE Republicans to stand down"
Trump: "No changes"
Thune: "you want to fund the government"

The hydrological situation across a large part of the Iberian Peninsula is alarming, to say the least, and conditions are set to worsen as several powerful atmospheric rivers are forecast; major flooding cannot be ruled out.