Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️

1 hr #artstudy for 3/1

youtu.be/w-z7aO4U0DY

Yep!

It is. In fact, it's nearly two of them. To the right of the largest power pole is the funnel of a second tornado that forms minutes later.

A photo of a large, dark tornado in a flat, dry, golden-yellow rural landscape with a dirt road leading toward it. The scene features ominous storm clouds, power lines on the left, and fences on both sides of the road. The main tornado was 0.8 miles wide. If you look closely, you'll see a second dark funnel to the left near the largest power line. This touched down moments later. Twins!

My kind of road. #Photography

Honestly. Like, guys, maybe just wait a little bit for independent review/confirmation??

Must-read 🧵 with photos.

Could have just elected the woman...

What fake "security" would be worth destroying places like this.

A photo of a sunlit mountain trail winding through dry grass and shrubs, leading toward rugged rock formations under a clear blue sky. Bright sunlight casts shadows on steep cliffs.

A photo of a desert landscape just before sunrise featuring silhouetted twisted, leafless trees in foreground and a flat-topped mountain in background. Sky displays gradient colors from purple to orange.

A photo of a paved road with double yellow lines stretching toward rocky hills under a partly cloudy sky at sunrise. The scene features rugged rock formations on both sides of the road with sparse vegetation.

A photo of a mountainous landscape featuring a deep valley with dense green vegetation and rocky terrain under a clear blue sky. Sunlight highlights rugged cliffs and a winding trail on the right side. A curvy road can be seen in the distance at the center of the frame.

Thank you, I'm glad to hear it! Here's a few more, as a treat.

💯 same

Determination Pursuant to Section 102 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, as Amended The Secretary of Homeland Security has determined, pursuant to law, that it is necessary to waive certain laws, regulations, and other legal requirements in order to ensure the expeditious constructio...

Not personally informed enough for me to say, but here is a link to the specific text of her rollback of them:
www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

A distant selfie of me standing in nearly waist deep water of the middle of the Rio Grande River, with massive canyon walls on either side and clear blue sky overhead. This is Santa Elana Canyon, where the proposed border wall would begin. That would be a travesty. Besides, these canyon walls are their own, natural border wall.

A desert landscape in which the foreground is dotted with green shrubs and the background consists of mountains and two small peaks at the center. The sky is a warm yellow-orange due to the just-rising Sun. A large ocotillo cactus sticks up on the left side of the frame.

A photo of a desert landscape featuring rugged mountains under a cloudy sky just after sunrise. The foreground includes various desert plants with sunlight peeking behind a mountain peak, creating a warm glow and highlighting natural terrain textures.

A photo, taken at high elevation, of a mountainous landscape featuring layered ridges and peaks under a clear blue sky. Sunlight casts shadows highlighting rugged terrain and sparse vegetation, with distant mountains fading into a hazy horizon.

I've been to all 254 TX counties, and Big Bend is the very best of Texas. The stunning, expansive desert landscape still feels untouched. It deserves to stay that way. It breaks my heart thinking about it being needlessly ruined for a f***ing wall. Here's some photos I've taken there. 🧵4/4

The entire Big Bend sector amounts to <3% of total border encounters. “I think we’ve caught one smuggler in the last three months.”

Contracts are to be awarded “in the coming weeks and months." Construction is to begin by the end of the year. To me, that means there's still time to push back. 🧵3/4

A screenshot of the Map from the CBP's website showing where a border wall is planned to be built.

I thought "surely they wouldn't build a wall right through the National Park," so I went to their website (bit.ly/Big_Bend_Wall) to check for myself. The plan shows a border wall would be built, nearly continuously through the park's entire length, starting at Santa Elana Canyon. 🧵2/4

Texas' Big Bend braces for border wall in national park, worrying local Republicans and Democrats Locals say the rugged land is enough of a barrier and they're concerned about the impact on the environment and homeowners as the Department of Homeland Security forges ahead.

I want to do my part in raising awareness. Texas's Big Bend is set to receive new border security infrastructure, including >100 mi of border wall cutting through Big Bend National Park. Kristi Noem just waived 28 environmental protection laws and regulations to expedite this construction. 🧵 1/4

Those are grapes.

A selfie (via remote camera) of me standing at the edge of a very narrow cliff that rises a few hundred feet above a rural Utah landscape that somewhat resembles the Lunar surface. The Sun rises above the horizon directly over me.

Sunrise from the Moon. #Photography

Thanks, Rachel! 🙏

It really is. Definitely visit whenever you get the chance!

A selfie of me standing along a large wall of rock (a dike) for scale. The rocky surface is a pale yellow color and looks blocky.

A view looking straight down the dike, toward shiprock, to show its relative thickness.

A satellite view of shiprock, the three dikes that point away from it like spokes on a wheel, and the surrounding brown-tan desert landscape.

The exposed dike is larger than it seems! Here is a selfie of me standing next to it several years ago for scale. Despite its height, it is just 5 or so feet thick (from memory).

The 3rd image is a satellite view of Shiprock. Notice the three dikes radiating away from it like spokes on a wheel!

Right? Easily one of my favorite places on Earth.

Shiprock is an example of a volcanic neck (or plug). The wall of rock you see on the left is called a dike. Dikes are formed when magma forces its way into vertical fractures in rock, then solidifies beneath the surface. Here, like the neck, it later became exposed to the surface due to erosion.

Shiprock - a large, jagged rocky feature that sticks out of the ground like a sore thumb - and a long wall of rock known as a dike are bathed in golden light of the rising Sun, with blue and pink partly cloudy skies above. The image was taken along a large, still pond in which the scene is mirrored.

Reflections of Shiprock. #Photography

Rare heavy rain left behind a reflecting pond, providing a brief otherworldly view.

There used to be a volcano here. Over millions of years, the volcano eroded away, leaving behind the more resistant magma that solidified in its vent - that's what Shiprock is!

Haha, thank you!

A photo of a cluster of purple, cubic fluorite. The specimen showcases translucent crystals with dark zoning in each cube. The cluster is backlit and rests on a dark reflective surface.

A beautiful cluster of zoned Fluorite with a few speckles of pyrite on Quartz in my collection. Locality: Yaogangxian Mine, China. #Photography

This photo deserves to be in textbooks! A gorgeous photo of simultaneous cloud-to-ground lightning!

One of the most beautiful weather photos I’ve seen.

Thank you so much! That means a lot. 🥹

Whenever I see things like this, volcanoes, eclipses, etc. I feel so small and get to thinking about what it'd be like way back in human history before we knew what anything was. It's no wonder why they believed in gods.