Jason J

Ah yes, the was it the ground traffic not clearing fast enough, gusty winds, no gate space, a noob pilot learning the ropes of DEN, or a combination thereof game! Welcome to the club!

Cloud AWIPS monitoring wildfires breaking out across portions of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.

Hard to focus on what I need to be working on when another wildfire outbreak is unfolding across the Southern Plains (and now near Limon, CO). Bit easier to watch from afar than working at the impacted WFOs but still not easy knowing what it’s like working these events…

Xcel PSPS help with "known" potential threats for ignitions. You still have the human element; chain dragging on road, welding on something a person thinks is safe, or sparks from passing train (which we saw out here in CO near the Candelas subdivision). Those you can't quantify or prepare for

Radioactive contamination from the Rocky Flats Plant - Wikipedia

It’s exactly this situation why 1) we didn’t buy in Candelas and 2) makes me wish I had a Radiacode (or similar) Geiger counter/spectrometer to see exactly what is getting released into the air. Why for those that don’t know?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioac...

Fire at the Highway 93/72 intersection near Rocky Flats

Also here in the Front Range, this points to dusty, toasty, smoky for summer unless we manage to get some late winter/early spring storms that can bump up snowpack. Or an active monsoon season.

Advice I was given by a "seasoned"/old school met when I started:

"Records are meant to be broken"...

I got down to 1° but we had a light west wind all night. Imagine creek behind house got below 0°. Wind picked up before sunrise & we jumped to 18° in 30 minutes. If this keeps up, we will hit the low 40s; first time I may get to experience a weak chinook event since living here.

Back in my day, it was the hood of a Ford F-150 being pulled behind a 4WD '77 Chevy. If the Chevy didn't lose control, it would slingshot us around a bend in a Farm-to-Market into an open cotton field until we fell off. Or hit a berm and went flying, then falling off. Oh to be young again...

I mean there could be a hint of pink in there. Or it could be iPhone 16 camera doing camera things 🤷🏻‍♂️. Giving another 30 minutes then heading home… #cowx #aurora

a man in a suit and tie is holding a brown jacket . ALT: a man in a suit and tie is holding a brown jacket .

And yet here we are in Colorado...re: snow.

Meteorological data from the NCAR Mesa Lab site in Boulder showing both an almost 80 mph wind gust early on Thursday and a frontal passage Thursday night.

Pretty easy to see when the cold air made it to the hill to @ncar-ucar.bsky.social Mesa Lab last night. And with a whimper compared to the almost 80 mph gust earlier in the day… #cowx

Going out on limb to say WFO may have wanted to create a background image w/ data from DESI thru Gemini, & accidentally sent out that image. 40 minutes later was new post w/ correct insert images and names. BUT, it doesn’t give them a pass for lack of QC and is something we need to address. Fast.

Standley Lake on a relatively warm mid-winter afternoon

The only snow to be seen is in the higher terrain of the Front Range and even then, it’s pretty slim

67° at Noon on Jan 4th? Yeah, I’ll get the bike out and do a 13 mile ride to get my mind off all the…stuff..going on in the world & U.S. Only snow to be seen is on the higher peaks of the Front Range, nothing down here in the lower elevations 😞

Apple Weather forecast for HCMC

RainViewer forecast for HCMC

OpenSnow precipitation forecast for HCMC

Rain Viewer radar image for HCMC at 2:15 pm Indonesia-HCMC time

The best forecasts for #Vietnam and HCMC are from ensembles; deterministic outputs are all over the place as shown by Apple Wx vs Rain Viewer vs OpenSnow (ECMWF ens). Day of, nowcasting is definitely the way to go as short-range models are over the place and watching radar reigns supreme.

#vietnam street food, seafood edition. Bourdain was right, you’ve got to risk eating at the places that look seedy, that you normally would not, to get the true experience and flavors of any country.

First part of Bun Cha, rice noodles, fried crab spring rolls, dipping sauce and fresh greens along with artichoke tea.

Second part of Bun Cha; the fatty pork (bacon and sausage patties basically) over hot coals

Northern-style Bún Chả at Quan Nem which is slightly different from the southern #Vietnam style we tried last time. You may know it from when Bourdain and Obama dined in Hanoi in 2016. We may not be in Hanoi but it was REALLY good! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bun_cha

Our office's first "Particularly Dangerous Situation" RFW was issued today, unfortunately.

Goal here isn't fear, but widespread awareness and preparedness. Wildfire risk management requires a collective approach across all facets of society. Without it, these types of days are much more dangerous.

Lego X-Wing completed in 2 hours at Click Clack in Thao Dien, HCMC

Lego X-Wing completed in 2 hours at Click Clack Café, Thao Dien, #HCMC #Vietnam. Cool spot with over 75 sets to choose from ranging from less than 30 minutes to multiple day (i.e. Shuttle Discovery). Also have free build area with bins of Legos for creative types.

Pasteur Street Barrel Aged Stout (13% ABV) and a burger on a nice night in #HCMC #Vietnam . Having family here helps in finding the good spots but I still say Vietnam is an amazing country to visit with a bit of planning and advice. And the food from restaurants to street stalls…chefs kiss. 🤤

Went to historic Saigon Central Post Office. Super polite lady asked multiple times what I was sending.
“Post cards”
“Is that all?”
“Yes, just post cards”
“Anything other than cards?”
“No, just post cards 🤨”

“Many you don’t realize how hard & expensive is sending goods to US now. Cards OK.”

😞😡

I like good club sodas or soda water. This is a bit…spicy…with quite a bit more carbonation than what I’m used to. But, it hits the spot after a night of Tigers, 333s, and grilling with friends and family. #vietnam #imported

Pho sol for dinner

Belgo Belgium-style beer brewed in Vietnam.

Back in one of our favorite places. Fighting a bit of a travel cold but not enough of one to keep us from phờ and finding a bar with local brew Belgium-style beers…

So frustrating when contracted snow plow is supposed to come with 4"+ in the morning. Doesn't show so I shovel off said 4" in the alley just in case I need to get the Jeep out. Plow show up at 3 pm & leave a berm of snow blocking my garage. Oh, and up to 9" of snowfall and 6" depth. #cowx

It’s the perfect forecast. Every weather type for people that have specific types they like and for the person wants to see everything everywhere all at once.

Tragic vehicle accident takes an NWS office offline Looking at how the NWS offices back each other up. Severe weather and flash flooding in the south central US next couple of days.

A horrific accident early Saturday morning left a car in the side of an NWS office and the office relying on the NWS service backup system. Service backup is important in situations like this - but also is being increasingly used due to NWS staffing and infrastructure issues. tinyurl.com/4txuyhbz

Better than what I got in my part of the Denver metro which was pretty much the equivalent of the spray from opening a soft drink 🙄

ADSB Exchange data showing B-52s with calm signs Timex11 and Timex43. Takes a licking and keeps on ticking!

Whomever does call signs for the USAF is on point so much of the time. And I think these are very appropriate for B-52s; “takes a lickin’ and keeps on ticking” 🤣 #adsb #avgeek #USAF

Sigh, the very first product I was trained to collect, QC, and issue (via AFOS!) when I started what seems like not that long ago (reality, it was. Now get off my lawn!). May it rest in peace, but be reincarnated in a better form by the NWS Data Wizard!

GEFS members 2m temperatures in deg F showing colder weather on the way for Colorado

Quantiles of GEFS data for northern Colorado showing cooler weather on the way for around Thanksgiving.

Playing with dynamical.org data in zarr format online (which is SUPER fast compared to downloading raw GEFS grib2 and converting locally. Why can't NWS do this???) Anyway, looking like Thanksgiving could be a bit chilly around these parts...all GEFS members 1st plot and quantiles/median second plot

Substorm has died down but for about 20 minutes there, wow. 1st pic is 3 sec iPhone exposure. Second is “regular” auto settings and pretty close to what we could see with MK I Eyeballs. #aurora #cowx