Kyle Thiem

This image contains the Day-Night Band (NCC) from the NOAA-20 weather satellite from 07:59 UTC on 2026-02-18.

The Ranger Road Fire in Oklahoma burns brightly at night among city lights.
Imagery captured early this morning by NOAA-20.

Combined with record low snowpack across the CO Rockies with no relief in sight.
Fire Season’s gone be lit 🔥
(Not in a good way)

This local Wolfdog joined an Olympic ski event and triggered the finish-line camera. This is Nazgul. He snuck into a cross-country skiing sprint this morning and raced the homestretch with some competitors before being escorted home. 14/10 someone get him a medal

The amount of time (& taxpayer $$$) wasted scrubbing “diversity” from papers, websites, & presentations when it simply meant “various” is the type of work DOGE really should have looked into.

Welcome!

Detections from the Next Generation Fire System comes in geojson format. Cool to see more potential applications for a wildland fire detection and monitoring!

Scientists have found another alarming pattern in wildfires Around the world, the conditions that brew massive blazes are...syncing up?

In a study published today, researchers reported that the ideal conditions for major wildfires are now aligning across different parts of the world at more than double the rate they did 50 years ago.

@umairfan.bsky.social for @vox.com: www.vox.com/climate/4795...

The 43 Road Fire burned over an @mesonet.org site yesterday in Woodward, OK. Remarkably, the site partially survived!
www.facebook.com/share/p/1AZu...
#Wildfire #OKWX

Given the timing of the aerial reconnaissance, it took ~25hrs for the Ranger Road #wildfire🔥 to go from ignition to 283k+ acres. 🫨

Absolute insanity.

Day 3 of Critical Fire Wx conditions expected tomorrow. #okwx

Near surface smoke forecast for the CONUS area.

Model run: 20260218T11:00 UTC

Data from NOAA's HRRR CONUS (https://rapidrefresh.noaa.gov/hrrr/)

Note that this product comes with absolutely no guarantee of availability, accuracy or completeness.

#Wildfires #Smoke #AirQuality

IEMBot Image

The Storm Prediction Center issues Day 1 Fire Weather Outlook (Max Risk: Critical) at Feb 18, 7:16z Link

Summer 2026 www.eaps.purdue.edu EAPS 43500: Severe Storms Field Work Real Storms. Real Forecasting. Real Field Work. [Storm photo] Description This 4-week summer course will focus on prediction, field observations, and case study analysis of severe storms. Students will receive instruction in severe storms forecasting, real-time radar interpretation, safe observation of severe storms, and careers in research meteorology. Students will assist with research data collection using radiosondes, disdrometers, and portable weather stations. Field work can be physically and mentally challenging. Students should expect to help deploy instruments and operate equipment in difficult conditions. Students with valid U. S. or Canadian drivers’ licenses are expected to help drive university vehicles. Details: Meeting times: MTWRF 9:00-11:00 a.m. 18 May - 12 June 2026 Field trip dates: 30 May - 6 June 2026 (Students may be continually off campus.) Credits: 3 Prerequisites: Junior or higher standing, plus instructor permission by application only. Enrollment limited to 12 students. Additional $250 fee required (refunded if field trip does not occur). Transportation and lodging are provided for the trip. Students cover food and incidental expenses. The instructors are committed to inclusive course design. Students requiring accommodations are encouraged to contact instructors as early as possible. How to apply: instructors your responses to the following questions: Why do you want to participate in this course? What will you contribute to this course? What do you expect to learn? How will this course benefit you in your future career? Admissions decisions will be released by 21 March 2026. If applications exceed available spots, priority will be given to students who have not previously taken this course. Questions? Contact the instructors: Robin Tanamachi, rtanamachi@purdue.edu Dan Dawson, dandawson@purdue.edu Watch videos from the 2025 class! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M…

Applications for #SPOTTR 2026 are officially open! Deadline: 3/13/26. Questions? Email or DM the instructors, @tornatrix.bsky.social and @meteodan.bsky.social.
A PDF version of the flyer below can be found here: drive.google.com/file/d/19iLu...

This organization shouldn’t get a penny more of taxpayer money

Receiving four notifications after ordering a single coffee makes me want to run into the woods, screaming, never to be heard from again.

For awareness, the @nws.noaa.gov has just released a tool to visualize certain #severeweather and #wildfire threats based upon climatology, or a historical record of past events.

Link: www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/datavi...

Now if only the @nytimes.com can look into—or even ask about—the allegations against the POTUS.

Heard 10x more about the Kennedy Center from mainstream media than the
POTUS’s involvement of the latest release of files.

All of these track 100%.
English is such a weird language.

This is the weirdest—and most useless—thing to lie about.

Never thought I’d get a shout out in a fire-weather-themed romance novel, but I can check that off the career bucket list! ✅

If the combo of romance + suspense + weather & ocean science is you thing, check out my friend Allison’s: Cupid Meets Crime Scene series on her site. allisonbettes.com

❤️ This, college isn’t just job training, it’s building better people though differing perspectives of the world.

Never mind the jobs you had; tell me five classes you took in college:

Elements of Psychology 🧠
Creative Writing ✍️
Public Speaking 🎤
Native American Music 🪘
Rock Climbing 🧗‍♂️

THEY DID IT. EVERY SENATE DEMOCRAT just voted on an amendment to DEFUND ICE (rescind the BBB slush fund that keeps ICE open during a shutdown.) This amendment failed, but it shows broad support! KEEP CALLING and make it a demand to vote for the DHS funding bill!!

All be cause the house was on recess…
Yet again…
Right around a MAJOR funding deadline…
Do they EVER work?

The whole “we passed it, now we’re bailing so you can’t change it” shtick is getting old & not how government should function.

Tesla doubled its income last year to $5.7 BILLION.

Its board approved a pay package that could make Elon Musk a trillionaire.

And it just reported $0 in federal income taxes for 2025.

Our tax code is so, so rigged.

Tax the rich.

First time back at #AMS2026 in ~10 years, and it was so invigorating to be back in that atmosphere. Plus our amazing team shared some great updates from the Fire Wx Testbed!

Ready to leverage new insights & connections to continue elevating the FWT’s place in the fire wx community!

12 people reported dead, nearly 800K customers still without power from massive, major winter storm Serious concerns for impacted areas as near record cold settles in. Meanwhile, a new storm lurks for the East Coast by this weekend.

In my newsletter this morning, I shared the experimental real-time freezing rain ice accumulation analysis developed by the winter weather research group at NSSL. This is the kind of R2O NOAA does that has clear societal benefit - and that the admin wants to curtail. tinyurl.com/43kcrhmb

Stoked to have worked on this with @kmanwx.bsky.social and the Hazard Services Team to advance Fire Warning utility!

If you’re an @nws.noaa.gov forecaster wanting a hands-on experience, 👀 for a Call for Participants in the coming weeks!

We’re just not a free country.

Any American watching this play out between regime forces and journalists overseas would recognize it for what it is.

Paul Markowski presenting a slide with a picture of Roger Wakimoto in front mobile radars. The text says Observing the Atmosphere with Purpose: Roger Wakimoto's Early Legacy in Mesoscale Meteorology • Roger's pioneering investigations-spanning boundary-layer eddies, clear-air mesocyclones, downbursts, microbursts, bow echoes, and tornadoes-set new benchmarks for observational rigor and physical insight. • Roger's meticulous analyses and perceptive syntheses of field observations provided foundational understanding across this broad spectrum of mesoscale phenomena.

Love this summary by Paul Markowski of Roger Wakimoto’s legacy of mesoscale observations - “observing the atmosphere with purpose” #AMS2026

Prelim results of the GS-1340 survey (n=146) from #AMS2026 town hall. Respondents were asked how important it is for federal mets to have coursework in ___ (on a 5-pt scale). This interactive page breaks down answers by sector. gs1340update.org/GS1340_Surve...
Spoiler alert: Synoptic won!

Fire warning tool poster (EIPT #566) at the American Meteorological Society 2026 Annual meeting this afternoon at 3 pm CT.

Couldn’t make it to #AMS2026 this year … but our poster did! Come see it at 3 pm CT in the EIPT section (#566). We’re working on a fire warning product and tool in Hazard Service to be tested at the NOAA Fire Weather Testbed.

Contact me or @kylethiem.bsky.social with questions or comments!