Introducing our new Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies, and Master's and PhD in Climate Science, degree programs! Learn more at www.albany.edu/news-center/... and www.albany.edu/daes/programs.

UAlbany Launches Environmental Studies Major, Climate Science Graduate Programs

The University at Albany is offering new academic programs that will help shape future leaders to address the world’s evolving climate and environmental challenges.

albany.edu

Mesoscale convective system materialized overnight and moved through central NY, producing isolated severe wind gusts (62 mph gust at @nysmesonet.org Westmoreland station) and flash flooding (3-5" of rain). (1/)

Brian Tang@btangywx.bsky.social · last yr.

Early Sunday could feature an unusual severe weather setup for the northeast U.S. As a shortwave rides over a building ridge, models indicate a potential mesoscale convective system diving south. Stout elevated instability and low-level jet are signals to keep MCS going with AM hail and wind threat.

🚨🚨 Friday night news drop from National Science Foundation!! 🧪 NSF just released its detailed budget request for next year: nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/00-NSF... We knew it was going to be bad...and it lives up. Guts direct NSF support for a **quarter million people** 🧵 on some highlights...

How bad will it be? Catastrophic. Proposed cuts to #NSF, #NIH, and #NASA will set the US R&D landscape back 25 yrs+, cause economic and job loss now, and undermine innovations to come. But, this is the WH's *proposed* budget. Speak up now before it is too late. (inflation adjusted $-s below)

A class of #UAlbany undergrads spent the semester analyzing trends in environmental data & developing machine learning tools that support weather forecasting. Through the AI Plus initiative, UAlbany is developing AI-related courses like this one: www.albany.edu/news-center/...

A fully-funded postdoctoral scientist position is available in the research group of Distinguished Prof. Mathias Vuille. The position is open to scientists with interest & experience in: (1) South American (paleo-)climate, (2) Andean glacier-climate interactions, or 3) regional climate modeling.

Unidata maintains a lot of key weather data infrastructure, including the netCDF data standard and libraries, metpy. data dissemination servers for accessing models and observations from NOAA, and educational resources for the university community. Now everyone is furloughed b/c of Trump and DOGE.

Thomas Martin@thomasmgeo.bsky.social · last yr.

News coming out of @unidata.bsky.social www.unidata.ucar.edu/blogs/news/e...

Today, students in my @ualbanydaes.bsky.social data viz class present their final projects, which wouldn't be possible without the folks at @unidata.bsky.social. The consequences of this administration's attacks on science and education just keep on hitting closer and closer to home.

David John Gagne II@djgagnedos.bsky.social · last yr.

Unidata maintains a lot of key weather data infrastructure, including the netCDF data standard and libraries, metpy. data dissemination servers for accessing models and observations from NOAA, and educational resources for the university community. Now everyone is furloughed b/c of Trump and DOGE.

One of the motivations for NOAA’s (a Department of Commerce agency) creation of this list was to quantify the economic importance of weather and climate information for the US. It is widely used to support further investments in weather and climate operations and science at the federal level. 🧐

Andrew Freedman@afreedma.bsky.social · last yr.

NEW: NOAA retires its widely cited billion-dollar weather and climate database amid staff cuts. Unique database had been tallying disaster costs for 45 years. www.cnn.com/2025/05/08/c...

2nd Call: @justinminder.bsky.social and I are seeking a postdoc to perform research on the characteristics and predictability of rainfall events over the Catskill mountains that impact the NYC water supply. Application deadline is this Friday 5/9. www.atmos.albany.edu/facstaff/tan...

Science news is particularly grim this week. For NSF funding, 2 key fronts: 1) freeze on ALL existing grants (portal is down - no $$ going out, including reimbursements) www.nature.com/articles/d41... 2) budget proposes 40% overall cut & 15% cap on indirects (lawsuits blocked same for NIH in Feb)

Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones

US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.

nature.com

Jevin D. West@jevinwest.bsky.social · last yr.

It's official. 15% ICR on NSF grants. My favorite line: "Reducing administrative burdens for awardee institutions." Say the opposite of what is true... the communication strategy of our time: www.nsf.gov/policies/doc...

NEW: US weather forecasting is in worse shape than previously known, with 30 NWS forecast offices missing meteorologists-in-charge and about a dozen offices at risk of no longer serving their communities 24/7. www.cnn.com/2025/05/02/w...

US weather forecasting is more crippled than previously thought as hurricane season nears | CNN

Several current and former agency meteorologists and staff told CNN they are concerned warnings won’t be issued in time as hurricane season nears.

cnn.com

I talked to Nature about the latest development at NSF, which is a five-alarm fire for American science. The scale of immediate impact is massive. We narrowly escaped this affecting @viralemergence.org for now, but will have to shut down in a few months if this stays. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Exclusive: NSF stops awarding new grants and funding existing ones

US science funder also plans to screen grant applications for compliance with ‘agency priorities’.

nature.com

New AMS Statement and Special Report: The Federal agencies in the public sector provide a foundational role in supporting the rest of the weather enterprise. A failure of these systems would be catastrophic. Read the AMS Statement: bit.ly/4lLTdbk

Without a Strong Weather Enterprise America's Economic Leadership Is at Risk

The AMS is a global community committed to advancing weather, water, and climate science and service.

ametsoc.org

The 2026 budget passback plan calls for eliminating NOAA Research, the scientific backbone that keeps weather forecasts, alerts, and warnings accurate and effective. This would have disastrous consequences. Read the AMS statement, in partnership w/ @nwas.org: bit.ly/4cz2RtC

Stand Up for NOAA Research – The Time to Act is Now

The AMS is a global community committed to advancing weather, water, and climate science and service.

bit.ly

Oh no! Several of the Regional Climate Centers have had their funding lapse through DOC/NOAA. These institutes are critical for connecting weather and climate data and services to local communities across the United States. Spread the word to drive attention and support!

Climate is the statistics of weather. And weather doesn't discriminate on the basis of politics.

Colorado Climate Center@climate.colostate.edu · last yr.

You may see messages like this on parts of our website, including the drought page. We rely heavily on maps & data from the High Plains Regional Climate Center, which no longer has funding. We'll do our best to point to alternative data sources, but many of these products are not easy to replicate.

More details on how vital NWS services will be affected as a consequence of federally induced staffing reductions... Weather Service Prepares for ‘Degraded Operations’ Amid Trump Cuts www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/c...

Weather Service Prepares for ‘Degraded Operations’ Amid Trump Cuts

An internal document describes how severe shortages of meteorologists and other staff members could affect forecasts and other operations.

nytimes.com

Come work with @btangywx.bsky.social and me on hydrometeorology over the Catskill Mountains!

Brian Tang@btangywx.bsky.social · last yr.

Dr. Justin Minder and I are seeking a postdoc to perform research on the characteristics and predictability of rainfall events over the Catskill mountains that impact the NYC water supply. See www.atmos.albany.edu/facstaff/tan... for more info. Application deadline is May 9, 2025.

Congress has a chance to have input on this, but slashing weather and climate research is incredibly irresponsible from the administration. www.science.org/content/arti...

Trump seeks to end climate research at premier U.S. climate agency

White House aims to end NOAA’s research office; NASA also targeted

science.org

This NY Times article is probably the most thorough that I've read on the president's extremely shortsighted budget outline for NOAA. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/11/c...

White House Plan Calls for NOAA Research Programs to Be Dismantled

A Trump administration budget proposal would essentially eliminate one of the world’s foremost Earth sciences research operations.

nytimes.com

The Trump administration plans to eliminate the research arm of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, close all weather and climate labs and eviscerate its budget along with several other NOAA offices, according to internal documents obtained by CNN.

Trump’s draft budget eviscerates weather and climate tracking and research | CNN

The move would devastate weather and climate research even as weather is becoming more erratic and extreme, and would cripple the US industries — including agriculture — that depend on free, accurate ...

cnn.com

Here's how your area fared with snowfall this season, compared to a 14-year climatology. Greens=Above Normal Browns=Below Normal #snOMG

ICF has supported the National Climate Assessment and the IPCC for nearly two decades with professionalism & integrity. Yesterday, ICF's contract to support NCA was cancelled. All federal staff details for OSTP + USGCRP were already returned to their agencies. There's no one left to work on NCA.

Katharine Hayhoe@katharinehayhoe.com · 2y ago

I have served as a lead author on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and author on the 5th national climate assessment. Our ICF colleagues were highly trained professionals who put the science first, second and last. I have never heard one of them ever voice a political opinion. These claims are simply untrue.

68,845,865. That's how many individuals in the United States speak a language other than English at home. Everyone deserves a chance to stay safe during disasters, and I will never stop advocating for that. Thinking of all the communities that are going to be affected by this change.

Lauren Rosenthal@laurenthal.bsky.social · 2y ago

The National Weather Service will stop issuing forecasts + storm warnings in Spanish after a translation software contract lapsed at midnight Tuesday. Unclear when/if service will return. Scoop with @weathersullivan.bsky.social (free link): www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

@ualbanydaes.bsky.social students sharing their passion for weather observations as part of a STEM Family Day on campus this past weekend.

Two more NWS Upper Air Sites have suspended upper air launches - Omaha and Rapid City. Here are two maps that show the degradation of our upper air network because of helium or staff shortages (or in the case of Chatham, because of coastal erosion). www.weather.gov/media/notifi...

"... the NWS costs only $7 per citizen to operate each year, yet results in an estimated 10-100 times larger financial return ..." "Every government organization ... must be subjected to careful oversight ... However, the instrument of wise oversight is the scalpel, not the chainsaw. "

Matt Lanza@mattlanza.bsky.social · 2y ago

Nice piece by three heavyweights on the academia side of meteorology explaining NOAA’s critical importance.

Federal cuts cost key forecasting tool for Albany's National Weather Service www.timesunion.com/news/article...

Federal cuts cost key forecasting tool for Albany's National Weather Service

After federal job cuts, the National Weather Service does not have enough staff for Albany's twice-daily weather balloon launches.

timesunion.com

Radiosondes on weather balloons are essential for collecting data from the upper atmosphere for accurate forecasting. Due to the mass firing at NOAA, the NWS doesn’t have enough people to launch balloons. 🎈 Accurate weather forecasts save lives. See data here: www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/soundi...