We had a gorgeous pre-dawn launch of Starlink satellites from the Florida Space Coast this morning that created quite the jellyfish effect low on the horizon! This launch was highly visible from Florida all the way to the northeast USA.
Nick Stewart
@nstewwx.bsky.social
Spaceflight meteorologist/Upper Level Wind Analyst, CCSFS. 9x Emmy and a 2xMurrow-awarded met/storm chaser/rocket reporter formerly KGAN-TV. AMS CBM #896.
Last week's severe weather in Iowa added enough tornadoes to bring it tied for the least year-to-date, since 1980 (16), based on preliminary surveys. Remarkable given the record was just last year (108 YTD). #IAwx
While 2025's tornado count is off to a very fast start, I think what's equally incredible is the total track length. Through April 6, the preliminary data show the season so far is just below 1974 for total tornado track length. 2025 is still preliminary. That line that races off in April is 2011.
More than 17,000 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes were tallied by the Cape MERLIN with the strong storms Monday between 4-11 p.m. over central Florida. The storms put on quite the show! #flwx
Tonight's SpaceX FRAM2 launch against a horizon filled with lightning! This might be one of my new favorites.
Here's the latest on the March 14-16 tornado outbreak across the United States - Using the Adjusted Fujita Method for quantifying this outbreak using the *preliminary* data, the AFM for this outbreak is 2813. This would be the fourth most-significant outbreak based on 1973-2011 events.
Due to cuts from the Trump administration, eight additional upper air sites are cutting or completely eliminating data collection. This will have a significant impact on our ability to forecast in order to save lives and property. This is on top of the several sites already cut or eliminated.
The updated #tornado count for the March 14-16 sequence in the United States is up to 107. Surveys are continuing and could take several more days, if not weeks, before the total is finalized.
On or after April 4, 2025, at approximately 15:10UTC, GOES-19, the newest satellite in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) series, will become the operational GOES-East satellite, replacing GOES-16. -NWS Office of Observations
The March 14-16, 2025 #tornado outbreak is up to at least 69 tornadoes based on preliminary data. Surveys are continuing. This will continue to evolve and takes days, if not weeks, to finalize. It's a slow, methodical process that is in the best hands possible.
Gorgeous launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. NASA's Crew 10 slipped at least a day, but at least we got a consolation Starlink mission!
We will likely be breaking widespread climate records for surface pressure on Friday. Current guidance is well beyond climatological extremes for a very large area. The ensemble guidance is truly incredible with a minimum pressure of 973mb.
Exceptionally dry air sits over the Florida Space Coast. Thursday morning's weather balloon from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station had a precipitable water value of 7.61mm (0.30") which is the fifth-lowest on record (since 1950) for the date, sitting below the 90th percentile. #FLwx
A very powerful storm system will traverse the US early next week bringing high-end severe weather to the South and accumulating snow North/Midwest. The low pressure is forecast to be at a climatological minimum. Very intense!
A jellyfish in the evening Florida twilight as a SpaceX Falcon 9 carries a Maxar WorldView Legion satellite to space.
Can we talk about that amazing launch last night? New Glenn is truly a BLUEtiful rocket! Go #BlueOrigin, Go #NewGlenn!
Gorgeous launch of tonight's Firefly Space "Blue Ghost" and ispace inc. "RESILIENCE" spacecrafts, headed to a lunar landing! #SpaceX
Looks like a rapid wildfire is developing now between Santa Clarita and San Fernando along I-5. The hot spot is getting much "brighter" rapidly on GOES-18/GOES-West. #CAwx
North of Pasadena, winds are sustained at 60mph with gusts of 95mph as of the 10 p.m. observation. Unbelievable. #CAwx #EatonFire
Here is an updated look at this past weekend's tornado outbreak as surveys continue to come in from local WFOs.
The advantage of having a high spatial and temporal resolution lightning mapper, the Cape MERLIN, is you can see really neat structures try and show up in the raw cloud-to-cloud lightning points. Here's 2s of lightning slowed down as a flash occurs off the Florida Coast. #FLwx
The May 2024 #SolarFlare sequence remains the most impressive series of events in Solar Cycle 25. Over the course of four days (May 8-11): -8 X Class flares -13 flares of M5+ G5 conditions on Earth first since 2003. IMF peaked at Bt +73 with the Bz down to -50. Very geoeffective! #SpaceWeather
