Becoming a bit concerned regarding how few pollinators I’m seeing on these two sunflowers. Typically they are loaded with all sorts of different bee and butterfly species. 🌱

Good night

Garden flower containers are doing quite well showing that plenty of water and fertilizer can overcome variable weather. Notice the color dissonance on the left with yellow-orange pansies tossed in amongst the impatiens. 🌱

Mutual nap enablers. Perfect on a gray, cloudy, and rainy day.

Any 🍅 tomato experts out there know the cause for the leaf curling on this tomato. The variety is Wisconsin 55, an heirloom. I’m guessing herbicide damage from nearby corn fields. 🌱

Winter or summer in the Midwest? Widespread rain with this storm system is welcome toward slowing drought development.

Today is the 50th anniversary of the Big Thompson flood of July 31, 1976: one of the deadliest disasters in Colorado history. An intense rainstorm led to a rapid flood wave down the canyon where many people were commemorating Colorado's centennial. 144 people lost their lives. #cowx 1/

See, THIS is the kind of disaster reporting we need right now. Do more of this. PLEASE. www.politico.com/news/2026/07...

Trump overrode his own agencies to deny 4 Democratic disaster requests

President Donald Trump cast aside bipartisan precedent when he rejected eligible disaster requests from four blue states.

politico.com

Salvia never fail as an attractor for the ruby-throated hummingbird. 🌱

Shrub color in the garden. Chartreuse color really brightens up shady spots. Hibiscus, arania, butterfly bush, and arborvitae. 🌱

Color in the new garden. 🌱 Cosmos, sunflower, kniphofia, and the common green June beetle.

Classic Midwest meal shows everything is better with bacon. First pick of green beans from the garden and Yukon Gold potatoes all boiled together resulting in a nice subtle smoke flavor.

News outlets that covered the US-Saudi nuclear deal without mentioning that Jared Kushner, Trump’s top foreign policy advisor, is getting paid by the Saudi government: WSJ NYT AP Reuters CNN NBC ABC CBS The Guardian Semafor Washington Post Fox News New York Post BBC Newsweek MS NOW

A nuclear deal for the Saudis. A media blackout for Kushner’s corruption.

On Wednesday, the Trump administration signed a 30-year nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia that paves the way for the kingdom to enrich its own uranium.

popular.info

Sadly these are the sort of summer days in the Midwest we will see less often due to a warming climate. This is the inverse of more days with high temperatures in the 90s. #climatechange

My opinion is that Todd Blanche can not be nominated Attorney General unless he swears under oath to the people to release all of the Epstein Files, unredacted, except to protect victims. And anyone that votes to nominate him is a chomo defender. My 2¢

I'm the first person to say that getting data from our website is not the easiest. The goal here is to alleviate some of the bottle necks to get you the data you need. So go play, and break it! Site: www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/search/ API: www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/searc...

@chicagotribune.com -example of poor journalism. Wind over Illinois is very predictable so the expectation of smoke from Canada or the western US is a certainty for our future. Too often journalists falsely utilize the term "unpredictable" with weather and climate when its not appropriate.

Quite the interesting sky today in eastern Iowa with two MCS passages. Here are some evening mammati.

Cumulus castellanus? Certainly a hint of things to come.

The transition of nocturnal MCS to decay mode or reinvigorating to become severe again remains among the most significant convective forecast challenges.

Espania! Espania! Espania!

Jobs jobs jobs - come work for me and the Louisiana State Mesonet at ULM (1) Mesonet Tech: www.schooljobs.com/careers/ulm/... (2) Full Stack Developer: www.schooljobs.com/careers/ulm/... (3) Post-doctoral researcher: www.schooljobs.com/careers/ulm/...

It’s a subtle signature, but a collapsing rain shower over the KDVN RDA resulted in a circular outbound ring of velocity and a reflectivity boundary surrounding the radar.

Here is my latest column. Thanks for reading! www.stormlake.com/stories/war-...?

War on Iowa will extend past November - Storm Lake Times Pilot

President Trump and the ayatollahs blew up any hopes of taming inflation with renewed bombing of Iran and the Persian Gulf, just as fuel prices were softening. Gas jumped and stocks slumped when …

stormlake.com

Kind of an odd Ring of Fire setup in the central US.

There is a multistate parasitic outbreak underway. 450+ sick. 18 states. No recalled food. No identified source. The agency responsible for finding it lost more than 3,000 public health workers since January 2025. RFK Jr. runs HHS.

Historic timeline of select climate change benchmarks. Climate change is far from a new issue.

This should be on every climate scientist's list of favorite science fiction movies. Replace population density with oligarchs and it is spot on today even more so than in 1973.

Coming Up On TCM@comingupontcm.bsky.social · last mo.

#ComingUpOnTCM SOYLENT GREEN (1973) Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Leigh Taylor-Young Dir.: Richard Fleischer 5:00 PM PT In the far future of 2022, a cop discovers the deadly secret behind a mysterious synthetic food. 1h 27m | Science Fiction | TV-MA #TCM #TCMParty

Closing in on 700 reports of severe weather this July 4th, Missouri and the Mid-Atlantic have been particularly impacted by clusters of storms producing damaging winds. More than 1.3M customers are without power from storms last 2 days, PA and MD hard hit today with 250K and 130K respectively.

Come work with us! Purdue EAPS is looking for a VAP or visiting instructor to teach several atmospheric science courses starting as soon as Fall 2026. Details: careers.purdue.edu/job/EAPS-Vis...