Joe Shannon

Though it may surprise East Coasters, the story of this winter was not record cold but record heat

After a historic 5-day stretch of storms, the Tahoe basin has lost 2-3 feet of snow in the past week. Warm weather, with rain at times, melted away much of the snow. Snow depth in Tahoe City was nearly 4 feet on Feb. 20, but is just 9 inches today, Feb. 28. #CAwx

This looks exciting! Monitoring ecosystem change and attributing the impacts to planned (like forest management) and unplanned disturbances (like fire & drought) has become the primary focus of our team at work.

The latest from YouGov (n ~ 7k) gives me some methodological concerns. They allowed people to rate their pun making as "outstanding" but, statistically, most are sitting indoors at the time today.yougov.com/topics/socie...

The western U.S. faces its lowest snowpack on record despite average or above-average rainfall. Warmer temperatures mean more precipitation falls as rain rather than snow, and will worsen droughts in areas like the Pacific Northwest and the Colorado River Basin. science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-...

IMPEACH KRISTI NOEM.

Reminder: All it would take to end the murder of American citizens by an untrained government goon squad is 16 Republicans in Congress voting with Dems to defund ICE (or 23 to impeach and remove Trump — 3 in House & 20 in Senate). That’s it. 23 Americans can vote for the public and end all of this.

I have spent my entire adult life being lectured by Republican politicians and conservative legal movement types about how important it is to preserve the sacred constitutional right to self-defense of *specifically this person* and then secret police murdered him in the street

STOP ASKING *THE PUBLIC* TO REMAIN CALM. You're talking to the wrong people. Demand that ICE and CBP stop murdering residents and then demand that they leave the city immediately.

From a friend in Minneapolis, just now:

U.S. all-time records summary, past 365 days High max: 50 High min: 135 Low max: 13 Low min: 13 Stations have at least a 30-year period of record. www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/data...

Adding Rhode Island in for more New England states:

Remarkably, at least one observing site in every single Western U.S. state is currently reporting *record low* snowpack for this mid-winter date. In some states, esp. UT and CO, *most* sites are either record low or second lowest on record. More during Wednesday's livestream.

New World Economic Forum Global Risks data provides a stark warning: While short-term crises dominate headlines, "Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse" jumps to the 2nd highest risk over the 10-year horizon. The long term is sooner than we think. Science-based policies via IPBES are crucial.🌍

The fight against fascism starts locally. We must never forget that ICE murdered Renee Nicole Good in broad daylight. We cannot grow numb to the terror and the violence ICE is spreading to our immigrant community. #AbolishICE

the same people enacting anti-trans laws to “protect children” are forcing schools to cancel classes because they’re deploying chemical munitions and pseudo military tactics at public schools

New paper! Real-time flood inundation mapping (FIM) services are an incredibly valuable tool for emergency management and affected communities. But do their visualizations help users quickly and accurately interpret information to make decisions? onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

I’m not going to make it to AGU this year. Made it to AFE in NOLA this week instead. I found this monument on the shores of the Mississippi River there.

They shot moss into space, stuck it on the outside of the International Space Station for nine months, and then brought it back down to Earth to see how it was doing. It was basically fine! defector.com/one-small-st...

I’m really surprised this isn’t bigger news. Just under 10 million people live in Tehran. Where can they go? Where else in Iran will have enough water? This will undoubtedly strain the country’s and the region’s politics, finances and governance capacity.

This is what climate change looks like. What used to be snow is now rain, and when the rain falls it's heavier so more goes to runoff. The result is drier conditions, even during wet years.

Scott Stephens and I have written an editorial on what we think is necessary to select for leadership in land management agencies so they are able to manage our public lands during rapid change. @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

this question being led by a private firm (and potential privatization of rollout) is a worst case scenario if you ask me

Authoritarians thrive on your silence — be loud — for America.

Really proud to have been a part of this team! @sophielgilbert.bsky.social’s got a great thread of what we found when looking at how fuels treatments affect carbon storage over time. The results show that not treating forests doesn’t mean “nothing happens”. Fire & drought still impact the landscape.

Cool time lapse animations on the NASA Earth Observatory site of the rapidly (crazy rapidly!) shifting channels of the Yarlung Zangbo River

These four aerial embroideries are now available on my site! Soft flowing oceans, rocks made of pine bark chips, and lots and lots of French knots... I can never get enough of those stitches 😊 all landscapes now up here: victoriaroserichards.co.uk/collection/a... #embroidery

Many people want to bring back #beavers for water storage. Big ponds = big benefits for flood, drought, wildfire & more! But what drives big ponds? Is it *just* dam length? What drives dam length? Get your answers in this new paper by Luwen Wan, Kate Maher, & myself! www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Prompt: How do we solve climate change? SuperAGI: Stop burning fossil fuels and rapidly deploy renewables while electrifying everything. Then deploy CDR technology powered by the new clean grid. Prompt: But the fossil fuel lobby controls all of our governments. SuperAGI: Sorry to hear that.

Just read the Brown University agreement and this really jumped out. "The University will not perform gender reassignment surgery or prescribe puberty blockers or hormones to any minor child for the purpose of aligning the child's appearance with an identity that differs from his or her sex."

The “deal” that Brown made with the Trump admin is much more extreme than is being reported. It includes government oversight of course evaluations and no barrier to government interference in faculty hiring. Read it for yourself here: www.brown.edu/sites/defaul...

On the #ColoradoRiver, stuff's not going well: www.inkstain.net/2025/07/retu...

Great thread!

Should we suppress wildfires ‘as swiftly as possible?’ With 2025 season well underway, scholars weigh in. From the Mountain West News Bureau's @murphywoodhouse.bsky.social w/ @boisestatepublicradio.org - www.boisestatepublicradio.org/environment/...

While I understand @gwandaii.bsky.social’s point that the Arctic context of wildfire’s cultural impacts is unique, there are analogues in the southern Sierra Nevada. As fire colleagues here point out, values at risk go beyond structures. Let’s also protect springs, food, and plant materials.

I have been suspicious that AI helps non experts the most. What’s surprising here is that experienced devs feel faster, but are slower. That nuance in interesting.

This is among the best explainer I’ve seen so far regarding the Texas floods particularly because Alan ties together the meteorology issues and the emergency management issues.

Asked and answered! www.providencejournal.com/story/news/l...

This was a bad vote from @magaziner.house.gov and @amo.house.gov.

Every flashbang could instead be a meal for a poor kid. Every hotel room for a National Guardsman deployed to fire at our neighbors could house a homeless vet. Every "less-than-lethal" bullet pulled from a journalist's eye could be already needed healthcare for anyone else. All of this is a choice.

Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in California is not about the protests. It is about expanding his never-ending grasp for more power. It is about moving this country toward authoritarianism. All Americans must stand together against this gross abuse of power.

www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/i-s...

Random interesting fact with the anniversary of D Day coming up tomorrow... There is one single ship still actively being used that was at the invasion of Normandy. The USS Buncombe County LST-510 is now a ferry that goes from New London CT to Long Island. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_LST...