Dorian J. Burnette
@djburnette.com
Associate Professor of Atmospheric Science, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Memphis | Historical reconstruction, dendroclimatology, extreme events, storm chasing
Website: http://www.djburnette.com
Website: http://www.djburnette.com
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald was 50 years ago today. Check out the post quoted below that remaps older satellite data and uses ERA5 reanalysis to look back at the #weather on that day. #history 1/2 🧪
The 50th Anniversary of the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald: A New Perspective on an Old Storm: cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/satellite-bl...
November 11, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Reposted by Dorian J. Burnette
I first wrote and cron’d the script that makes these @NWSSPC upper air maps in November 1998. It’s been running and making the twice-daily UA maps for the past 27 years at this URL: www.spc.noaa.gov/obswx/maps/. That’s over 138,000 maps online and it’s still going!
November 10, 2025 at 9:18 PM
I first wrote and cron’d the script that makes these @NWSSPC upper air maps in November 1998. It’s been running and making the twice-daily UA maps for the past 27 years at this URL: www.spc.noaa.gov/obswx/maps/. That’s over 138,000 maps online and it’s still going!
Reposted by Dorian J. Burnette
Collaborative news curation as a service, demonstrating the value of social media based on protocols, not platforms and a “playbook for killing information voids.”
On Tuesday night, you may have noticed something a little different on Bluesky. Here's a peek behind the scenes of how the election feed came together. Endlessly grateful for this collaboration with @wnyc.org/@gothamist.com & @bsky.app!
About The Other Night...
How Graze is defining the next era of a decentralized, open social attention economy.
graze.leaflet.pub
November 6, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Collaborative news curation as a service, demonstrating the value of social media based on protocols, not platforms and a “playbook for killing information voids.”
Reposted by Dorian J. Burnette
“Meta internally projected late last year that it would earn about 10% of its overall annual revenue – or $16 billion – from running advertising for scams and banned goods, internal company documents show.🚨🚨🚨
Meta's fraud problem: The social media giant projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, documents seen by @Reuters show reut.rs/4qJTpdH
November 6, 2025 at 2:24 PM
“Meta internally projected late last year that it would earn about 10% of its overall annual revenue – or $16 billion – from running advertising for scams and banned goods, internal company documents show.🚨🚨🚨
Reposted by Dorian J. Burnette
This a million times. Denial never really changes, just shifts to update its language with new discoveries and new terminology. We see the same with evolution and HIV denial. Plus, people were sick of antivaxxers even in the late 1800s.
November 4, 2025 at 11:48 AM
This a million times. Denial never really changes, just shifts to update its language with new discoveries and new terminology. We see the same with evolution and HIV denial. Plus, people were sick of antivaxxers even in the late 1800s.
Reposted by Dorian J. Burnette
FWIW I have been doing data calls from the Aviation Wx Center site, and from what I can see, it looks like as of 2:30 pm CT 14 of the 58 sites listed in the NWS notice about this contract cancelation are no longer providing updated observations.
News: Another fed contract cancelation, this time by the FAA, looks to mean the loss of surface weather observations from dozens of sites, primarily in NC and MD. More: https://tinyurl.com/yp57f2ck
Another federal contract cancelation impacts weather data, with surface observations reduced in North Carolina and Maryland
Monday tropical deep dive focuses on the western Pacific
tinyurl.com
November 3, 2025 at 8:42 PM
FWIW I have been doing data calls from the Aviation Wx Center site, and from what I can see, it looks like as of 2:30 pm CT 14 of the 58 sites listed in the NWS notice about this contract cancelation are no longer providing updated observations.
Reposted by Dorian J. Burnette
Hey folks--
I've been asked to pin this link here, so here you go.
The lectures and podcast episodes for "America at 250," the lecture course that I'm teaching with David Blight and Beverly Gage are at this link.
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
I've been asked to pin this link here, so here you go.
The lectures and podcast episodes for "America at 250," the lecture course that I'm teaching with David Blight and Beverly Gage are at this link.
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
America at 250: A History - YouTube
This one-time-only course examines U.S. history from 1776 to the present, in advance of the nation's semiquincentennial (or 250th birthday) in 2026. Taught j...
www.youtube.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Hey folks--
I've been asked to pin this link here, so here you go.
The lectures and podcast episodes for "America at 250," the lecture course that I'm teaching with David Blight and Beverly Gage are at this link.
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
I've been asked to pin this link here, so here you go.
The lectures and podcast episodes for "America at 250," the lecture course that I'm teaching with David Blight and Beverly Gage are at this link.
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Reposted by Dorian J. Burnette
🚨The Moore Lab at UC Davis is hiring!🚨
Post-doc for a project with @adamsobel.bsky.social on the valuation of climate information for adaptation
Could be a good fit for an environmental economist or a climate scientist - flexible start date and location
Apply by Dec 1st: recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07346
Post-doc for a project with @adamsobel.bsky.social on the valuation of climate information for adaptation
Could be a good fit for an environmental economist or a climate scientist - flexible start date and location
Apply by Dec 1st: recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07346
Postdoctoral Scholar - Environmental Science & Policy
University of California, Davis is hiring. Apply now!
recruit.ucdavis.edu
November 3, 2025 at 6:16 PM
🚨The Moore Lab at UC Davis is hiring!🚨
Post-doc for a project with @adamsobel.bsky.social on the valuation of climate information for adaptation
Could be a good fit for an environmental economist or a climate scientist - flexible start date and location
Apply by Dec 1st: recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07346
Post-doc for a project with @adamsobel.bsky.social on the valuation of climate information for adaptation
Could be a good fit for an environmental economist or a climate scientist - flexible start date and location
Apply by Dec 1st: recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07346
Reposted by Dorian J. Burnette
A nearly one-week animation for Hurricane Melissa with infrared (IR) imagery on the left and its maximum wind speed (intensity) evolution on the right. The animation briefly pauses at landfall in Jamaica.
IR images extend about 600 km from the center of the storm to illustrate its shape evolution.
IR images extend about 600 km from the center of the storm to illustrate its shape evolution.
October 30, 2025 at 3:03 PM
A nearly one-week animation for Hurricane Melissa with infrared (IR) imagery on the left and its maximum wind speed (intensity) evolution on the right. The animation briefly pauses at landfall in Jamaica.
IR images extend about 600 km from the center of the storm to illustrate its shape evolution.
IR images extend about 600 km from the center of the storm to illustrate its shape evolution.
"Most of these climate change impacts will be borne, most immediately and acutely, by poorer nations in the Global South--precisely those on whose behalf the memo authors are ostensibly advocating." Important 🧵 on the Gates #climate memo by @weatherwest.bsky.social. 🧪
I wanted to offer some thoughts on the Gates climate memo that has been circulating this week. While I can't directly speak for others, I can say that my own response is one of dismay & deep frustration (and that this view is shared by many climate/Earth scientists). [1/n]
October 30, 2025 at 7:28 PM
"Most of these climate change impacts will be borne, most immediately and acutely, by poorer nations in the Global South--precisely those on whose behalf the memo authors are ostensibly advocating." Important 🧵 on the Gates #climate memo by @weatherwest.bsky.social. 🧪
Reposted by Dorian J. Burnette
Inspired by Brian's chart, I investigated how much time North Atlantic named storms spent at hurricane and at major hurricane strength during 1966-2025.
Blue = proportion for "hurricane time" (category 1-5).
Orange = proportion for "major hurricane time" (category 3-5).
More details in alt text!
Blue = proportion for "hurricane time" (category 1-5).
Orange = proportion for "major hurricane time" (category 3-5).
More details in alt text!
October 30, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Inspired by Brian's chart, I investigated how much time North Atlantic named storms spent at hurricane and at major hurricane strength during 1966-2025.
Blue = proportion for "hurricane time" (category 1-5).
Orange = proportion for "major hurricane time" (category 3-5).
More details in alt text!
Blue = proportion for "hurricane time" (category 1-5).
Orange = proportion for "major hurricane time" (category 3-5).
More details in alt text!
NOAA Hurricane Hunters going through this 👇 to collect valuable scientific data to help forecast Hurricane #Melissa. 🧪
THEY. WERE. DOING. THIS. WITHOUT. PAY.
NOAA’s hurricane hunter pilots (and Kermit The Frog hanging from the control panel) fly into Hurricane Melissa.
Extraordinary bravery, saving lives.
(🎥 Cmdr. Danielle Varwig, NOAA Corps).
NOAA’s hurricane hunter pilots (and Kermit The Frog hanging from the control panel) fly into Hurricane Melissa.
Extraordinary bravery, saving lives.
(🎥 Cmdr. Danielle Varwig, NOAA Corps).
October 30, 2025 at 4:36 PM
NOAA Hurricane Hunters going through this 👇 to collect valuable scientific data to help forecast Hurricane #Melissa. 🧪
Reposted by Dorian J. Burnette
THEY. WERE. DOING. THIS. WITHOUT. PAY.
NOAA’s hurricane hunter pilots (and Kermit The Frog hanging from the control panel) fly into Hurricane Melissa.
Extraordinary bravery, saving lives.
(🎥 Cmdr. Danielle Varwig, NOAA Corps).
NOAA’s hurricane hunter pilots (and Kermit The Frog hanging from the control panel) fly into Hurricane Melissa.
Extraordinary bravery, saving lives.
(🎥 Cmdr. Danielle Varwig, NOAA Corps).
October 30, 2025 at 2:01 PM
THEY. WERE. DOING. THIS. WITHOUT. PAY.
NOAA’s hurricane hunter pilots (and Kermit The Frog hanging from the control panel) fly into Hurricane Melissa.
Extraordinary bravery, saving lives.
(🎥 Cmdr. Danielle Varwig, NOAA Corps).
NOAA’s hurricane hunter pilots (and Kermit The Frog hanging from the control panel) fly into Hurricane Melissa.
Extraordinary bravery, saving lives.
(🎥 Cmdr. Danielle Varwig, NOAA Corps).
Reposted by Dorian J. Burnette
Annotating a long 3+ day loop of #Hurricane #Melissa from Kingston, #Jamaica radar.
2️⃣ periods appear where an eyewall replacement cycle, #ERC, looked underway. In both cases, inner eyewall stayed intact & outer bands merged, resulting in a larger eye & strengthening after.
A remarkable evolution 🌀
2️⃣ periods appear where an eyewall replacement cycle, #ERC, looked underway. In both cases, inner eyewall stayed intact & outer bands merged, resulting in a larger eye & strengthening after.
A remarkable evolution 🌀
October 30, 2025 at 6:54 AM
Annotating a long 3+ day loop of #Hurricane #Melissa from Kingston, #Jamaica radar.
2️⃣ periods appear where an eyewall replacement cycle, #ERC, looked underway. In both cases, inner eyewall stayed intact & outer bands merged, resulting in a larger eye & strengthening after.
A remarkable evolution 🌀
2️⃣ periods appear where an eyewall replacement cycle, #ERC, looked underway. In both cases, inner eyewall stayed intact & outer bands merged, resulting in a larger eye & strengthening after.
A remarkable evolution 🌀
I echo Kim's comments (see 🧵 in quoted post below). The SSHWS does not do a good job integrating all the impacts from tropical cyclones, and climate change is likely to influence tropical cyclone hazards beyond max sustained wind (e.g., precip rates). I do not see any benefit in adding a category 6.
I deeply respect the work that's been invested into exploring our approaches to tracking high-end tropical cyclones, but I can't in good conscience remain silent regarding the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale (SSHWS) and discussion around a so-called category 6. 🧵 [1/5]
October 29, 2025 at 9:54 PM
I echo Kim's comments (see 🧵 in quoted post below). The SSHWS does not do a good job integrating all the impacts from tropical cyclones, and climate change is likely to influence tropical cyclone hazards beyond max sustained wind (e.g., precip rates). I do not see any benefit in adding a category 6.
Reposted by Dorian J. Burnette
Alrighty, ready to see something really cool? (and maybe a little nauseating)
The evolution of Hurricane Melissa's mesovortices at peak strength.
The evolution of Hurricane Melissa's mesovortices at peak strength.
October 29, 2025 at 8:10 PM
Alrighty, ready to see something really cool? (and maybe a little nauseating)
The evolution of Hurricane Melissa's mesovortices at peak strength.
The evolution of Hurricane Melissa's mesovortices at peak strength.
Reposted by Dorian J. Burnette
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 polar-orbiting satellite made an extremely fortuitous pass over Hurricane Melissa right before it made landfall in Jamaica to provide these stunning images of one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes in history
October 28, 2025 at 10:04 PM
The Copernicus Sentinel-2 polar-orbiting satellite made an extremely fortuitous pass over Hurricane Melissa right before it made landfall in Jamaica to provide these stunning images of one of the most powerful Atlantic hurricanes in history
Reposted by Dorian J. Burnette
The eyewall of Category 4 Hurricane #Melissa is about to exit Jamaica and re-emerge over very warm water (30-31°C) as it heads for eastern Cuba. How much rebuilding will it do?
I have a couple long radar loops from Pilon and Guantanamo at bmcnoldy.earth.miami.edu/tropics/radar/
I have a couple long radar loops from Pilon and Guantanamo at bmcnoldy.earth.miami.edu/tropics/radar/
October 28, 2025 at 8:54 PM
The eyewall of Category 4 Hurricane #Melissa is about to exit Jamaica and re-emerge over very warm water (30-31°C) as it heads for eastern Cuba. How much rebuilding will it do?
I have a couple long radar loops from Pilon and Guantanamo at bmcnoldy.earth.miami.edu/tropics/radar/
I have a couple long radar loops from Pilon and Guantanamo at bmcnoldy.earth.miami.edu/tropics/radar/
Reposted by Dorian J. Burnette
#Melissa makes landfall in southwestern Jamaica near New Hope as a powerful category 5 hurricane. For the latest updates visit hurricanes.gov
October 28, 2025 at 5:06 PM
#Melissa makes landfall in southwestern Jamaica near New Hope as a powerful category 5 hurricane. For the latest updates visit hurricanes.gov
Reposted by Dorian J. Burnette
#Melissa has made landfall in #Jamaica, and has preliminarily tied the record for the lowest pressure of any landfalling hurricane in Atlantic history: 892 mb. That was last observed 90 years ago with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane.
The storm does not look like it even notices Jamaica being there.
The storm does not look like it even notices Jamaica being there.
October 28, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by Dorian J. Burnette
I was worried for my crew mates when I saw them circling in the eye for over 20 mins. Looks like the very rough ride was confirmed. Plane had to leave early. They reported svr turb and a "sawtooth" eye. Looks like they moved 600-700ft up & down during this stretch in ~1 min.
October 28, 2025 at 4:23 PM
I was worried for my crew mates when I saw them circling in the eye for over 20 mins. Looks like the very rough ride was confirmed. Plane had to leave early. They reported svr turb and a "sawtooth" eye. Looks like they moved 600-700ft up & down during this stretch in ~1 min.
I wish I could like this quoted post 👇 numerous times! Expect plenty of disinformation on social media. Be careful what you share. #Melissa
Echoing colleagues: Think before you (re)post. #Melissa is about to impact a relatively poor part of Jamaica. I doubt we will know the true extent of the devastation for days or weeks.
Information vacuums fill with disinformation. Expect a lot of “breaking wind” on SM.
Map source: World Bank
Information vacuums fill with disinformation. Expect a lot of “breaking wind” on SM.
Map source: World Bank
October 28, 2025 at 4:18 PM
I wish I could like this quoted post 👇 numerous times! Expect plenty of disinformation on social media. Be careful what you share. #Melissa
👀 Note also the comments in the replies to the quoted post below. Keep the people in Jamaica in your thoughts today. Hurricanes of this strength hitting land are very rare.
Good lord. If I remember correctly, and I think it’s hard to verify unfortunately, this 219 kt/252 mph dropsonde wind gust in Melissa is easily the strongest the hurricane hunters have ever recorded
October 28, 2025 at 2:31 PM
👀 Note also the comments in the replies to the quoted post below. Keep the people in Jamaica in your thoughts today. Hurricanes of this strength hitting land are very rare.
National Hurricane Center's 10 a.m. EDT (1400 UTC) update. #Melissa has intensified with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph and minimum central pressure down to 892 mb.
October 28, 2025 at 2:09 PM
National Hurricane Center's 10 a.m. EDT (1400 UTC) update. #Melissa has intensified with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph and minimum central pressure down to 892 mb.