Michael Lowry
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michaelrlowry.bsky.social
Michael Lowry
@michaelrlowry.bsky.social
Hurricane Specialist and Storm Surge Expert at Miami's WPLG-TV Local 10 News. Posts my own.
http://linktr.ee/michaelrlowry
Pinned
It's been death by a million papercuts to U.S. weather forecasts by the Trump administration, but yesterday's detailed 2026 budget feels like a deathblow. In today's @nytimes.com I ask: How far can we degrade our hurricane forecasting before people end up dead?
Opinion | How Far Can We Degrade Our Hurricane Forecasting Before People End Up Dead?
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Michael Lowry
🚨🚨🚨 2025 finished in the top 10 for warmest year on record in the Contiguous U.S. (1895-present). For most of the areas from the Rocky Mountains westward, it was a top 5 warmest year. No areas had a historically cool year.
January 1, 2026 at 5:48 PM
So great to see the inimitable @drjeffmasters.bsky.social and family today...and in short sleeves! My kind of weather for late December in the South :) Nice to catch up outdoors before Old Man Winter returns tomorrow.
A meeting of the meteorologists! Great to meet up with @michaelrlowry.bsky.social and Kait Parker and kids, with my family, at the Atlanta Zoo today. Crazy record warm temps in the 70s for the 5th straight day for our vacation here.
December 28, 2025 at 7:57 PM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
The Trump administration says it will dismantle a key climate-science center, while salvaging its forecasting capabilities. “Today, predicting the weather without considering the climate would be meteorological malpractice," Michelle Nijhuis argues.
The U.S. Is on the Verge of Meteorological Malpractice
The Trump administration says it will dismantle a premier climate center, while somehow keeping weather forecasting intact.
bit.ly
December 18, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
A massive new report by over 100 scientists modeling the climate effects of the 2022 Hunga volcanic eruption finds "The record-high global surface temperatures in 2023/2024 were not due to the Hunga eruption": juser.fz-juelich.de/...
December 18, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
@bhensonweather.bsky.social spent most of his career working at NCAR. He writes, "Working at NCAR and UCAR was an enormous privilege and one of the great joys of my life. I gained a humbling appreciation for the intricacy of the atmosphere."

yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/12/trum...
Trump administration announces plans to 'break up' the National Center for Atmospheric Research » Yale Climate Connections
The center is one of the world’s premier institutions for studying the atmosphere. Its work has saved countless lives.
yaleclimateconnections.org
December 17, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
In case you want to share with your networks, this is a good article by the NYT on the broad scope of work done by NCAR and some of the key discoveries (e.g., microbursts and aviation accidents).
The Trump administration said it will be dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, one of the world’s leading Earth science research institutions.
National Center for Atmospheric Research to Be Dismantled, Trump Administration Says
Russell Vought, the White House budget director, called the laboratory a source of “climate alarmism.”
nyti.ms
December 17, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
Quite a contrast...

Warmest first half of December on record in Pacific NW, including Seattle and Portland.

Among top 10 coldest in the Midwest and parts of the East, including Cleveland, Pittsburgh.

(Data: SERCC)
December 17, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
NCAR is quite literally our global mothership.

Everyone who works in climate and weather has passed through its doors and benefited from its incredible resources.

Dismantling NCAR is like taking a sledgehammer to the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet.

Unbelievable.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
www.usatoday.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
It is hard to overstate how critical @ncar-ucar.bsky.social is to climate science in the US and around the world. It's the beating heart of our field. Generations of scientists have trained there, and almost everyone I know relies on deep collaborations with NCAR scientists. It's end is unthinkable.
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
Unbelievable. This would be a terrible blow to American science, writ large. It would decimate not only climate research, but also the kind of weather, wildfire, and disaster research that has underpinned half a century of progress in prediction, early warning, and increased resilience.
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 2:49 AM
NCAR is crucial to cutting-edge meteorology and improvements in weather forecasting. As others have noted, it's far, far bigger than a "climate" research lab. This is self-sabotage by a wildly ignorant and malicious administration cutting off their nose to spite their face. Find a better scapegoat.
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
WTAF?!

Also, for the love of God, can we not refer to NCAR As a “climate lab?” It does a hell of a lot more than just climate.
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 1:44 AM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
These people are nuts. NCAR developed the GPS dropsonde, which revolutionized the understanding of TC structure, improved forecasts, and validated remote sensing platforms, as documented in over 400 peer-reviewed publications in the last 25 years. And that’s just one of NCAR’s countless advances.
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
Exclusive: The Trump administration is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, according to a senior White House official, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
Trump moves to dismantle major US climate research center in Colorado
The Trump administration is breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research, taking aim at one of the world's leading climate research labs.
bit.ly
December 17, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
It’s been observed that tropical cyclones have been migrating poleward in recent years, and climate change was suspected as a cause. But this study found SST patterns caused it, “and that future changes may differ markedly from the recent multi-decadal trends.”

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Poleward migration of tropical cyclones over 1980–2024 is dominated by Pacific variability - Nature Geoscience
A tripolar pattern of Pacific sea surface temperature variability strongly modulates tropical cyclone latitudes and largely determined their poleward migration during the period 1980–2024, according t...
www.nature.com
December 16, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
Just in from NOAA, 7 states had their record warmest "meteorological fall" dating to 1895.

It was also America's third warmest "fall" in 131 years, just behind 2024 and 2016.
December 8, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
BREAKING: A tsunami as high as 10 feet could hit Japan's northeastern coast after an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.6 occurred offshore, the Japan Meteorological Agency said reut.rs/44iNwL0
December 8, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
This week marked the end of 2025 Atlantic hurricane season. It was comprised of...

13 named storms
5 hurricanes
4 major hurricane
December 5, 2025 at 9:22 PM
So many stunning images from the 2025 hurricane season, but this pass into Category 5 Melissa's eye by Air Force Hurricane Hunters on October 27th might be the most breathtaking I've ever seen. (video via FlynonymousWX on X)
November 30, 2025 at 9:15 PM
One thing that struck me about this hurricane season is just how conducive the western Atlantic was at its height. August wind shear is about as solid a predictor for seasonal activity as any. With Aug-Sep-Oct shear at record lows, a Melissa-like storm felt like a matter of time.
November 30, 2025 at 8:01 PM
We can call the 2025 hurricane season a lot of things but quiet only applies to the U.S. Here's my recap of the tumultuous hurricane season that left no shortage of big records. ⬇️
The Tumultuous 2025 Hurricane Season Comes to a Close
The first season in a decade without a U.S. hurricane landfall also featured three Category 5 hurricanes, including Melissa, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record
michaelrlowry.substack.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
Stunning lenticular #cloud over Mt. Washington #NHwx today!
November 26, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
Every Category 4 and 5 Atlantic hurricane since 2020, all together, in one group photo.

H/t to @ferragamowx.bsky.social for the inspiration.
November 21, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Reposted by Michael Lowry
Or -xas. 😂 This makes now TWO senior officials performing the duties of administrator and the review council who concluded (and I can’t emphasize this next part enough) *against their own druthers*, we need FEMA, need to fund the agency, states can’t do this alone. I mean…
🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️
November 20, 2025 at 12:47 AM
As a seasoned emergency manager who's overseen some of FEMA's biggest response and recovery plans, I can assure you this is nonsense. Reducing the 75/25 cost share and assuming states not ending in -orida have the capacity to manage major public assistance projects is naive and dangerous policy.
November 19, 2025 at 11:25 PM