We’re living in a moment of stark contrasts: awe-inspiring reminders of our place in the universe, alongside urgent warnings about the state of our planet and everyone who inhabits it. Here are a few of the stories that stood out to me this week.
We are a mighty network that saw how broken our system is at a young age
You would be amazed at what your body and mind are capable of at that level of heightened arousal. But yeah, I'd be feeling queasy for sure 🤢
A full disc image of Earth, as seen from the Orion Crew Module. The planet is a pale blue, swirling with white clouds and glowing slightly lighter blue in place from reflected light. At lower left, a large brown landmass is Africa, with Spain and Portugal with twinkling lights where the planet curves. At top right, auroras glow in a thin green glow, just barely separated from the planet's surface. Earth is set against the black of space (pic: NASA/R.Wiseman)
More context on this #Artemis II image:
* This is the night side, lit by moonlight. You can see city lights in Spain & Portugal, & a sliver of day at lower right
* The Sun is entirely behind Earth, which makes it a kind of solar eclipse, but w/ Earth doing the eclipsing instead of the Moon:
☀️🌍🚀🌕
Oh my.
It's taken from the right side of an aircraft flying past Cape Canaveral just as the Artemis II mission was taking off.
Source: Reddit (posted by u/Spook_485; I don't know if that's the person who took the video)
We can easily build a reliable, low-cost, near-zero-emission power system with the technologies we have today. We don’t need to invent anything new. 🔌💡
Wildfires incoming.
The public has a distorted view of science, because children are taught in school that science is a collection of firmly established truths. In fact, science is not a collection of truths. It is a continuing exploration of mysteries.
- Freeman Dyson
God chose a humble family, that rooted Him in the values of faith, love and sacrifice. Through a faithful carpenter, a chaste woman, and a community shaped by covenant and prophecy, God established the conditions through which humanity would be redeemed. #MerryChristmas
But also, why would you do Law when AI can do law?
Coldest air on Earth today is in the US with temps up to 40 degrees below normal in the Midwest/ Great Lakes. Actual lows are as low as -20F there.
Cold US is due to widespread relative warmth in the Arctic, with record low Arctic Sea Ice extent. This “warmth” displaces the polar cold pool south.
TBH I don't know why we entertain Gates' ideas. He is a retired computer scientist talking about the effects of atmospheric dynamics on our functional biosphere.
A line graph shows the time series of Arctic mean surface temperature anomalies for each October from 1850 through 2025. There is a long-term increasing trend and large year-to-year variability. The mean surface temperature anomaly in October 2025 was 3.78°C for this region. Anomalies are computed relative to a 1910-2000 climate baseline. All data is from NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI NOAAGlobalTemp v6.0.0 on this graphic.
A line graph shows the time series of Antarctic mean surface temperature anomalies for each October from 1850 through 2025. There is a long-term increasing trend and large year-to-year variability. The mean surface temperature anomaly in October 2025 was 1.43°C for this region. Anomalies are computed relative to a 1910-2000 climate baseline. All data is from NOAA/NESDIS/NCEI NOAAGlobalTemp v6.0.0 on this graphic.
Was there any coverage of the recent record warmth in both the Arctic and Antarctic? Multiple global datasets now confirm these records, and I think it's really quite striking.
Here's some very quick plots showing NOAAGlobalTempv6 data from October too. And see my earlier posts.
Agreed, Carl. It is alarming
Map of the Svalbard region showing 2-m air temperature anomalies in October 2025. Red shading is shown for warmer than average temperatures, and blue shading is shown colder than average temperatures. Anomalies are calculated relative to 1981-2010. All areas are warmer than average.
Here's a closer look around Svalbard from last month in the #Arctic, where nearly all areas recorded temperatures more than 5°C warmer than the 1981-2010 average.
Data from doi.org/10.24381/cds...
Selling shovels in a land of caliche
This is how our forecast Polar Vortex Breakdown - Sudden Stratospheric Warming - plays out over the next 2 weeks ~20 miles aloft, as per the GFS model. This top and bottom comparison is a good visual on how breakdown occurs…
1/
While the weather world is focused on the expected big pattern shift and possible Arctic Outbreak after the Thanksgiving’s Turkey 🦃 deep fry, the nation’s middle is frying right now! Summery today at 25 degrees above normal, and 40 record highs!Dozens more through week’s end… (records via CoolWx)
Get ready to rock and roll!
A Sudden Stratospheric Warming is on the way. In about two weeks, temperatures 12 miles up over Canada and Greenland are forecast to spike by 50°F or more. That’s a shockwave in the stratosphere — a rapid disruption of the polar vortex high above the Arctic… 1/
I was definitely more excited than these oxygen and nitrogen molecules. First time to see it! #Auroraborealis #lfk
If you believe that, then why didn't the Democrats hold a primary for president in 2024?
Record (or near record) dry grass/ soil moisture in North/ NW FL.
In the future this will become more common. Not for lack of rain. Instead due to warmer - more thirsty air - stripping the ground of moisture. In decades climate projections show the air could be 50% more thirsty over FL!
I'm here for it, tbh
Have any realistic outlooks or models that show the unrealistic expectations of data centers' energy usage with AI demand?
You can’t overstate just how impressive this heat dome is. It covers 2/3 of contig. US, 80% of US population 90+ high temp (~260 mill people)
Peak intensity of heat dome record for SE US in late July. Peaked at 3.7 sigma which means this heat dome is extremely rare in our former climate of the 1900s
It's been a long week. So here's just a pretty graphic for your Friday evening... Simulation of atmospheric aerosols in our intricate Earth system.
Sea salt (cyan), dust (magenta), black carbon (orange/red), and sulfates (green)
Created by NASA SVS (svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5552/)
New obsession unlocked
Tragedy in Texas hill country, where 4 months’ worth of rain in just four hours caused Guadalupe River levels to spike 30 feet in just an hour and a half - in the middle of the night.
Two dozen are dead in the resulting floods and another 20 young campers still missing.
apnews.com/article/texa...
