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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD

@kmkanak.bsky.social
1K followers 993 following 101 posts

Atmospheric Scientist. Former Adjunct Associate Professor and Research Scientist, School of Meteorology, University of Oklahoma. LES, dust devils on Earth and Mars, supercells, tornadoes, mammatus, hail, and cloud physics.

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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 21m
@drwendyrocks.bsky.social Ironically, this fallstreak was just in my feed and there a bit of a dark cloud at lower levels, somewhat disconnected from the cloud hole above. Could be like your vertical cloud. Ty to Ryan for the great pics.
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
They’re still here and haven’t migrated further south yet 🥰
Ruby-throated hummingbird flying in the air near a red zinnia flower bloom
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Hopefully we’re done with 100+F temps for 2026. Had a total of 45 days at both KOKC and KOUN. OKC had 63 days in 2011 and 45 in 1980 (data courtesy of IEM). Also, never been so happy with 0.06 in of rain!
Graph showing 0.06 inches of rain at home weather station 9/21/26Radar depiction of very small rain shower near Norman Oklahoma Bar chart of observed surface temperatures greater than or equal to 100F at KOUN Bar chart of observed surface temperatures greater than or equal to 100F at KOKC
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Caturday…captions?
White cat with grey spots sitting in a cat toy cube with head sticking out the top
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Based on ASOS data (IEM /NCEI) at KOKC, 13 of 18 days in September 2026 have had max temp >= 100F, followed by 7 days in 2000 and 2012.
Bar chart showing the number of days with max temp greater than or equal to 100F at KOKC versus year.
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
ME: In what years in the 1980s was 9/25 on a Saturday? Google search AI: In the 1980s, September 25 was on a Saturday in 1982 and 1988. ME: What day of week was 9/25 in 1988? Google search AI: Sunday
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Reposted by Katharine M. Kanak, PhD
SETI Institute @setiinstitute.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
#PPOD: Eight dust devils march across the dark sands of Ganges Chasma in this remarkable view from the HiRISE camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Sunlight warms the dark, gently sloping surface, driving convection in the thin Martian atmosphere... 🧪 🔭
Series of grainy gray and orange panels showing a bright circular plume or ring with a long dark tail across a textured surface, showing eight separate dust devils on the surface of Mars. The five in orange are enhanced colors.
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Painted Lady butterfly on orange cosmos late in the afternoon. Nikon D5200 · 220mm · f/5.3 · 1/500s · ISO 900.
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Hummingbird at pink zinnia
Hummingbird hovering over pink zinnia flower
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Finding joy in the little things…ruby-throated hummingbirds
Hummingbird at rest perching on a mostly bare hawthorn tree branchHummingbird at rest perching on a mostly bare hawthorn tree branchHummingbird hovering over a pink zinnia Hummingbird hovering over a pink zinnia
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Wow! This STL Cardinal player made history today. Joshua Baez made his major league debut with the Cardinals and hit THREE home runs in his first 3 at bats in the major leagues. Cardinals are playing the Cubs at Wrigley today. He is 23 years old. 😊 ⚾️
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Does anyone know if any of this 3D PBL data is available for research? ou.edu/news/article...
ou.edu
OU Marks Historic Milestone in Weather Forecasting with Launch of Oklahoma 3D Mesonet
The National Weather Service has, for the first time, purchased vertical atmospheric profiles collected by drones — data collected by the University of Oklahoma (OU) and Meteomatics. The milestone is ...
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Reposted by Katharine M. Kanak, PhD
Tony Lyza @tlyza89.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
If you’re interested in learning more about the ongoing scientific analysis of the Enid tornado, I hear it may come up at 2:45 pm CDT on Wednesday at SLS. #AMSSummit
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Nature is full of wonders…
Hummingbird at white zinniaHummingbird at orange zinnia with pink zinnias in foreground and background
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Reposted by Katharine M. Kanak, PhD
Weather History @weatherhistory.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
July 23, 2010: The United States' record largest hailstone fell near Vivian, South Dakota. The stone was measured at an incredible 8.0" in diameter and had a weight of 1.9375 lbs. It was spawned by a powerful supercell that produced many other stones 6" or larger.
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Reposted by Katharine M. Kanak, PhD
Space.com @space.com · 20/07/2026
50 years after Viking 1's historic Mars landing, NASA is looking to the Red Planet's skies www.space.com/astronomy/ma...
space.com
50 years after Viking 1's historic Mars landing, NASA is looking to the Red Planet's skies
The Skyfall mission will launch three helicopters to Mars in 2028.
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Enjoying zinnias...Praying mantis below the left-side petals of the orange one
Single light purple zinnia flowerSingle pink zinniaPurple zinnia with yellow centerOrange zinnia with praying mantis in shade below the petals on the left side
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
How bout that! First Cardinal ever to win the HR Derby! ⚾️
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
We’re in the 1% club
Screenshot of Oklahoma Gas and Electric power outage map showing 99.81% of customers currently have electric power.
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Caturday
Black cat named Nimbus laying on his back playing with a brightly colored fleece fabric string wand toy
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
I know the St Louis Cardinals are a young baseball team this year but I’m gonna root for them anyway! Some impressive young talent like JJ Wetherholt and Jordan Walker ⚾️
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Reposted by Katharine M. Kanak, PhD
Dave Sills 🍁🌪️🎶⚓☮️ @davesills.ca · 01/06/2026
New paper alert! My co-authors and I have published an updated national tornado climatology for Canada in the CMOS journal Atmosphere-Ocean. It includes a 'fact sheet' with all kinds of stats on totals, means and extremes (Appendix D). Access is open. Enjoy! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
tandfonline.com
An Updated National Tornado Climatology for Canada
The first tornado dataset for Canada covered the years 1950–1979 and allowed a 30-year tornado climatology to be attempted. This was followed by a second 30-year national climatology covering the y...
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 29/04/2026
Nature is fascinatingly beautiful
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Reposted by Katharine M. Kanak, PhD
Kate Marvel @drkatemarvel.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
In honor of Earth Day: a thread of environmental wins
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 11/04/2026
Welcome home! Amazing!
iPhone shot of TV screen showing the splashdown on Earth of the Artemis II Mission crew
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
“…LLM as a sounding board: fine…but the moment you use the machine to bypass the thinking itself, to let it make the methodological choices, to let it decide what the data means, to let it write...You haven't saved time. You've forfeited the experience that the time was supposed to give you”
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Reposted by Katharine M. Kanak, PhD
Jeremy Gibbs @gibbs.science · 02/04/2026
New paper: "Evaluation of Planetary Boundary Layer Parameterization Schemes Using WoFS Ensemble Members and Observations from TRACER"—led by Francesca Lappin, with appearances by Petra Klein, @tmbell05.bsky.social, @ksquared812.bsky.social, and yours truly. 🧪🌊 journals.ametsoc.org/view/journal...
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Reposted by Katharine M. Kanak, PhD
Seth Fletcher @sethfletcher.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
The widespread belief that kids today are uniquely unwell is weird, because as Melinda Wenner Moyer shows, they're less narcissistic & more empathetic & tolerant than previous gens; IQs are up; drug use, violence, teen pregnancies are down. The list goes on www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-...
scientificamerican.com
The kids are all right
Surprising studies show young people are doing better than previous generations in many ways
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 08/10/2025
Great paper: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Dust devil migration patterns reveal strong near-surface winds across Mars
Dust devil migration reveals how the dynamics of the lowermost atmosphere drive Mars’ dust cycle, weather, and climate.
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
Finally captured a blue swallowtail butterfly in a photo today.
Blue swallowtail butterfly on ground surrounded by green pepper plants and other plants. Butterfly is iridescent blue but appears mostly black with orange, blue and white spots on hind wings
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
Redbuds in full bloom
Redbud tree with pink flowersRedbud tree with pink flowers
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Reposted by Katharine M. Kanak, PhD
Paul Byrne @theplanetaryguy.com · 11/02/2025
Oh, this? Just a dust devil, seen from orbit. From Mars orbit. And the dust devil is 20 kilometres tall.
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Reposted by Katharine M. Kanak, PhD
Kevin M. Gill @kevinmgill.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
This has to be the clearest and most detailed dust devil I’ve yet seen captured. Amazing!
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
Congratulations to Roger Edwards on a brilliant career of service and contributions to our science. I wish him all the best in this next chapter.
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 27/12/2024
Our paper was just published in final form in Wea. Forecasting, “Environmental Conditions Associated with Long-Track Tornadoes.” journals.ametsoc.org/view/journal...
journals.ametsoc.org
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Katharine M. Kanak, PhD @kmkanak.bsky.social · 16/12/2024
Nice day for sparrows, house finches and wrens.
House sparrow on edge of bird bathHawthorn tree leaves that are red and greenHouse finch on bird feeder Bewick’s wren in hawthorn tree
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