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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Last night was just … wow. Historic wind event here in western SD. The office got hit by a 91 mph gust that made my ears pop. Luckily my apartment didn’t lose any power and the only damage I had was a lost garbage can. Trees down and damage all over town.

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Alex Spahn 🌋🌪️☄️ @spahn711.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

My entire timeline rn.

A two frame meme from Seinfeld. The top frame is a picture of Jerry basking in a red glow. "Good lord! Whats happening in there?" The bottom frame is Kramer in his doorway, also basked in a red glow. "Aurora borealis."

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 12/11/2025

I suppose I’ll join the aurora posting party.

Aurora that looks more like a green blob

Aurora that’s winding it’s way across the night sky

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Dakota Smith @weatherdak.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Alrighty, ready to see something really cool? (and maybe a little nauseating) The evolution of Hurricane Melissa's mesovortices at peak strength.

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CNN @cnn.com · 05/08/2025

The National Weather Service has received permission to hire 450 meteorologists, hydrologists and radar technicians just months after being hit hard by Department of Government Efficiency-related cuts and early retirement incentives. cnn.it/4odQIjc

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

And a timelapse of the storm (lots of flashing lights because lightning - be aware)

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 20/07/2025

Storm rolled through town last night - gave a good light show as it left.

A thunderstorm at night seen from tens of miles away. Lightning illuminates the clouds.

A close up of a lightning strike coming out of the side of a thunderhead. It looks kind of like a sideways tree.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

CYS and RIW are both actually down - some kind of comms outage. Other offices in the region are backing them up.

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Matt Lanza @mattlanza.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

The media needs to learn the job roles of NWS offices before reporting on them.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

And the back up office system has existed long before this whole mess of a year.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

I don’t know - it may depend on the office, really. There are some offices that cover pretty rural areas and could get by with larger staff cuts. Other “back up” offices can and have stepped in to help share some of the workload in busy times like severe weather.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Had a rather … electrifying shift the other night. 🌩️ Literally had just propped my phone up against the window to film the storm and caught a very very close strike. K Headphone warning.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

As well as the fact that it was such an extreme rainfall event in a very flash flood prone area. This was going to be a disaster even with the adequate warnings.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Can imagine it being a busy summer holiday weekend, a lot of out of town visitors (who may not know about how dangerous the river is), and it happening in the middle of the night all played a big role in this.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Yeah the warnings would have gone out on NOAA weather radio. I’m sure there’s going to be extensive analysis into what went wrong and it’s likely going to be a very long list of things because there’s rarely ever one reason things like these happen.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

A lot of staffing shortages (including MIC, WCM, and hydrologist vacancies) were around before January 2025. It’s definitely gotten worse but it was never really great to begin with.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Those are important jobs and they should be filled, don’t get me wrong, the cuts that are happening are terrible. But a forecast office isn’t completely crippled and unable to do its job because they don’t have those slots filled.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

They also have to know how to communicate effectively with the public and emergency managers. Because the WCM and hydrologist can’t be in the office and on shift 24/7.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Let me just put it this way: there is a TON of overlap of roles in an NWS office. It’s very much a team effort to run an office. When I say “an NWS Met wears a lot of hats” I mean they have to be an expert on flash floods, severe storms, winter storms, fire weather, etc.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

The course goes over tornadoes and severe storms but it also extensively covers both flash flood forecasting and warnings since radar plays a huge role in flash flood warning operations. The workshop is basically simulating forecasting and warning for these things for like four days straight.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

However, every NWS meteorologist is extensively trained in flash flood forecasting and warnings as it’s considered “severe weather”. Every meteorologist goes through something called the Radar Applications Course which is a 6 month long course that ends in a week long in-person workshop.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

The hydrologist handles a lot of the routine forecasts for rivers, drought, etc. I won’t say there haven’t been a few times on shift where I’ve called our hydrologist to ask for their opinion on issuing a river flood warning. Mainly because we don’t deal with a lot of flooding out here.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Yeah - the MIC is the boss of the office. They handle a lot of the administrative stuff (managing staff, verifying time sheets, etc) and they’re important to the office but honestly they don’t play a huge role in warning operations (unless they’re on shift).

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

So while NWS San Antonio may not have had a WCM … they *definitely* would have had someone working in operations that night who had the task of calling up the emergency managers and letting them know of the danger. Because it’s one of the many job duties of an NWS meteorologist.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

And so during severe weather operations - there would most certainly be someone on duty whose task would be contacting emergency managers in the areas being impacted by dangerous weather. It’s not just the job of the Warning Coordination Meteorologist.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

A meteorologist at a forecast office wears A LOT of hats. They don’t just issue warnings and make a forecast. On a typical shift an NWS meteorologist monitors social media, answers phones, takes weather observations, and yeah - they do the forecast too.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

While a WCM is the liaison between an office and emergency management officials. Their job is a lot of shaking hands and making these connections *before* the disaster hits. They’re not the ones solely in charge of warning partner agencies in the event of severe weather.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

I’d like to add some context to the “NWS lost staffers who would typically communicate with local authorities”. The San Antonio office doesn’t have a “Warning Coordination Meteorologist” (WCM) - but that’s not the reason there may have been a breakdown in communications.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

Disclaimer: I’m not endorsing a specific weather app or anything, StormShield is just what I personally use And also I do highly recommend a NOAA weather radio because having multiple ways to get warnings is just good safety practice in general.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 06/07/2025

A simple four step process for enabling emergency wx alerts on your iPhone. And if you want to get other alerts other than the ones that activate the WEA - there are apps like StormShield which can be configured to send push notifications. There ARE ways to get these warnings.

In settings scroll down to “notifications”

In Notifications scroll down to “Government Alerts” and make sure everything that you want on is on. Specifically the “Public Safety Alerts”

And also go into “Emergency Alerts” and make sure all those selections are ticked on too.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

More photos of the tornado, the supercell, and some more dust it kicked up earlier on in its life. … there was a lot of dust.

Supercell thunderstorm taken from several miles away

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

Got off my 9th mid shift in a row yesterday morning. Drove down to Denver … and saw the Akron, CO tornado on the way (a slight detour to chase). Also had a meso form right on top of me which certainly wasn’t my intention. The last photo is of the dust being kicked up by said meso.

Far off shot of a tornado with houses in the foreground

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

Sometimes you have to make a doodle on your office’s break room whiteboard to perfectly encapsulate the mood of 2025

Doodle of a possum screaming in rage and anxiety because that’s just the kind of year 2025 is.

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Mateo 🍄 @flyagaric.bsky.social · 09/04/2025

I mean, just look at these layers. (April 2021) #colorado #sunset #mountains #goldenhour

Sunset with a particular golden hue and pronounced layering as shadowed foreground foothills give way to more illuminated, higher peaks in the distance.

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Have some bird photos from my hike today.

Two robkns sit on branches of a tree. One looks like it’s staring angrily at the photographer.

Two robins sit on the branches of a tree

A plump chickadee sits on a branch - from a different angle

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Chris Vagasky @coweatherman.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

Up-to-date NWS upper air network map

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Elizabeth Leitman @wxliz.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

A tornado outbreak - Level 5-High risk is expected tomorrow (Saturday March 15) across parts of MS/AL. Strong to violent, long-track tornadoes will be possible, in addition to significant damaging gusts and large hail. Intense storms are possible across the broader region from LA to TN to GA.

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Melinda Berman @melindaberman.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

LOVE! This graphic from SPC. You can clearly see how all the different air masses around the low and associated with the system are yielding the different (and somewhat overlapping) hazards

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

Trump: [opens mouth] DOW: [tanks] 📉

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MassConvergence @massconvergence.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

I guess my first ever post on here (that’s not a reply to someone) is going to be this cool animation I made of a bird.

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