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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Not a very promising view (GOES-18), considering it's still morning in the West! Forward scattering does accentuate the smoke. From a different perspective (GOES-19), it doesn't look as bad. My heart goes out to all the families in the Spokane area that lost their homes yesterday.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

This is appalling and un-American. This hearkens back to what the country experienced before the Civil War, when local post offices were heavily politicized and mail of disfavored viewpoints was suppressed. Lots of corruption & malfeasance. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/b... time.com/7244554/dang...

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

10/ Update: Here's where the air quality is currently bad (red) to horrific (maroon). Graphic courtesy of PurpleAir.com, metric: raw PM2.5.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

6/ Finally, look out for your neighbors. Communities should take measures to protect their most vulnerable populations, like opening cooling centers. Wildfire smoke and heat do not have to be deadly. By being aware and undertaking smart adaptative measures, many lives can be saved. /END

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

3/ When wildfire smoke occurs during heatwaves in areas where a portion of the population doesn't have access to air conditioning, people face the dilemma of opening their windows to avoid heatstroke, but searing their lungs with smoke. Smoke + heat can become even deadlier than either alone.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Parts of Ontario and northern Michigan are experiencing a truly awful combination of extreme heat and terrible air quality due to the ongoing heatwave and wildfires in the region. While satellite imagery looks dramatic, what matters for population exposure is smoke at the surface. 1/

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

2/ Meanwhile, Guam is getting raked by the southern rainbands of the storm. Guam's radar recently went down, but rain gauges show rainfall totals nearing a foot of rain in several parts of the island. Guam International Airport (PGUM) reported a maximum gust to 100 mph so far.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

#Rota (CNMI) can be seen in the southern eye of Supertyphoon #Bevi. The storm, which has estimated maximum 1-minute sustained winds of 180 mph, is directly impacting the small island of ~1900 people. This is the 2nd significant typhoon impact in less than 4 months for CNMI, a U.S. territory.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

4/ Residents of Guam still need to pay attention, as they could still get considerable effects. The are still plenty of tracks that go near Guam, but a storm doesn't necessarily have to be that close to still have some drastic and devastating effects, particularly when heavy rain is involved. /END

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

2/ Sea Surface Temperature are running about 1 degC above normal in the area the storm will track through. There is plenty of Ocean Heat Content for it to tap into.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Typhoon Bavi (WP09) looks set to continue its rapid intensification it travels toward the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas (CNMI). Currently predicted to be a 140-kt supertyphoon by the time it arrives, but some experimental ensemble members show potential for it to be even more intense. 1/

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Today's prescribed burn in Arizona put up a very robust smoke plume! The burn was planned for 11,000 acres. Based on the satellite imagery from CSU CIRA (@cira-csu.bsky.social), I'm guessing they succeeded . . . #UpperBeaverCreekPrescribedBurn #AZfire slider.cira.colostate.edu?sat=goes-19&...

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

#SedonaHillsFire is about 20-30 acres in western Loveland, with localized mandatory evacuations and aircraft requested, as per WatchDuty: share.watchduty.org/i/97558 Local weather conditions: 86 degF with 12% relative humidity. Winds southeast, gusting to 13 mph. #COfire

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Update #4: By the metric of observed maximum flight level winds at 700 mb, 10-sec average, preliminary data suggests that #Melissa is now the TOP Atlantic hurricane in the modern era of aircraft reconnaissance (since ~1977).

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

Update #3: #Melissa is now tied for 9th place for Atlantic hurricanes in the modern era, using the metric of observed maximum flight level winds @ 700 mb, 10-sec average.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

By the metric of maximum sustained flight level winds, #Melissa, with 163 kt 700-mb 10-s flight level winds, has now eclipsed Milton, Doran, Hugo, Felix, and Ivan to move up to #9.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

#Melissa, an extremely powerful and intense hurricane, has made it into the upper echelon of Atlantic hurricanes in the modern aircraft reconnaissance era, based on maximum flight level winds. At 161 kt, it is currently tied at #14 with Ivan (2004), Dorian (2019), and Milton (2024).

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Just got my #novavax booster here in TN, thanks to @publixofficial.bsky.social Pharmacy. Had discussed with my doctor and got an Rx, but wasn't needed. Have asthma and that was enough. Called ahead to confirm availability and they had 1 dose left! nuvaxovid.com/vaccine-loca...

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

As a #MarshallFire survivor, I'm very glad to see that #BoulderCounty is upgrading their sirens and expanding their use to a variety of hazards, including wildfires. Sirens are particularly helpful for people who are outdoors, like my wife and son were the day of the fire.

Press release from Boulder County about the coming upgrade to the county's outdoor warning sirens. Quote from the press release: "At the request of first responders, these sirens may be used for alerting affected areas during wildfires, floods, hazardous materials and other disasters," said Office of Disaster Management Director Mike Chard.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

NWS Morristown has issued a #SevereThunderstormWarning for southwestern Hamilton County and parts of Marion county including #Chattanooga and other areas. Torrential rainfall and flooding is also possible. #TNwx forecast.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatx...

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Update at 5:16 PM: Storms have passed through the Chattanooga area without too many impacts. The complex is propagating slowly south and a bit west from Sewanee through down through South Pittsburg and into N AL with heavy rain.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

Heads up #Chattanooga and folks in the N AL/SE TN/N GA areas -- isolated to scattered flash flooding is possible this afternoon and evening. For meteorological details, see: wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/metwatch/met... #TNwx

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

Thankfully the latest round of storms has not been as heavy as yesterday's downpours. The rain at CHA began at around 12:25 PM yesterday. With the latest addition from today's rain, the airport appears to have reached an unholy 24-hour rainfall total of 6.66". Subject to change. #Chattanooga #TNwx

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

NWS Morristown just issued a Flash Flood Warning for southern Hamilton County, including Chattanooga, Collegedale, East Ridge, southern Bradley County, and Marion County. Up to 1" of new rain has already fallen and another 0.5-2" are possible. forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.ph...

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

11/ If you are caught in a flash flood, move to high ground. Don't try to drive through flood waters. It's simply not worth losing your car, or worse, your life. #TurnAroundDontDrown

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

10/ Looking ahead to tomorrow, the NOAA Weather Prediction Center has highlighted that more heavy rain and flash flooding is possible for the area. Unlike today, we won't be starting from dry conditions, so it won't take nearly as much rain to create more problems.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

8/ I experienced this event. I was having dinner with friends to celebrate my birthday over near Hamilton Place Mall. During the 2 hours we were at the restaurant, approximately 4" of rain fell, causing a retention pond to overflow and spill water across the street.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

7/ It had been quite dry in the weeks leading up to this event, with D0 (abnormally dry) occurring in parts of Hamilton County. The dry antecedent conditions helped prevent even worse flooding from occurring. Source: Drought Monitor: droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap/S...

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

4/ Putting this into context, this exceeded the 200-year return level for a 6-h precipitation event. (Source: NOAA Atlas 14, which assumes a stationary climate).

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

3/ Radar indicated that even heavier rain may have fallen southeast of the airport, near East Ridge and Hamilton Place.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

2/ Total daily rainfall for the event is shown below, with 6.40" at CHA and a broad area of 5-6" totals across Chattanooga, East Ridge, and up toward Harrison.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

A quick thread on today's extreme rainfall event in #Chattanooga. Lovell Field Airport (CHA) just experienced 6.20" of rain in a 6-hour period. weather.gov/wrh/timeseri... 1/

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

9/ If you disagree with slashing weather research, contact your Congressional Representatives and Senators and let them know that weather research is critical national infrastructure that is vital for this country's future. www.house.gov/representati... www.senate.gov/senators/sen...

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

8/ These costs will come in the form of direct damages that could have been avoided, indirect losses from greater uncertainty (e.g., unnecessary evacuations), higher prices for agricultural products due to lower crop yields, higher insurance premiums, etc.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

7/ Breaking it down on a per capita basis, cutting $1 billion for weather research would save each person about $3, but they can expect to pay somewhere between $30 and 300 a year more compared to what they would have with world-leading weather research behind their forecasts.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

6/ So while the Administration may be "saving" several hundred million dollars with these cuts, the country is going to pay to the tune of tens of billions of dollars a year in increased weather costs and impacts.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

5/ The value of the other research that is proposed to be cut, such as seasonal forecasting, regional climate centers, research to improve other weather hazards, and the social science research that connects research to people, is likely similar to that of hurricanes.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

3/ Scientific support for hurricane hunter missions would end and flight hours would be slashed. The data collected by these reconnaissance flights are one of the key reasons why the U.S. has seen marked improvements in hurricane forecasting over the past several decades.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

2/ Focusing in on hurricanes, this would be a generational loss to hurricane forecasting. NOAA's Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) and Hurricane Research Division, where the top hurricane models are developed, would be closed. michaelrlowry.substack.com/p/noaa-propo...

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

These images sum up where the U.S. is currently at. Our Constitution, people, and liberties are under threat. Called my TN Senators today and urged them to vote NO on this ugly, nasty bill that would cut vital services, science, and infrastructure investment. #NoKings

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Due process matters more than we think. Let's send a message loud and clear to the Trump Administration: - Follow the law - Obey court orders - Stop deporting permanent residents to foreign concentration camps - Bring #KilmarAbregoGarcia home!

"If you can accept that non-citizens have no right to due process, you are accepting that citizens have no right to due process. All the government has to do is claim that you are not a citizen; without due process you have no chance to prove the contrary." ~ Timothy Snyder

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

We are on the brink of a Constitutional crisis. If people realized what could happen, the market would be tanking. If the rule of law is gone, there's no point in investing in the U.S. Anything can be taken from anyone at anytime. Get ready to protest to protect your rights!

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

8/ According to the Project 2025 tracker, just 36% of the objectives have been completed so far. The goal is to radically reshape America in the first 180 days of Trump's presidency. project2025.observer

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

7/ It’s time for a rebrand. Instead of #DOGE, let’s call it #ElonCare – a stark reminder of whose interests are really being served. apnews.com/article/trum... Photo credit: A/P Photo: Jose Luis Magana

Elon Musk holds up a chainsaw he received from Argentina's President Javier Milei as they arrive to speak at the Conversative Political Action Committee Conference on February 20, 2025.

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Jonathan Vigh @skywatcher77.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

5/ The plan is spelled out in #Project2025, which can be read here (922 pages, see Chapter 2 in particular): static.project2025.org/2025_Mandate...

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