Curious about air quality during wildfire season and how it can impact our health? NSF NCAR scientist Forrest Lacey shares insights in our next Science in the Spotlight webinar. 📅Thursday, Aug. 13 from 3-4 p.m. MT 🌐 Virtual webinar More details: https://edec.ucar.edu/events/wildfires-AQ

We have an exciting lineup of Explorer Series events this August, including a suite of webinars as well as local events in Colorado! Mark your calendar! edec.ucar.edu/public/ncar-...

The NSF NCAR Gulfstream V (GV) is about to embark on an INSPYRE-ing research mission!🛩️ In collaboration with NASA and the @usnrl.bsky.social, a research team including NSF NCAR scientists will take to the skies in the GV to study and sample pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) clouds.

Hurricanes that suddenly intensify are especially dangerous since rapid intensification is notoriously hard to forecast and leaves little time to prepare. But now, NSF NCAR researchers have developed a technique to predict sudden intensification in hurricanes as far as 5 days out.

Get behind the desk of a solar scientist at our NSF NCAR Mauna Loa Solar Observatory… right from the comfort of the Mesa Lab in Boulder! 😎 Our latest exhibit, Sun-Earth Connections, gives you a hands-on look at a workstation in the observatory! Take a tour w/ @ucarscied.bsky.social: bit.ly/45uNyPO

Sixty years ago this summer, we tested the dropsonde for the first time! We’ve made massive improvements over the years to enhance dropsonde tech, which helps protect communities and further improve hurricane forecasting.

Can AI help to fill gaps in long-term weather forecasting? 💭 Using machine learning to recreate our Community Atmosphere Model (CAM), our first emulator called CAMulator offers the potential to accelerate predicting if the next month is likely to be hotter, colder, wetter, or drier than normal.

Stay cool this summer at the NSF NCAR Mesa Lab! 🧊 We've got cool views of the Flatirons and even cooler interactive exhibits for all ages, about clouds, the Sun, our history, and everything in between! If you're in Boulder, stop by to visit or take a tour with @ucarscied.bsky.social!

🏞️ Weather extremes can damage our national parks, causing long-term closures, disappointing summer visitors, and damaging the local economy. Our scientists are studying how devastating rain-on-snow flooding events might impact Glacier NP in the future to help them prepare. https://bit.ly/4aYriRM

Actionable science at work ⚜️ Our LAUNCH project w/ @lsu.bsky.social fostered collaboration w/ local communities to better prep the Gulf Coast for natural disasters. We shared tools like hazard mapping platforms & made vital connections for future projects & research collabs! https://bit.ly/4aQgJ3a

Join us the day after tomorrow (see what we did there?😉) to discuss ocean circulation systems using disaster blockbusters as a springboard for conversation in the next Explorer Series event. 🗓️: Wed, July 15, 7-8:30 PM MT 📍: NSF NCAR Mesa Lab & online https://bit.ly/4wAGjBD

👋 Hey, journalists & #SciComm friends: need an expert to weigh in about El Niño? Our researchers & scientists are available to answer questions on: 🌎 Potential influence of El Niño on precipitation & storm systems around the globe 🌀 Implications for hurricane activity ➕ More! https://bit.ly/4pcxL17

Fact or fiction? Using disaster movies as a springboard, the next Explorer Series lecture with NSF NCAR’s Gokhan Danabasoglu and Aixue Hu will discuss the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation’s past, present & potential future behavior. 🗓️: Wed, July 15, 7-8:30 PM MT edec.ucar.edu/events/AMOC

Pardon our dust 🚧 Expect roadwork & construction on the Mesa Lab road & parking lot this month. To maintain access to the building & trails, there will be temporary closures of parking lot sections & one-way traffic access managed by flaggers. Thanks for understanding!

These plants are bioindicators, or plants that are sensitive to ground-level ozone. The leaves develop stipples, or small flecking on the leaves, when ozone is present, helping scientists to better understand air quality over the course of the year.

Nestled next to the Mesa Lab entrance, our Ozone Garden’s common milkweed and coneflowers aren’t just attractive to pollinators and insects– they give scientists clues about the air quality and presence of ozone.

We’re excited to announce the release of JEDI 2026.1 from @jcsda.bsky.social , featuring a new ionospheric DA application extending its reach into space weather for the first time! It also covers a comprehensive suite of observing instruments, contributed by partners. www.jcsda.org/jedi-2026-1

💾 Secure your scientific data in our certified repository, GDEX! By depositing your datasets into our Geoscience Data Exchange (GDEX), they are AI-ready and protected for future generations. From @ncar-cisl.bsky.social, Monica Ainhorn Morrison explains AI-reliable data. https://bit.ly/3QQmvLk

#ICYMI WindCube is on track for a potential launch this winter after undergoing its final testing and integration in Denmark! 🛰️WindCube is one of several space-based observational platforms being designed and developed by NSF NCAR’s High Altitude Observatory to measure thermospheric winds.

In a new study, measurements taken by research aircraft helped NSF NCAR scientists get a better view of how much carbon is taken up (or released) in various parts of the world. Notably, they found that forests in the tropics take up less carbon than Earth system models typically predict.

When we think of how extreme wildfires start, we may imagine hot and dry conditions, but new research challenges this assumption. A new study from NSF NCAR notes that most warm years don’t produce large wildfires.

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a laboratory ON a plane!✈️ 🐦‍⬛ Join us at the upcoming Explorer Series lecture to hear about recent discoveries from field projects using "labs in the sky." 🗓️: Wed., June 17 from 7-8:30 P.M. MDT 📍: NSF NCAR Mesa Lab & online Register: https://bit.ly/4vQ2inI

At the upcoming CEDAR Workshop, NCAR NCAR is excited to be part of the ESPAT/CEDAR Grand Challenge session “Cross-Scale Coupling and Variability in the Upper Atmosphere and Ionosphere: Pathways to Improved Space Weather Predictability” with break-out sessions.

FastEddy + drone observations = neighborhood-level wind predictions! A collaboration between NSF NCAR & @universityofky.bsky.social aims to improve low-altitude wind predictions (notoriously difficult to model) by combining weather observations from uncrewed aircraft systems with FastEddy.

Now, the students are spending their time working on projects spanning Earth system science, computational science, atmospheric research, modeling, and more! We’re excited to share more about the summer interns– from NESSI interns to NSF SOARS proteges and more– as the weeks go by!

Summer internship season is well underway for the 2026 intern cohort! ☀️ In late May, students from across the country arrived in Boulder to begin their summer research experiences. Throughout orientation week, students participated in training workshops and community-building activities.

Explorer our airborne sky labs and how our scientists puzzle out air chemistry mysteries in the next Explorer Series lecture! 🗓️: Wednesday, June 17 from 7-8:30 P.M. MDT 📍: NSF NCAR Mesa Lab and online Register: edec.ucar.edu/events/air-c...

June marks the beginning of hurricane season. By refining hurricane forecasts, improving flood prediction, and enhancing storm risk communication, our work aims to arm first responders and citizens alike with life-saving information. 🌀

Previous NSF NCAR research showed that the area is more moist overall from groundwater, crops and irrigation, but this new research demonstrates the impacts on severe weather as well.

Can fields of crops affect severe storms in regions like the Corn Belt? According to new NSF NCAR research, powerful thunderstorm complexes in the U.S. Corn Belt are fueled by moisture from irrigated fields along with groundwater.