Russ Schumacher
@rschumacher.cloud
5.7K followers 1.5K following 670 posts
"an upbeat atmospheric science professor" -- theverge | sometimes it snows in April | Fort Collins, Colorado | personal account
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rschumacher.cloud
A lot of people still don’t know that we have a mesonet in Colorado — and we’re working to make it better every year! #cowx
climate.colostate.edu
CoAgMET---the Colorado Agricultural Meteorological network, aka Colorado's Mesonet---was recently recognized for over 30 years of data collection. Read more about the award and the network in this story from CSU Source. Here's to 30 more years of valuable weather and climate information! #cowx
CSU Colorado Mesonet recognized by American Association of State Climatologists for over thirty years of service - Walter Scott, Jr. College of Engineering
The Colorado Agricultural and Meteorological Network, known as CoAgMET, was recognized with the American Association of State Climatologists 30 Year Mesonet Award for contributing more than 30 years o...
engr.source.colostate.edu
rschumacher.cloud
that's only like the first 12-18 hours of the event though; add that to another 24 of similar rates and it'll be a lot just about everywhere.
rschumacher.cloud
pretty rare anytime of year, but much more common in the summer during the North American Monsoon. Not in mid-October though (when instead we'd be more typically looking at some of the first mountain snow)

From the SPC sounding climatology page:
SPC sounding climatology for precipitable water at Grand Junction, showing a peak in late July/early August
Reposted by Russ Schumacher
tornatrix.bsky.social
While I’m at the UCAR Member’s meeting, I’m reminding everyone of the internships, workshops, and other student opportunities that they have available! www.ucar.edu/exhibit/stud...
Exhibit resources | University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
www.ucar.edu
rschumacher.cloud
Heavy rain is very likely, but exactly where and how much still a bit uncertain. WPC shows widespread >2" across southwest Colorado, with a large slight risk area in the excessive rainfall outlook on Saturday; our ML model looks pretty similar. #cowx 2/2
NOAA Weather Prediction Center 7-day precipitation forecast, showing most of southwestern Colorado expected to have more than 2 inches of rain. Weather Prediction Center day-4 excessive rainfall outlook valid on Saturday 11 October, with a broad slight risk area through Arizona, western New Mexico, eastern Utah, and western Colorado. Colorado State University Machine Learning Probabilities guidance for excessive rainfall on days 1-8. It shows probabilities >15% across western Colorado and eastern Utah on Saturday October 11, with some increased probabilities the previous day as well.
rschumacher.cloud
Highly unusual situation approaching western Colorado with the moisture from Hurricane Priscilla. Grand Junction has never had precipitable water over an inch (25mm) so late in the year, but looks like it will be near that level on both Fri & Sat. Six standard deviations above average! #cowx 1/2
Global Ensemble Forecast System mean precipitable water and 700-mb winds valid on Saturday morning, 11 October 2025. A big plume of moisture will be transported into the southwest US ahead of decaying Hurricane Priscilla. From https://schumacher.atmos.colostate.edu/weather/ens.php Standardized anomaly of precipitable water from the ECWMF ensemble mean on Saturday morning, 11 October 2025. It shows a broad swath of  greater than +3 standard deviations in the western US. From https://schumacher.atmos.colostate.edu/weather/ecmwf.php Ensemble forecast plume showing precipitable water at Grand Junction, Colorado in the members of the ECWMF ensemble. Values are predicted to be around 25-30 mm with high confidence on Friday 10 October through Saturday 11 October, far above the 90th percentile for the date.  From https://schumacher.atmos.colostate.edu/weather/ecmwf.php
rschumacher.cloud
gorgeous fog this morning #cowx
photo of fog over a lake, with a goose swimming in the distance and trees with leaves turning yellow in the background
Reposted by Russ Schumacher
Reposted by Russ Schumacher
wxkev.bsky.social
The Enderlin, ND tornado from 6/20/25 has been upgraded to EF5.
Reposted by Russ Schumacher
climate.colostate.edu
Happy New (Water) Year! 🥳 Today marks the first day of Water Year 2026. But what is a "water year" and why does it begin in October? Here's a short explainer! [1/7]
rschumacher.cloud
I have definitely never seen it. Magnificent.
Reposted by Russ Schumacher
drwildcatwx.bsky.social
Some of us (like in the @nws.noaa.gov) are excepted, still working without pay. Others are furloughed, sent home and unable to perform work. Grateful for all my federal colleagues showing resilience in tough times. Here’s hoping this shutdown is short. #GovernmentShutdown
Reposted by Russ Schumacher
ecmwf.int
📣ECMWF’s Real-time Catalogue is now open to all, supporting global efforts to improve early warnings and build resilience.
Find out more about what this means and the importance of attribution ➡️ www.ecmwf.int/en/about/med...
Reposted by Russ Schumacher
aarongleeman.bsky.social
I truly think Shohei Ohtani is the greatest baseball player of all time, and I'm more and more convinced it's not especially close.
aarongleeman.bsky.social
I don't think I'll ever get used to someone with 53 homers doing this too.
Reposted by Russ Schumacher
clarkevanswx.bsky.social
The Univ. of Nebraska’s Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences has established a webpage soliciting the community’s help in saving their program. Their hearing in front of campus admin is next Friday, Oct 10th. Please consider sharing why they’re essential!

eas.unl.edu/save-earth-a...
Save Earth and Atmospheric Sciences! | Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences | Nebraska
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is proposing to close the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences (EAS) as part of its budget reduction plan. We strongly oppose this plan. EAS conducts research ...
eas.unl.edu
Reposted by Russ Schumacher
science.org
NSF today released instructions for the next round of applicants to its Graduate Research Fellowship Program. A key group—second-year Ph.D. students—is no longer eligible, and students who are still able to apply will face an unusually narrow timeframe. https://scim.ag/3KlQkQk
‘Completely shattered.’ Changes to NSF’s graduate student fellowship spur outcry
The announcement comes months later than usual, leaving many would-be applicants stranded
www.science.org
Reposted by Russ Schumacher
Reposted by Russ Schumacher
abschumacher.bsky.social
Having a nostalgic day remembering all the amazing dogs I’ve shared my life with. I really wish I could just have one more day with each of them. Of course this in no way diminishes my love for this smokeshow. Look at those “come hither” eyes. A world class leisure-pup. ❤️
Picture of a beautiful tan dog with black markings lounging leisurely on her back, looking peacefully at the camera.
Reposted by Russ Schumacher
alexlamers.bsky.social
Weather Prediction Center (WPC) has unveiled the experimental Urban Rain Rate Dashboard. It uses high-res model guidance to highlight where chances of intense rain rates are highest in major cities. It’s linked in “Forecast Tools” tab on the WPC home page. Direct link: www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/urrd/
A snapshot of the Urban Rain Rate Dashboard landing page from Friday morning, September 26, 2025, showing a map of the United States and color filled circles over major U.S. cities indicating the chance of intense rainfall in the next couple days. Data may not be current by the time you see this.
Reposted by Russ Schumacher
dangaristo.bsky.social
New: After a long wait, the GRFP solicitation is live! Deadlines have been extended to early November, so applicants have a bit over a month to submit. www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...
NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)
www.nsf.gov
Reposted by Russ Schumacher
climate.colostate.edu
Only some of this precipitation was incorporated in this week's U.S. Drought Monitor (the weekly data cutoff is Tuesdays at 6am MDT). Nonetheless, we still saw some drought improvements throughout the state this week! 🌧️
rschumacher.cloud
Outstanding review of Helene and its wide-ranging impacts from @ncsco.bsky.social, one year later.
ncsco.bsky.social
Today marks one year since the first raindrops fell ahead of Hurricane Helene, which became our state's costliest and deadliest storm on record. #ncwx

On the Climate Blog, we revisit Helene amid the context of a stormy decade across North Carolina.

📰: climate.ncsu.edu/blog/2025/09...
An aerial photo of flooding in western Buncombe County after Hurricane Florence, by NCDOT
rschumacher.cloud
Jeopardy! weighed in tonight, in your favor
Jeopardy! clue in the category “Stews of the world”, “One of Walt Disney’s favorite foods was this all-American stew with deep Mexican roots; he ate it from the can & con carne”
rschumacher.cloud
another way to visualize that very dry forecast (GEFS looks about the same).
Maps showing the percentage of ECMWF ensemble members with below, near, and above normal precipitation over the next 15 days. A large swath of the central US has 90% of members showing drier than average.