When you start your claim with "frankly"

That's actually a pretty clever cover.  It just took them a while to come up with it.  Also, response is the state's responsibility.  Trump is off the hook.

UPDATE 07/12/2025:

Speaking of natural disasters

 

Trump 2.0 - Destroyer of worlds

 

You can't escape the heat

 

Cuts have consequences

 

Does it need to be said that elections have consequences?

Stop electing Republicans.

Good grief.

Trump 2.0 - Destroyer of worlds

 

The lights are going out over America

 

UPDATE 03:24 pm:  Fox News!

There's ONE Fox host who won't be given a job in the Trump administration.

Who needs NOAA?

Thanks, Biden.

El Niño

We have had no rain this spring.  And summer is closing in fast.  If you know a rain dance, please start in earnest.

[T]he World Meteorological Organization is urging people and governments to prepare for hotter and more volatile conditions, citing a possible repeat of 2016 — the warmest year on record, thanks to what the WMO calls a "'double whammy' of a very powerful El Niño event and human-induced warming from greenhouse gases."

  NPR

Read all about it.  

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

A hailstorm swallowed Guadalajara

A freak hail storm has struck Guadalajara, one of Mexico’s most populous cities, burying vehicles in a deluge of ice pellets up to two metres deep.

  Guardian

"Chiberia"

Also, according to this article, global warming is likely what's causing the Polar Vortex to shift. That means we're going to get more of this kind of shit, doesn't it?

Occasionally, the vortex can become distorted and meander far further south than normal. The phenomenon became widely known to Americans during a particularly frigid spell in 2014, when the media first started using the term “polar vortex”. It was also a factor in the “bomb cyclone” that battered the US east coast last year.

This time, the polar vortex has broken in two, bringing the coldest conditions in decades to the midwest US. On Wednesday, Chicago was 10 degrees F colder than Antarctica.

[...]

Scientists also point to a complex sequence of events involving sea ice, which is rapidly diminishing in the Arctic. As the ice retreats, summertime heat is absorbed by the dark ocean that lies underneath. This heat is released into the atmosphere during winter, spurring winds that can disrupt the polar vortex.

“We aren’t entirely there yet but there’s more and more support for this concept,” said Francis. “It’s a new and developing hot research topic.”

  Guardian

Nah.  It's god punishing Chicago.

Don't think I can take it.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Okay, what's really going on?

A test warning for a tsunami went out this morning, but without being clearly marked as a "TEST."

[...]

"The NWS warning also later appeared on other sources such as The Weather Channel and it even appears on some pages of the NWS own website as a real warning. The NWS is the original source of the information and displayed it as a real warning," the statement said.

  ABC News

We're getting hacked, aren't we? There wasn't a hapless Hawaiian employee who pushed the wrong button twice in a row, was there?

In an explanatory tweet today, National Weather Service of New York officials said the warning, which was received at least along the East Coast and in Texas, "did have TEST in the message.” But users would have had to open the alert to see it.

Wow. Another great system.

The official Twitter account for the Miami branch of the National Weather Service sent out a clarification on its feed at 9:04 a.m., saying an app made a mistake.

At least they didn't try to blame it on some poor schmuck, who may not even exist.

"We're currently looking into why the test message was communicated as an actual tsunami warning, and will provide more information as soon as we have it," the statement reads.

Some of us won't believe you.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Only Fifteen?

Ye Gods

A short intensive laser pulse produces plasma in its path. This plasma can interact with charged particles in a storm cloud and change weather, starting rain on request and control lightning bolts. But making laser beams travel into the clouds uninterrupted was always a challenge, because beams powerful enough to control weather dissipate very quickly.

A team of optical researchers at the University of Arizona and the University of Central Florida have found a way around this obstacle.

[...]

The potential of the technology goes beyond our interaction with the planet’s atmosphere. It can be applied in areas like remote sensing for spectroscopy, allowing analyzing chemical compounds from long distances, or channeling of microwaves. The US Department of Defense, which green-lit the research with a $7.5 million grant, certainly thought it was worth the investment.

As for weather control, the team needs to find a way to send a laser beam hundreds of meters into the sky and sustain its energy, researchers say.

[...]

“When a laser beam becomes intense enough, it behaves differently than usual – it collapses inward on itself,” explained study co-author Matthew Mills, a graduate of the Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers (CREOL) at University of Central Florida. “The collapse becomes so intense that electrons in the air's oxygen and nitrogen are ripped off creating plasma – basically a soup of electrons.”

  RT

And what could possibly go wrong?

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Meanwhile, Down Under, It's Very Hot

While the US is stricken by freezing cold, Australia is suffering a record heat with temperatures approaching 50C (122F) in some parts of the country and leaving thousands of animals dead.

A wave of stifling heat began around Christmas and continues to move counterclockwise across Australia's north and into the south. The latest scorcher comes on the heel of Australia’s hottest year on record.

  RT

With the heat index at times soaring above 49 degrees Celsius in Brazil on Wednesday, keepers at a Rio de Janeiro zoo are giving their animals ice blocks.

  RT