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sambrandtmeteo.bsky.social
Meteorologist - BS 2022, MS 2024, currently pursuing PhD at Penn State University
121 posts 423 followers 140 following
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The hodograph parameter critical angle is meant to quantify how streamwise low-level shear is, but it can be misleading due to its non-linear relationship with streamwise %. You don't have to be particularly close to 90° to still have almost entirely streamwise shear.

submitted 10 hours ago • 0 comments

For me at least, energetics is the most intuitive approach to understanding cold pool dynamics. I've done a writeup about it here:

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

Despite being an essential part of a severe weather forecaster’s toolkit, hodographs have a notorious learning curve. So, I have put together this 3D animation as a visual aid to help those new to hodographs understand what they’re showing.

submitted 5 days ago • 11 comments

Aurora tonight in central PA!

submitted 12 days ago • 2 comments

Went to Black Moshannon State Park last night to try out star trail photography for the first time

submitted 15 days ago • 1 comment

Lunar eclipse in Boiling Springs last night. For these celestial events, I always try to focus on a unique, zoomed out composition rather than the telephoto shots you see from everyone else.

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

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submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

Moonset tonight

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments

Sunset in Dillsburg tonight

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

State College sunset yesterday

submitted 39 days ago • 0 comments

First central PA aurora of 2025 tonight! Negative bz + low GOES mag does the trick in solar maximum apparently

submitted 44 days ago • 0 comments

submitted 44 days ago • 0 comments

Wind and rain in State College this afternoon

submitted 46 days ago • 0 comments

I see waaaaaaaay too many people trying to use LLMs as if it was an internet search engines and treating output as genuine fact. It's not a database search, it's a model trained primarily to generate text that sounds like a realistic response to your prompts.

submitted 47 days ago • 0 comments

22° halo in Dillsburg tonight with a nearly full moon and cirrus associated with an approaching winter storm

submitted 51 days ago • 0 comments

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submitted 59 days ago • 0 comments

Tonight’s Moon and Venus conjunction from Central PA

submitted 61 days ago • 0 comments

Some of my best astrophotography. Lunar eclipse from a few years ago, aurora from both the May and October major geomagnetic storms last year, and a comet/Milky Way two-for-one shot

submitted 64 days ago • 0 comments

Colyer Lake last evening

submitted 65 days ago • 1 comment

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submitted 77 days ago • 0 comments

The Moon and Mars in close proximity tonight

submitted 78 days ago • 0 comments

The summit of a snow-covered Mt. Nittany

submitted 80 days ago • 0 comments

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submitted 81 days ago • 1 comment

A tale of two seasons

submitted 84 days ago • 0 comments

submitted 87 days ago • 2 comments

Snow squall Friday afternoon

submitted 89 days ago • 0 comments

Happy New Year, Sandlot style!

submitted 92 days ago • 0 comments

Sony A7R II 20 mm | 1600 ISO | f2.8 | 30”

submitted 93 days ago • 0 comments

Low-level (~200 m AGL) couplet is tilted at an angle relative to the radial that implies both rotation and convergence. I would surmise that near term tornado risk is thus elevated.

submitted 97 days ago • 1 comment

Night and day at Hawn’s Overlook south of Huntingdon, PA

submitted 100 days ago • 0 comments

Amazing sunset tonight in Dillsburg, #pawx

submitted 101 days ago • 0 comments

Example of this concept in action today with deepening low pressure off the NE coast

submitted 104 days ago • 0 comments

Showing mathematically that baroclinic instability of Rossby waves is expected to occur when there is a horizontal temperature gradient and phase lines are tilted upshear.

submitted 105 days ago • 0 comments

Extra stream flow from rapid snow melt = big hydraulic jumps

submitted 107 days ago • 0 comments

Check out my end of the year photography highlights on instagram! www.instagram.com/p/DDiOC9Nysn...

submitted 107 days ago • 0 comments

Completely unacceptable road conditions in State College tonight. Despite just 1” with a little sleet mixed in and a temperature that has yet to drop below 31 F, no pre-treatment of any kind (at least nothing remotely effective) was done. Even main roads like Atherton St have become slip and slides.

submitted 109 days ago • 1 comment

To begin today’s storm, snow crystal growth is mostly columnar with aggregates of needles dominating. This indicates large ice supersaturations but in the wrong temperature range for dendrites (for now)

submitted 109 days ago • 0 comments

Some gravity waves with a phase velocity of zero earlier. Using that fact, along with the assumption that the phase lines have minimal vertical tilt (I.e. m<<k), the Brunt-Väisälä frequency can be estimated from radar observations of background flow and wavenumber!

submitted 109 days ago • 1 comment

Boom. Love the non-team categories

submitted 110 days ago • 0 comments