On May 31, 2025, a webcam in Yellowstone National Park detected a small explosion in the Biscuit Basin Area鈥攖he same zone that suffered an unexpectedly destructive hydrothermal eruption less than a year ago.

On July 23, 2024, steam exploded from the ground beneath Black Diamond Pool in the area, destroying a park boardwalk and launching water, mud, rocks, and other debris up to 600 feet into the air. Some of the stones were up to three feet in diameter and weighed hundreds of pounds, and the event was visible for miles in all directions. No one was injured, but the surrounding area has remained closed to tourists since the incident.

The webcam that captured the most recent eruption was 鈥攁long with seismometers, acoustic sensors, electromagnetic instruments, and other cameras鈥攖o monitor hydrothermal activity in the area.

YELLOWSTONE ERUPTION: The U.S. Geological Survey is reporting a small eruption occurred at the Black Diamond Pool in the Biscuit Basin, which was the site of a hydrothermal explosion last summer. Video Credit: United States Geological Survey

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鈥� NBC Montana (@NBCMontana)

Although last week鈥檚 eruption is the first caught on video since the major explosion last year , the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) that 鈥渢here is evidence from other monitoring data and some eyewitnesses that sporadic eruptions have occurred several times since the July 2024 event.鈥� These include eruptions in January and November, both of which shot debris 20 to 30 feet into the air.

Like the 2024 eruption, last week鈥檚 smaller incident is not necessarily a sign of increased volcanic activity or hydrothermal volatility for the area, but more likely indicative of a continued resettling in the wake of the 2024 blast. 鈥淚t is likely that these small eruptions are a result of the hydrothermal plumbing system for the pool adjusting after the major disruption of the larger explosion last summer,鈥� USGS Scientist-in-Charge Michael Poland

Hydrothermal explosions occur when water underground is rapidly heated by a geothermal source, such as magma. Because the water is in a confined space, trapped under overlying rock, it鈥檚 pressurized, which means its boiling point can be much higher than the typical 100掳C/212掳F. That means the water can get significantly hotter before converting into steam. This is a process known as 鈥渟uperheating.鈥�

Once a pressurized body of water is superheated, any sudden drop in pressure (due to a fracturing of the surrounding rock, for example), will cause the water to rapidly convert into steam, resulting in instant and dramatic pressure expansion. Steam’s volume is over 1,500 times greater than that of liquid. This leads to a violent explosion, often strong enough to shatter the surrounding rock and send debris flying up to hundreds of feet into the air.

Hydrothermal explosions aren鈥檛 uncommon in Yellowstone. They occur in the park a few times each year. However, these typically take place in the backcountry, where they aren鈥檛 often detected and don鈥檛 pose a threat to park visitors.

The Black Diamond Pool/Biscuit Basin webcam can be viewed by the public round the clock on the , but although it records footage constantly, the camera does not upload footage live. Instead, fixed images are uploaded to the website at 15 minute intervals. If an event, such as last week鈥檚 explosion, does occur, the USGS plans to post video clips online.

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Dear Sundog,

I鈥檓 a biologist and land conservationist who has spent the last two decades working with farmers and ranchers to keep their land and way of life intact. I walk their property looking for habitats that might harbor rare plants and threatened wildlife. If the property meets certain ecological criteria, the owner can place the land under 鈥�conservation easement,鈥� basically a legal agreement ensuring they will not develop or subdivide the land.

This makes their ranch or farm less valuable on the real estate market; in exchange they get a considerable break on property taxes. I鈥檝e always thought that : habitat for the more-than-human organisms is legally protected into perpetuity, the community retains the working landscapes that give it character and beauty (鈥渃ows not condos鈥�), and families are able to continue ranching and farming, rather than having to sell to developers.

But lately the dynamics have changed. I鈥檓 starting to doubt the ethics of conservation鈥攁nd my own role in making it happen. Nowadays many of the landowners making easements are not multi-generational working families, but extremely wealthy out-of-staters with vacation homes and hobby farms. My work still protects critical habitat for plants and animals, but now I no longer feel like I am preserving a traditional way of life and culture of the west鈥攂ut bringing about its demise. What should I do? 鈥擟onserving Our Ground

Dear COG,

You鈥檝e tapped into such a timely and widespread issue. As the economy appears to be more controlled by a select few than ever, the rest of us face the hard ethical choice between participating鈥攚hich makes us feel complicit鈥攁nd opting out, for which the financial sacrifice is significant. For decades ; now it feels like collaborating with the dark side. And what an astonishing turn of events: to sense that the movement to preserve a healthy natural world for all of us has morphed into a cynical ploy by the elite.

Yale professor Justin Farrell astutely studies this phenomenon in Jackson, Wyoming and at the Yellowstone Club in Montana, in his alarming book

Farrell notes that for the investor class, conserving land isn鈥檛 simple philanthropy, it also allows them to increase their wealth. First, they get a hefty tax break by placing easements on the vast tracts of land of their trophy homes; next, the easement prevents the construction of more homes, exacerbating a housing scarcity which inflates their own property value; and lastly, as the pandemic and climate change incited a real estate bonanza in places with solitude and plentiful clean water, investments in land have appreciated even more sharply than most stocks, funds, or bonds.

To add insult to locals, these hedge fund dweebs cosplaying Yellowstone’s John Dutton in Wranglers and Carhartt coats on their private movie sets can now claim鈥攚ith some truth鈥攖o be saviors of the grizzly bear and the peregrine falcon.

But here鈥檚 the hard part: the work of conservation easements is supremely important. Study after study shows that . Threatened species from bears to wolverines to wolves need large continuous stretches of land, free from roads, houses and people. These animals don鈥檛 care if they are roaming through national parks or family ranches. As much as we may dislike massive private landholdings, they are scientifically better for other species than subdivided (affordable) ranchettes.

All political successes lay in the ability to build alliances. The beauty of conservation easements, COG, is that they allow a nature-lover such as yourself into partnership with old-time ranchers who might not give a hoot about the spotted owl, but simply want to keep the family land intact. But as you say, those roles and alliances are shifting. As just one example, look at the case chronicled in the new nonfiction book The Crazies: The Cattlemen, the Wind Prospector, and a War Out West by Amy Gamerman, in which a cash-poor Montana rancher who doesn鈥檛 believe in climate change sets out to build a wind farm on his property, only to be sued for marring the view by his billionaire neighbors鈥攐ne of whom made his fortune in fracking in less pristine places, all of whom claim the mantle of protecting the environment.

Here鈥檚 another case: for years, green liberals bought Teslas, likely not because they admired company co-founder Elon Musk, but because in an electric vehicle they saw the chance to do good for the planet. Musk played the savior, claiming at one point that he鈥檇 done more for the environment than any other human in history.

It turned out to be a deal with the devil. Once EVs made him the world鈥檚 richest man, Musk used his treasure to dive into American politics, and has now helped to gut the Environmental Protection Agency, end climate research, and eradicate programs that include the phrase 鈥渆nvironmental justice.鈥� He has crippled the agencies that might regulate his own businesses鈥� ecological practices. The one-time green hero instead joins an environmental rogue鈥檚 gallery of fellow easy-to-hate villains: the skipper of the Exxon Valdez, James Watt, and Kelcy Warren, who built the Dakota Access Pipeline over the objections of the Standing Rock Sioux.

The takeaway here is not something simple like 鈥渄on鈥檛 trust the rich.鈥� Rather it鈥檚 that saving the planet is most likely to happen in a democracy than any other form of government, and consolidating more wealth among the one percent is bad for democracy. When we see the laudable conservation effort of tycoons like Ted Turner, it鈥檚 tempting to cede the movement to the oligarchs; after all they can conserve more land more quickly than the impossibly complex process of government managing its holdings. But if these oligarchs鈥攐r their heirs鈥攕hould like Musk gain enough power to be above the law, their green veneers may quickly erode.

As for your own complicity, COG, I wouldn鈥檛 advise quitting your job over it. The work you鈥檙e doing is important for saving wildlife, and to put it bluntly, these societal economic changes are not your fault, and reversing them is simply above your pay grade. Wresting power from corrupt and entrenched barons will take鈥攏ow just as every other time it has been attempted鈥攁 national grassroots political movement rising in concert with some elected trustbusting brawler in the mold of a Roosevelt: take your pick between the Republican Teddy or the Democrat Franklin. Keep doing the good work.

Got a question of your own? Send it to听sundogsalmanac@hotmail.com

(Photo: Mark Sundeen)

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Deep in the night on August 4, 2018, a trio of timber cutters bushwhacked into a steep valley thick with brush, wearing headlamps and carrying a chainsaw, gas can, and a slew of felling tools. Their target, a trifurcated, mossy bigleaf maple, towered above Jefferson Creek, which gurgled down the narrow ravine floor that drains the Olympic National Forest鈥檚 Elk Lake. Justin Wilke, the band鈥檚 captain, had discovered the massive tree the day before and dubbed her 鈥淏ertha.鈥�

Wilke had established three dispersed campsites in the Elk Lake vicinity, some 20 miles from the nearest town of Hoodsport, Washington, over the previous weeks. By day he scouted for the most prime bigleaf maples. He had illegally felled at least three in the area since April, but he considered Bertha the mother tree.

A carpenter by trade, Wilke, then 36, dabbled in odd jobs in construction, as a mechanic, on fishing boats, and in canneries, but like many across the peninsula鈥檚 scattered hamlets, he鈥檇 been a logger since his hands were sure enough to wield a chainsaw. A tattoo the length of his left arm read 鈥淲est Coast Loggers,鈥� his tribute to a heritage that began with his grandfather.

Honest work had grown scarce. Wilke and his girlfriend were camping on a friend鈥檚 property just outside the national forest to trim expenses and lived on his earnings from cutting illegal firewood and selling poached maple. The situation wasn鈥檛 tenable. He was hungry, and he needed a windfall.

Closing in on Bertha in the darkness alongside Wilke were Shawn 鈥淭hor鈥� Williams and Lucas Chapman. Thor had just sprung from a stint in prison two weeks earlier. A 47-year-old union framer, Thor had also dabbled as an MMA fighter and debt collector and carried a litany of past convictions ranging from assault and burglary to unlawful imprisonment. He hoped the job would deliver him back to his daughter and sometimes-girlfriend in California. Chapman, 35, was Wilke鈥檚 gopher, hired primarily to watch the campsites during the operation. The three were high on methamphetamines.

Though the relative humidity that night hovered around 75 percent, the air a pleasant 60 degrees, rainfall had been unusually sparse that summer. Higher than average temperatures ushered the typically wet Olympic region into a moderate drought. Smoke from various wildfires in British Columbia had clouded the air throughout the summer.

Bertha held a bee鈥檚 nest in a hollow at the base of her trunk that made chainsaw work problematic. 鈥淚鈥檓 not going over there,鈥� Thor, who was allergic to bees, protested. At their campsite two days earlier, he鈥檇 been stung on the hand and suffered mild anaphylaxis after he sipped a can of Four Loko with a bee in it. 鈥淚鈥檒l take care of it,鈥� Wilke said.

Accounts of who did what next vary, but someone pulled out a can of wasp killer and sprayed the hive to little effect, then doused it in gasoline and lit a match. The offended bees clouded the air. Flames sprouted up Bertha鈥檚 trunk and expanded in the underbrush at her roots.

For the next hour, Wilke, Thor, and Chapman beat the burgeoning fire with sticks, kicked dirt over it, and used Gatorade bottles to quench its tongues with creekwater. 鈥淟et鈥檚 go,鈥� Wilke finally ordered. 鈥淚t鈥檚 out.鈥�

By the time the poachers left, cold and wet from splashing in the waist-deep river, all clear signs of flame had vanished. The first gauzy motes of dawn lightened the sky. In the leafy silence that followed the thwarted thieves鈥� retreat, beneath the duff at Bertha鈥檚 roots, still-hot embers smoldered and crept through the forest, invisible but surging with the breaking day.

The post The Thieves Didn’t Leave Fingerprints. Detectives Used Tree DNA To Convict Them Instead. appeared first on 国产吃瓜黑料 Online.

An increasing number of smart, eco-conscious entrepreneurs are putting Earth first by utilizing unwanted materials that would otherwise end up as trash. From trendy tote bags and fanny packs made out of billboard vinyl to casual and recovery footwear made from leftover running shoe midsole scraps, the following four companies are doing their best to keep our planet鈥檚 landfills and oceans from overflowing with trash. In the process, they鈥檙e creating awesome gear.

Rareform Bags

caught my attention by infiltrating my Instagram account. Intrigued, I reached out to the company to learn that while traveling in El Salvador, Alec Avedissian saw locals utilizing the water-resistant, durable material that covers billboards for roofing. Alec and his brother, Aric, launched Rareform in 2013 with a surfboard bag made from discarded billboard material. They鈥檝e since expanded to tote bags, hip packs, and other bags out of brightly colored vinyl that isn鈥檛 traditionally recyclable.

鈥淭he lifespan of a billboard typically is around four to six weeks,鈥� says Alec Avedissian, who also serves as CEO of the company. 鈥淲hen the billboards come down, we then work with our partners to get them shipped to our warehouses in Thousand Oaks, California, and Nashville, Tennessee.鈥�

The company has since kept 700,000 billboards, which amounts to over 30 million pounds of material, out of the landfills by repurposing them as bags.

I鈥檝e been testing the ($80) and love its large capacity, multiple pockets, zippered closure, and waterproof exterior in a one-of-a-kind design for traveling. I can also see myself using this bag for summer adventures as a 鈥渢hrow everything in and figure out what I need on the way to the trailhead鈥� type of bag.

听Trash Gear Co.

Pete Grunwald started collecting discarded plastic 鈥渁s a fun side project鈥� in 2021 while he was working full time as an industrial designer creating protective eyewear for military applications. He鈥檇 break down plastic waste in a blender and use a panini press to mold the pieces into something new: bicycle fenders. He now collects and molds plastic full time with his company听., which continues to make fenders and is soon releasing sunglasses with frames made from repurposed plastic.

鈥淎 big source of my plastic waste is Pak-Techs (plastic can carriers) and I work with beer distributors, breweries, and various stores to collect used ones that customers bring back,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚 have a whole host of smaller sources of plastic as well, much of it coming from friends and community members who are excited by what I’m doing and set aside waste plastic for me.鈥�

After working in the outdoor industry for years, a vendor trip to China opened his eyes to the environmental impacts of traditional manufacturing and, coupled with his knowledge of the massive amount of waste plastic being produced domestically, pushed him toward the Trash Gear concept. 鈥淭hat trip sparked the idea: What if a company could collect local waste and turn it into high quality outdoor gear?鈥� Grunwald says.

While Grunwald says he鈥檚 loved using kitchen tools and figuring things out on the fly, he adds: 鈥淥ne day I hope Trash Gear Co will have a proper manufacturing space and truly be an example of a better way to produce great products.鈥�

I鈥檝e been testing a sample of Trash Gear Co. sunglasses and love their unique frame coloration鈥攖he swirled pattern of the plastic reminds me that they kept something out of the landfills.

Think Blue Surf Bag

Designed to keep your key, key fob, credit card, cash, or anything small completely dry while you surf, SUP, kayak, or play in the water, the听 is made out of aviation life vests that would otherwise end up in a landfill.

Co-founders Marlene Smith and Cathy Chin used to fuel their surfing sessions with Ziploc bags full of cookies鈥攏ot very successfully. They tried making more functional waterproof bags out of various materials before finding a solution in aviation life vests. Smith, who is a private pilot, and her husband, who works in aircraft maintenance, knew that the life vests were discarded after some of their components expired, while the material of the vest itself, having been stored in an airtight bag in the dark, was still as good as new.

鈥淎pproximately 5,000 life vests have been diverted from the landfill into our inventory,鈥� says Smith. 鈥淥f those, so far 2,000 have been converted into The Surf Bag. Every time someone chooses to purchase The Surf Bag over a product made from new plastic, they are making a direct impact on the environment by participating in this diversion.

鈥淢y dream is to ultimately divert all the retired life vests from the landfill into a variety of high-quality waterproof products making it easy for consumers to choose a sustainable product over new plastic products and allowing them to directly contribute to sustainability.鈥�

The small bag lies flat in board shorts pockets and can be connected to a surfboard or SUP leash tie, or to kayak straps or a backpack with a carabiner.

Fleks Footwear

Fleks Footwear founder Leah Larson says the ocean has always been her happy place. 鈥淚 used to go jump in the ocean before high school if I was in a bad mood,鈥� she says. After years in the footwear industry, including a long stint as the VP of Product and Creative Director of Ugg, Larson wanted to find a way to reuse the discarded waste from footwear manufacturing while also solving the wastefulness of flip flops, which become toss-away rubber and plastic. Her love of the ocean inspired her to minimize footwear manufacturing leftovers and discarded beach shoes. She teamed up with a friend and past co-worker, Stuart Jenkins, founder of Blumaka insoles, to launch Fleks Footwear.

Fleks (and Blumaka) grind up footwear manufacturing waste鈥擡TPU scraps left over from the midsole manufacturing process鈥攁nd shape the conglomerate material into slides, clogs, and other casual and recovery footwear. Larson says there鈥檚 enough discarded manufacturing foam waste in the footwear industry to make two and a half billion pairs of midsoles for Fleks shoes. Plus, says Larson, 鈥淭his process uses no solvents and a lot less water than traditional manufacturing.鈥�

I鈥檝e been testing the听, and while they might not be as plush underfoot as my son鈥檚 Yeezy Slides that I occasionally steal, I love how my feet stay put on the footbed. Larson chalks that up to the tiny bits of repurposed foam that morph around the foot.

I also love the flecked rubber; it reminds me that my slides kept discarded waste out of the landfills and the ocean, which, like Larson, I鈥檇 like to keep healthy. (Larson and I graduated together from the same San Diego high school and used to jump into the same stretch of ocean before classes started.)

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The Trump Administration is eliminating a 2024 rule that places environmental protection on par with mining, ranching, and timber cutting on lands overseen by the Bureau of Land Management.

On April 14 the White House about its intent to rescind the , also called the Public Lands Rule.

The rule, which was formally published on June 12, 2024, requires the BLM to “support ecosystem health and resilience” and “protect landscapes, restore degraded habitat, and make informed management decisions based on science and data.” The rule allows the BLM to lease land to non-profit organizations for the sole purpose of restoration and conservation.

国产吃瓜黑料 reached out to the U.S. Interior Department for comment, and a media representative confirmed that the Bureau of Land Management will rescind the Public Lands Rule.

The move has generated praise from some state officials and harsh criticism from non-profit groups that work in land management and environmental protection.

The Bureau of Land Management oversees 245 million acres of land in the American West, or roughly one tenth of the country’s entire landmass. According to the , which creates the framework for modern public lands management, the BLM should administer public lands “on the basis of multiple use and sustained yield” of resources.

When it was published in 2024, the Public Lands Rule drew immediate criticism from some lawmakers. In June, 2024, lawmakers in to repeal the rule, arguing that it “represents a sea change in how the BLM will carry out its mission moving forward.”

“The Public Lands Rule is a classic example of a solution looking for a problem,” Utah governor Spencer Cox said at the time.

In February of 2025, senators in both Utah and Wyoming introduced the Western Economic Security Today Act鈥攁 law that would repeal the Public Lands Rule. Republican senator a “radical rule that threatens our Wyoming way of life.”

On Thursday, April 17, the Utah Attorney General that the Utah is “thrilled” about the Trump Administration’s move to rescind the rule.

“This rule could keep Utahns off public lands and would employ a museum-type management approach,” he said. “You can look, but you can’t touch.”

But several non-profit groups that focus on ecology and environmental protection hit back at the decision. In a public statement, Alison Flint, senior legal director for the nonprofit group The Wilderness Society called the move “a blatant giveaway to industry.”

“Public lands belong to all of us, and they should not be cast off to the highest bidder,” Flint said. “With last week鈥檚 directive, the president is putting himself above the law and planning to slash the safeguards that protect wildlife, clean air and water and the communities that depend on them.”

A statement from the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, a nonprofit representing communities that hunt and fish, pointed out that the Public Lands Rule was published after the general public was allowed to submit comments both for and against it. The White House’s did not allow the public to comment prior to its decision to repeal it.

鈥淭he notion that the administration may intend to move forward unilaterally without following any public engagement process is deeply troubling,鈥� said Kaden McArthur, director of policy and government relations for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, in a statement. 鈥淭he Public Lands Rule reflects years of work, including extensive input from stakeholders, to ensure the long-term health of the landscapes we rely on for healthy fish and wildlife habitat.

Steve Bloch, legal director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, a nonprofit that advocates for environmental protection, levied harsh criticism at Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, who has spoken publicly about wanting to open public lands up for agriculture, industry, and energy exploration.

“Doug Burgum often invokes President Theodore Roosevelt鈥檚 conservation legacy as a model for his own tenure as Secretary of the Interior,” Bloch said. “Teddy Roosevelt is rolling over in his grave at both the comparison and Burgum鈥檚 ever-darkening legacy over the nation鈥檚 public lands.”

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When I was 16 years old, my father鈥檚 mother, whom we called Meemaw, gave up the ghost. We all flew down to Fort Worth, where, per her wishes, my dad hosted a wake filled with live music, stiff cocktails, and loose stories. (Meemaw was, among other things, a former vaudeville performer and the sister of a legendary jazz drummer.)

The next morning, we drove to the cemetery. In the surreal haze of my grief-softened, hangover-warped brain, the place struck me as bleak and strange and sad, but not in a gothic or gloomy way. It billed itself as a 鈥済arden of memories,鈥� but upon entering, I saw there was nothing gardenlike about it. It was essentially one huge lawn, composed of scratchy, heat-tolerant Texas grasses, like the upper surface of an enormous kitchen sponge. Here and there, far from Meemaw鈥檚 grave, a few small trees attempted, unsuccessfully, to quell the rage of a Texas sun. The only flowers I saw were made of plastic, and the only animals, other than us, were flies.

The day turned out to be a fiasco, in a darkly comedic way that my grandmother, who was an inveterate smartass, would probably have appreciated. First the florist failed to arrive, so there were no flowers. Then, looking over the headstone, my sister Alexis noticed that someone had gotten the date wrong. It said, erroneously, that Meemaw had died at the age of 95, rather than 85. There was some discussion that day of having it fixed, but it was ultimately deemed too much trouble. The error was written, as they say, in stone.

At the site of Meemaw鈥檚 grave, each of us read a short letter we had composed, telling her how much we loved her and how deeply we would miss her. Then we placed the letters inside the grave. While we went about this solemn little ritual, the gravedigger, an off-puttingly upbeat guy in his thirties, stood off to the side, watching us with evident curiosity.

After we had all finished, he spoke up.

鈥淣ow I know it鈥檚 not really my place, but I had a suggestion for y鈥檃ll,鈥� the chipper gravedigger said. 鈥淚鈥檝e got some Ziploc bags there in my truck. What if you were to put the letters in them Ziplocs, and that way, if the young one there鈥濃�攁nd here, he pointed to me鈥斺�渆ver wants to come back with kids of his own one day and read these letters again, they鈥檇 still be intact.鈥�

My dad, who had inherited his mother鈥檚 preternaturally razory wit, thought this suggestion over for a moment, then replied: 鈥淲hen my mother went to the grocery store, she always chose paper over plastic. So I think we鈥檒l just stick with that.鈥�

At the time, what struck me as farcical about this suggestion was the notion that I would one day want to return here, kids in tow, to dig up my own grandmother鈥檚 grave. (One can only imagine the stares this would draw from the gentle people of Fort Worth.) But now, with the benefit of two decades of hindsight and a lot of time spent thinking about land and human bodies and how the two commingle, what seems even more absurd to me is the idea that I鈥攐r anyone, really鈥攚ould ever want to visit that hot, dead, rot-resistant landscape ever again.

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I have a secret fascination with the (MWOB), the weather station situated atop America’s windiest mountain.

Every few days, the scientists living inside the MWOB publish an or an about the extreme conditions on the , and the photos or videos always boggle my mind. Plunging temperatures mixed with fog will occasionally transform the peak into a hockey rink, and wind-whipped blizzards will make the observatory tower look like a The Empire Strikes Back. Last week, two interns saved a that landed on the observatory after its eyes froze shut (they warmed it up, named it , and released it back into the forest).

But the big story at MWOB this winter has been the wind. According to a by weather forecaster Charlie Peachey, the observatory was battered by gusts over 100 miles per hour for 39 consecutive hours in late February. During this stretch, the weather station recorded one gust of 161 miles per hour. This was the second-strongest gust recorded at the station since 1994 and the 20th strongest听gust ever recorded.

“For all but two staff members at the observatory, that was the highest wind gust that any current staff has ever experienced,” Peachey wrote. Peachey added that the observatory staff often brag about the wind events they’ve personally experienced at the station. The handful of meteorologists and forecasters who man the station are split into two crews, and each crew lives in the station for one week at a time. Alas, Peachey was offsite when the 161-mile-per-hour gust hit, so zero bragging rights for him.

Peachey was confident that the windy conditions in February would continue when he and his crew returned in early March. And when Peachey began crunching weather data collected from other stations across the Northeast, he predicted that another major wind event would batter Mount Washington on Friday, March 7.

He was right. As the day unfolded, the gusts returned, first topping 120 miles per hour before they increased. A gust knocked out electricity to the MWOB offices at the base of Mount Washington while atop the peak, blowing debris and gusts battered the observatory.

Now, here’s why Peachey and the other MWOB forecasters are a different breed. My assumption is that most rational human beings would happily stay in a warm and cozy office and simply listen to the building creak and groan under the force of the violent gusts. But MWOB workers, of course, want to know what a 130-mile-per-hour gust actually feels听like. So, Peachey and his crew zipped up their parkas and wind pants and walked out into the melee. You can check out their hijinks below.

They sat on the frozen concrete and allowed the gale to push them across the ground like sticks blown across your patio by a leaf blower. Yep鈥攊t’s like a Buster Keaton scene, just add the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme music.

Of course, then the team had to army crawl back to the observatory doorway, which wasn’t easy.

“After a few seconds of crawling, I realized that my 20-foot journey might not be possible,” Peachey wrote. “Wind gusts of 120 mph+ were attempting to pick me up and blow me across the deck at every chance they got, so I had to begin army crawling with my chest to the ground to make it to the starting line.”

I may not be part of the MWOB staff, but I believe Peachey and his cohort officially earned their bragging rights, even if the gusts they surfed only topped 138 miles per hour.

Predicting the weather on Mount Washington during transition seasons is famously tricky due to the topography and the swirling weather along the east coast. Models can only tell a meteorologist so much, and Peachey and his team had to rely largely on their own intuition to predict the storm. This鈥攁nd many other reasons鈥攊s why educated human beings will always be needed to forecast the weather. “As meteorologists, it is our job to interpret when these errors exist in the model and then use our judgment to think of what will happen,” he wrote. “It is one of the reasons why a knowledgeable human forecaster will always be better than a single computer model.”

That, and a computer is far less graceful at butt-sliding.

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As a gearhead who mostly tests running shoes and apparel made for high-energy activities, I don鈥檛 often fire up about a sweater. But when I pulled on for the first time, I didn鈥檛 want to take it off.

I wore it while working at my desk. I wore it while walking my dog. I even ran about a mile in it on a cold evening during a youth soccer practice when I felt like I just needed to move. I especially love pulling it on after a day outside on snow. The thing is ridiculously soft and warm, and it looks good, too.

You鈥檇 think my favorite new sweater would be made out of the natural fiber we all know and love thanks to brands like Smartwool, Ibex, and Icebreaker: Merino wool. But there鈥檚 a new natural fiber that may just give good-ole Merino a run for its money: alpaca.

Merino (a type of sheep) wool and alpaca fleece both come from cute, fluffy animals that are sheared without harm typically once a year. Merino and alpaca both consist of hollow fibers with amazing properties that keep the animals鈥攁nd humans鈥攚arm when it鈥檚 cold and cool when it鈥檚 warm, regulating body temperature. Both fibers naturally resist odor, wick sweat, and breathe well. And they鈥檙e both biodegradable and renewable. So, is one better than the other?

According to Kris Cody, founder of the quickly growing outdoor apparel company Paka, the superior fiber is the wool from the animals that live in the Andes Mountains of South America: the alpacas.

A Relationship with an Alpaca Sweater

Ten years ago, while taking a gap year before college and backpacking through South America, Cody stumbled upon a sweater handknit by a Peruvian woman at a street market in Cuzco, Peru. 鈥淭hat sweater became my companion,鈥� says Cody, who recently opened an office in Boulder, Colorado and now has 20 employees stateside. 鈥淚t worked in every single climate on my trip. I built a relationship with that sweater.鈥� So much of a relationship that when the then-18-year-old started college to study neuroscience at the University of Virginia that fall, he couldn鈥檛 get the sweater鈥攁nd its origin鈥攐ut of his mind. Or heart.

鈥淚 just felt such a connection back to Peru鈥攖he culture, the people, and the sweater. I didn鈥檛 want to lose it.鈥� The fact that seemingly everyone at UVA kept asking him where he got the sweater, coming up to touch it, and marveling that it felt as soft as cashmere further flamed his love affair.

鈥淚 was fascinated because it feels like a luxury, fashion fiber,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd I recognized the fact that this animal [the alpaca] had evolved in the craziest climate on the earth where you freeze and burn in the same day with 70-degree temperature fluctuations. In looking at the fiber and the hollow air pockets and how much function was embedded, I thought that it would be really revolutionary for the outdoor apparel industry.鈥�

At 19 years old and just having finished a year of college, Cody bought a one-way ticket to Peru to track down the woman who had sold him the sweater. 鈥淚 flew back with no business plan but wanted to get to know the family of weavers.鈥� He spent a couple of weeks retracing his steps from his trip a year earlier, searching for the weaver who had sold him his sweater. 鈥淚 was just so interested in finding the real source of where it came from,鈥� he says. His persistence and the fact that 鈥淐uzco鈥檚 not so big鈥� led to success.

When he finally stumbled upon the right doorstep, he explained his obsession to the local Peruvian weaver, Gregoria. Though skeptical at first, Gregoria trusted Cody enough to introduce her to her family, and her weaving process. Cody says he lived on the family鈥檚 rooftop for weeks. 鈥淚t just became this relationship of getting to her family and learning more and working on some ideas and prototypes in her kitchen. We began sharing this dream of, 鈥榃hat if we brought this to the U.S.? What, and how, do we do this in a way that works and that represents the culture?鈥� It was a collaboration.鈥�

Cody came home with a bag of 50 sweaters that he sold on Shopify out of his dorm room. A year later, he returned to Peru with a film crew to create about the origins of the sweaters he鈥檇 been selling with the intention to spread the word and launch a Kickstarter campaign. The video, which highlighted the Peruvian people and alpacas, went viral, and Paka was born.

Fast-forward eight years, and Paka employs 300 weavers in Cuzco. The company aims to multiply each weaver鈥檚 income by eight percent, helping to improve the statistic that one in three children under 5 years old in Cuzco suffer from malnutrition. The company contributes one percent of annual sales to female education, helping young Peruvian women attend university. Through its partnership with a local nonprofit, Paka assists women of neighboring communities of Cuzco to learn how to weave, allowing many to move from manual labor like farming to skilled, artisanal traditions passed down from the Inca. Each sweater is signed on the tag by the woman who made it. Mine is signed by 鈥淧amela A.鈥� On one side is a small emblem of an adorable alpaca and on the other side a tiny woven patch (which the company calls an Inca ID).

I am, in fact, wearing my cozy, cashmere-like as I write this. I wish I had kept the biodegradable tag that came with it (and comes with every Paka item), because on that tag was a QR code鈥攁 source certificate鈥攖hat would have allowed me to trace my sweater back to the exact adorable, fluffy alpaca from which its fibers were sheared, cleaned, dyed (with environmentally friendly dyes), woven, and knit.

Even if I don鈥檛 know the details, my sweater鈥攁nd my other Paka apparel鈥攃hannels an Andean alpaca and every person who went into making it every time I wear it.

Alpaca’s Unique Qualities

There is nothing wrong with Merino wool. I love Merino wool. But alpaca, Kody says, has several unique characteristics.

鈥淚 love Merino wool as well,鈥� says Kody. 鈥淚 think there are a lot of benefits for both of them, and also reasons to synergize alpaca and Merino, because the structure is very different.鈥� Kody explains how alpaca fiber is hair-like and Merino a crimped fiber, which means that Merino wool adds volume to garments while alpaca does not, giving alpaca a greater insulating capacity with a lower weight. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the medullated air pockets in alpaca that make it three times warmer than merino,鈥� he says.

Alpaca, he says, is softer, and three times lighter than sheep’s wool. It tests warmer than Merino and has half of the moisture retention of Merino, which, Kody explains, translates to less bacteria build-up and thus, less odor.

鈥淚n my opinion,鈥� he says, 鈥渁lpaca is the most odor-resistant fiber you could ever wear. It repels moisture because these air pockets inside of the fiber hold heat and repel water.鈥� It鈥檚 those same air pockets that give it thermoregulation properties. 鈥淚 think that is the super-strength of alpacas having evolved in 70-degree daily fluctuations. That thermal regulation story is really what we are focusing on the most.鈥�

So, why aren鈥檛 more brands using alpaca? While Merino wool has been utilized by numerous outdoor companies for years鈥攚ith great success鈥攖he framework for using alpaca is still a new frontier. Kody points to the 鈥渧ertical infrastructure鈥� he and his team have built by spending time on the ground in Peru with 7,560 alpaqueros (alpaca cowboys) employed by Paka, the local weavers, and other artisans involved in the process.

鈥淚 think it’s very important that people know what’s behind the whole alpaca animal and story that the people have with it,鈥� says Cody. He explains how alpacas are neither pets nor butchered for food like cows in the U.S. 鈥淭he people in Peru have this synergistic, co-dependent relationship with the alpacas to survive out in the Andes. They live alongside each other. There are no fences. The alpaca come in at night. The people take care of their herds and use the wool for warmth. The culture behind that, the weaving patterns and traditions and everything behind alpaca is really important.鈥�

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A published in the American Chemical Society鈥檚 Environmental Science and Technology Letters is raising concerns about the pervasive presence of 鈥渇orever chemicals鈥� 鈥� also known as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) 鈥� in something many triathletes have on their bodies 24/7: watch bands.

These synthetic chemicals, notorious for their persistence in the environment and human body, are now being found in common consumer products, with fitness tracker and smartwatch wristbands being the latest addition.

鈥淭hese PFAS are pretty nasty chemicals as a class,鈥� says Graham Peaslee, professor emeritus at the University of Notre Dame and corresponding author on the study. 鈥淎ll of them that we found are toxic, a couple of them are bioaccumulative, and all of them are persistent.鈥�

This group of chemicals, which comprise more than 14,000 individual compounds, is particularly resistant to heat, water, and oil, so they鈥檝e been used in products like stain-resistant fabrics, food packaging, cosmetics, firefighting foams, and non-stick cookware. But it鈥檚 been well-established that PFAS are linked to serious health issues including multiple types of cancer, suppression of the immune system, thyroid disease, decreased fertility, and liver and kidney damage.

Forever Chemicals in Watch Bands Study Overview

For the study, researchers analyzed 22 watch bands, from a mix of brands and price points, for the presence of PFAS. The bands, which included brands like Apple and Fitbit, were all purchased from Amazon or Best Buy, or were donated. Of the bands, 15 of them had the presence of these 鈥渇orever chemicals,鈥� and all were in very high concentrations. The researchers found one particular compound, PFHxA, in abundance 鈥� many times higher than what has been found in recent studies of cosmetics, food packaging, and school uniforms.

PFHxA being found in such extremely high concentrations is bad news for people who wear these watch bands for 12-plus hours per day. It gives the chemical significant opportunity to transfer through the skin. In addition, with athletes wearing these bands during exercise means additional sweat contact and open skin pores. And showed that PFHxA can be dermally absorbed, especially in the presence of sweat.

鈥淚f you wear these daily, over long periods each day,鈥� Peaslee says, 鈥渢hen you undoubtedly are getting some exposure.鈥�

Should You Replace Your Watch Band?

Before you burn your watch band, rest assured that PFAS are already in your bloodstream 鈥� they are in the blood of 100% of people in North America, says Peaslee, 鈥渢hanks to our pervasive use of it from the 1950s onward.鈥� Whether or not you use consumer products with PFAS directly, once they鈥檙e discarded into landfills, they break down and make it into our drinking water, our irrigation water, and then into us.

鈥淚鈥檓 not too worried about the exposure, in terms of, we鈥檙e exposed day and night to everything else,鈥� Peaslee says. 鈥淭his is one more, but the next time you buy one, you really want to read carefully.鈥�

While the study鈥檚 authors didn鈥檛 disclose specifically how each brand tested, they did provide information to help you determine whether your current watch band likely has PFAS.

First, seek out the materials in your own multisport or GPS watch band, if they鈥檙e listed (sellers are not required to publish materials, but some do). If any publish that they鈥檙e made with fluoroelastomers, fluorine, or the abbreviations FKM, FEK, FEKK, and FEKM, steer clear 鈥� they very likely have PFAS. For Garmin wearers, the company has been working to (PFOA and PFOS) from their products, including watch bands, though that doesn鈥檛 mean all Garmin watch bands are currently 100% PFAS free.

If your watch is made of other materials, such as silicone, nylon, or leather, 鈥渢hose are presumably not PFAS treated,鈥� Peaslee says 鈥� you should be safe to continue wearing and using them without risking exposure.

What to Look For in a New (PFAS-Free) Smartwatch Band

If you鈥檙e not sure what your watch is made of or you鈥檙e not confident it鈥檚 free of PFAS, Peaslee recommends being proactive. 鈥淚t鈥檚 well worth trying to replace them as soon as you can,鈥� he says.

And especially since it won鈥檛 be an expensive swap: The researchers found a correlation between the presence of PFAS and the price of the watch band. It was only the medium-priced ($15-$30) and expensive watch bands ($30+) that contained the chemicals 鈥� the bands less than $15 were unlikely to contain a fluoroelastomer, which the researchers presumed was due to the increased cost to manufacture using PFAS. You can also search for bands made from the materials silicone and nylon.

And hopefully, in not too long, we鈥檒l see more and more 鈥淧FAS free鈥� or 鈥渇luorine free鈥� labels on watch bands. Europe actually proposed a ban on PFHxA, Peaslee says, and 鈥淚 think there鈥檒l be more transparency in the future.鈥�

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On a brisk weekday in October 2023, three sewing machines hummed while experimental indie pop played quietly inside a warehouse near the airport in Missoula, Montana. Three sewers had their heads down, assembling eggplant-colored jumpsuits, as Mallory Ottariano, the 34-year-old founder of the women鈥檚 outdoor clothing brand , squinted into a dizzying spreadsheet. The Youniverse鈥攚hat Ottariano, a queen of puns, calls the factory she opened just eight months earlier鈥攕melled like the sugary candle that had been burning that morning, and soon it would be fragrant with garlic.

鈥淲hat kind of pizza do you guys like? Or not like?鈥� Ottariano shouted from the lofted office that a handy friend helped her build. Staring at numbers was making her hungry.

鈥淣o olives!鈥� one of the sewers shouted between stitches.

鈥淎ny meat?鈥� Ottariano asked.

鈥淚 like pepperoni,鈥� said another.

You couldn鈥檛 tell from the employees鈥� nonchalance, but Youer was in the middle of its latest supply-chain crisis. Actually, two. First, it couldn鈥檛 find a specific purple thread in all of the U.S. to sew together 300 pairs of leggings, 30 of which had already sold to customers eagerly awaiting their arrival. Any other color would look weird, and dyeing was too expensive. Second, inventory slated to be ready in a month for a Black Friday drop wasn鈥檛 even underway at a contract factory in Los Angeles, California. Unless Ottariano found a fix fast, Youer鈥檚 customers would be disappointed, if not angry.

Since Ottariano started out back in 2012 with a $100 sewing machine from eBay, her brand has amassed a fanatical following among active women. Signature garments like the best-selling ($179) and stretchy ($94) sell out quickly. The vibrant prints are hand-designed and cheekily named by Ottariano, like a floral pattern called OK Bloomer.

Prodded about her stress levels, Ottariano shrugged as if to say, What鈥檚 new?听After all she鈥檚 been through鈥攊ncluding contemplating bankruptcy following losses in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to unreliable factories in 2020鈥攏ot many setbacks phase her anymore.

鈥淚鈥檝e proven to myself that we can figure it out,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not really fun, but I think that鈥檚 just the reality of business. If I want to stay in this industry, that鈥檚 going to happen all the damn time.鈥�

It鈥檚 especially the reality for small outdoor businesses like Youer that have chosen to manufacture domestically despite countless challenges such as higher costs, fewer resources, more regulation, and now potential new tariffs proposed by President Donald Trump on U.S. imports from China, Canada, and Mexico.

These obstacles pose such a threat to small businesses that doubt lingers: Is having more control, greater transparency, and better ethics by manufacturing in the U.S. worth it? And do American consumers care enough about those things to keep the few American-made gear brands alive?

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