Kelli Barendse
@knbarendse3
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NWS Meteorologist | she/her | istj 6w5 | ball state '19 | 616 - always a michigander 👉🏻✋🏻 | views and opinions are very much my own and not my employers
La Crosse, WI
Joined January 2019
I’m capping off the year with some exciting news! After ~4.5 years in the Texas heat, it’s time for a new adventure. I’m excited to announce that I have accepted a meteorologist position at @NWSLaCrosse ! Starting in January, this midwest girl will be back where she belongs 🎉
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i pray to jesus that the only reason they’re calling EWX overstaffed is because they had 5 people in the office instead of the usual 2 for the overnight flooding threat. it’s called surging and it’s only because people sacrificed their night to help - not over staffing.
Leavitt: "There were record-breaking lead times in the lead up to this catastrophe . in fact, one of the offices was actually overstaffed. They had more people than they need."
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It was an incredible tragedy and part of my heart will always be in Texas. That being said, understanding that I am 1000% percent biased, I will defend the NWS fiercely. In an ideal world, no one would die from weather events. And we’ll keep working until that dream is realized.
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Heavy rain was advertised. The threat for flooding was advertised. No reasonable forecaster/meteorologist would’ve listened to that one-off HRRR run that had 15-20+ inches in portions of Central Texas. A lot of things had to go a certain way for what happened to have happened.
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No, forecasts didn’t say 10-15+ inches of rain would fall. They very rarely do. Getting that much rain, especially when the average around there is around 30 inches of rain a year, is climatologically extreme for any 24 hour period.
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As meteorologists, there’s only so much we can do. We can give people the best information we have so they can make the best decisions for themselves. We can’t make those decisions for them. Central Texas is EXTREMELY prone to flash flooding due to soil composition and topography.
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I worked as a meteorologist in West Central Texas for damn near 5 years. I could say SO much but i’ll leave it at this: The warnings were out but you needed to be paying attention to hear them. If you’re waiting for the knock on your door to leave, it’s probably too late.
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i just now realized how hilarious it is for them to have used this song title.
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coming from a detroit sports fan - this is HILARIOUSLY sad.
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happy belated birthday to me
snack wrap 07.10.2025.
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is that warm hug in the room with us?????.
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this is CRAZY work. 2 days in a row of 6 inch hail. Everything IS bigger in Texas
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absolute MONSTER of a storm down in my old weather service stomping grounds. This thing has a history of 5 inch hail and a reported tornado. May in texas… there’s nothing like it
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Well we’re 3/3 on drivers i don’t like winning on this greatest day in motorsport so things are going great
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