Byron Hurley (KILX) @ByronNatureMan Twitter profile

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

2 days

Going forward, I will no longer post my photography work on this platform as a result of the updated TOS agreement regarding content for this platform. You can find my work on my other social platforms through my linktree here:

ByronHurley | Instagram, Facebook | Linktree

Photographer, Storm chaser, Conservationist, etc.

linktr.ee

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

5 months

alright yall, here's the first photo I'll share. taken at 3:18 am from jim edgar state fish and wildlife area in central illinois

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

Tornado on the ground! No idea where I'm at lmao #ilwx

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

5 months

Aurora photo #2 . Huge vibrant pillar with some nice trees in the foreground

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

4 months

@mbullobullo Just wait until you hear about the American chestnut. Some people literally called them the redwoods of the east

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

9 months

Big thread on prairies incoming In 1820 there was, depending on what source you look at, somewhere between 20-23 million acres of prairie in Illinois alone. For reference, that is 54-63% of the entire state of Illinois, which is why early settlers called it the prairie state.

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

10 months

@waDNR People dumping trash in natural areas makes me incredibly angry

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

Tornado on the ground @NWSStLouis near athensville

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

5 months

@TheMcKenziest Hey look it's the consequences of our actions

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

5 months

Thank you for your service 3664 🫡

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

7 months

Ya know I should probably move #ilwx

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

2 months

@iamthedevilsec @ProphetOfTruth0 Tim Walz didn't lie ffs

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

1 year

@HowieLongggg @MattBinder Ah yes, the classic "kids these days" argument

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

5 months

I've posted all of these individually already, but here are my 4 best shots from last Friday. Absolutely insane night, still can't believe I saw all this from central Illinois

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

11 months

@PSpaceAmoeba @1894gang @___frye Lumber used to be plentiful because we were clear cutting forests that had been there for thousands of years. These days we can't do that, partially because of environmental regulations (which is good!) and partially because we already cut almost all of them down

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

@blagojevism We stan native mussel species

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

1 year

@ColorsphereJAD @Schaffrillas Its not that it doesn't matter to us younger people, it's that it isn't current events anymore. Its History now. People make memes and jokes about history all the time. Don't be upset that they're joking about history, just be glad that they actually know the history

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

1 year

@UncleTedwazkang @HotpocketV @ShitpostGate He pulled you over because you were speeding near his fishing spot

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

3 months

@EMoriartyWX Cope

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

@spahn711 It was such an incredible experience. I took off work, and my friend that I took with me skipped class. 7 hours of total driving, 360ish miles, worth every second. Brought me to tears. I cannot put it into words. It sounds like I'm being dramatic but I'm 100% serious

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

A stout lowering and some major dust getting kicked up @NWSStLouis

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

3 months

@JBPritzker When I first heard about you I was a bit disappointed and thought you were yet another Chicago billionaire. But you have gone above and beyond my expectations, and you're the best governor we've had in quite some time. Of course that's a pretty low bar, but still

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

Since y'all want to keep arguing about damage ratings, just gonna leave this here EFU>

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

10 months

@WannabeLonerr @VermilViathan @EldianParticles Did you know that 45% of us grown corn is used to inefficiently make ethanol? Farmers get away with a lot these days and are very privileged. Plus most farms are not small mom and pop farms, and most are owned by some millionaire who's probably never touched the land

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

3 months

@mbullobullo Also just wait until you hear about the vast expanses of tallgrass prairie that were tilled up and destroyed for farming. 22 million acres in Illinois alone. It looked like something out of a Ghibli movie. Grasses and wildflowers taller than a person flowing in the wind

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

3 months

@AllezLesBoulez @Very__Regular While the central US definitely gets more tornadoes than the rest of the world, another reason why the numbers are so heavily stacked is because we do a really good job of documenting them. I'd probably guess the real number to be closer to 50ish percent of tornadoes

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

9 months

Here's a few photos from restored prairies near me. These are all beautiful places, but none of these are healthy enough to be classified as high quality

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

10 months

@C418 There is nothing wrong with the JoCat video and I will stand by that

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

1 year

@trevorhacker @aisisklopez Enough electronics to play some fun games but not enough to be constantly staring at them

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

1 year

@jeffvandermeer In a wildlife refuge, you should neither take nor leave anything. Simply observe. This is true for all natural areas, but especially for wildlife refuges and national parks

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

4 months

Let's go storm chasing! (Cap bust) Aw dangit! (Broken windshield) Aw dangit! (Car wreck) Aw dangit! (Stuck in the mud) Aw dangit! (Road blocked by fallen tree) Aw dangit! (Target storm becomes outflow dominant) Aw dangit! (Late to the show and miss all the tornadoes) Aw dangit!

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

Many of you stood in amazement at the earth and the universe yesterday. Now that the eclipse is over, it's time to be amazed by the things around us. Wetlands are beautiful ecosystems, and a large number of plants and animals need them to survive. They also do wonders...

Prairie Rivers Network

@PrairieRivers

6 months

You can help protect Illinois' wetlands by taking action RIGHT NOW. It's easy to do and only takes a minute, but it's a critically important way to tell state legislators to support wetlands legislation. See the thread below.

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

1 year

@skydrama I'm on I-55 and we've been stuck here for hours. We are thankfully uninjured and managed to avoid getting hit. The wind out here is crazy

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

3 months

@HuiSt @Wormbert Yay!

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

9 months

The tallgrass prairie is one of the most diverse ecosystems around, home to over 500 species of plants, 80 species of mammals, and 300 species of birds. This is an incredible ecosystem, and the loss of it is devastating. Today, there is almost no high quality prairie left

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

4 months

Did you know some parts of Illinois have cacti?

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

9 months

1/5 Have you heard of the grand Kankakee marsh? Known as the Everglades of the North, this expansive wetland once covered around 1,500 square miles. It was one of the largest wetlands in America, but extensive draining efforts in the early 1900's replaced most of it with farmland

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

WOW! beautiful storm near hillsview IL #ilwx @NWSStLouis

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

9 months

One last note: a healthy prairie can have over 35 species of plants in just 1 square meter. That is how special these places are. There has been a number of recreated prairies in the last 50 years, but they aren't as healthy or diverse as the original stuff

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

11 months

@PSpaceAmoeba @1894gang @___frye America used to be covered in thick prairies and lush forests. We clear cut the forests and tilled the prairies into farmland. Here in Illinois, we once had over 21 million acres of prairie in the state. Today, there's less than 2,000 acres of original prairie left. 0.01%

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

@StormCoker Sample the environment by simply riding the elevator

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

9 months

The soil under these prairies was some of the most fertile soil in the world, making it very valuable for farming, and with the invention of the steel plow in 1837 it made it possible to till and farm this land This resulted in reckless destruction of the Prairie.

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

4 months

WOOOO BIGGEST FISH OF THE YEAR 17.5 inches, and she's a fatty too

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

9 months

All it took was 150 years for the Illinois prairie to be nearly completely wiped out. In 1976, it was found that only 2,300 acres of healthy prairie remained, and most of that was along old railways and therefore not protected, meaning much of that has been to woody encroachment

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

1 year

@Ryko231 @ColorsphereJAD @Schaffrillas How old does it have to be to be history? I graduated high school close to a year and a half ago, and it happened almost 2 years before I was born

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

3 months

@mbullobullo There's a thousand other examples of incredible ecosystems that have been destroyed or otherwise degraded, including the literal redwoods, which were heavily logged. Coral reefs are facing widespread ecosystem collapse from climate change

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

5 months

@Wicky_dubs_WX We're Carringtoning omg

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

9 months

@jkillmer1 @US_Stormwatch We've used the term "atmospheric river" for like 30 years now. This isn't new, it's just a way to describe a specific type of storm

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

5 months

@NickKrasz_Wx Saw all those spotter dots super close to the tornado, was really concerned that this would happen

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

8 months

@DibbleSaharicus @evilangrygoose I'm not a huge fan of zoos in general but releasing the animals in the zoo is absolutely not the answer. They will not survive long

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

4 months

@vanillaopinions Here's an updated graphic btw, that one is outdated. We still haven't dropped below previous years records

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

1 year

@NickHausenWx I am currently stuck in this. I am okay

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

10 months

1974 super outbreak really was just built different. You can argue there were more violent tornadoes due to the different rating system, and you can also argue more extreme damage from lower building quality, but that ground scouring doesn't lie

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

4 months

Would you believe me if I told you this was in central Illinois?

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

For those that don't know, these plants are called garlic mustard and they are flowering this time of year. This is a very invasive plant that is easy to identify and easy to kill, so I encourage you to do so. All you've gotta do is pull it (make sure you get the roots)

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

4 months

@rstudiofour @nab1803 This is the perfect analogy

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

4 months

Believe it or not, this is in Indiana! Never underestimate the Midwest Bonus pic of Chicago from around 40 miles away

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

@Astroguyz Pack your bags we're moving to Spain

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

Long thread incoming: One year ago today, farmers tilling their fields in high winds and a drought caused a dust storm over I-55. This dust storm caused an 80 car Pileup that killed 8. I was in that Pileup. This is my story

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

8 months

Oxbows forming on the sangamon river, 1998 vs 2020

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

2 years

@KwanAnnTan I leave the house with my phone, my wallet, and my keys. That's it

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

1 year

@bigjeffd @Patrick_am_I @USConst_Amend_I Nah I'm good

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

4 months

@TolerantOpinion @vanillaopinions For the last time, Cirrus clouds are naturally occurring. Cloud seeding is not used much.

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

1 year

@Ryko231 @ColorsphereJAD @Schaffrillas That's a good definition of history, but in my opinion anything over 20 years old is history

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

3 months

A gorgeous little supercell just after sunset yesterday. This one was tiny and I think I was the only chaser on it, as most chasers were still on the dying tornado warned storms

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

9 months

@westsidephilos1 @OrwellNGoode 📸

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

11 months

@LHadinugraha @PSpaceAmoeba @1894gang @___frye That's the difference between old growth hardwood vs farmed wood. Old growth forests produce trees that have very tight grain, and it is very strong. If they're farming it, they want it to grow as fast as possible, so they choose the faster growing species, which aren't as strong

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

Probably my best shot from today. This is from the southern supercell near Viola, IL at around 6:30. I was around a mile NE of mathersville. Managed to narrowly avoid getting hit by this one

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

Incredible storm About 2 miles west of white hall IL #ilwx @NWSStLouis

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

7 months

Well that's neat Now that I've got good enough photos to get on the news, next step is getting paid for it lol

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

5 months

Guys look at my dog, isn't she adorable

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

1 year

@rawsalerts It happened at about 11, not 1 Source - am in the middle of it

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

3 months

@EMoriartyWX Those waves are a lot bigger than they look lol, I was pretty high up on top of that dune. Here's a different photo where you can see how far down it is

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

7 months

Update:

Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

7 months

This is what happens when I try to learn how to use a baitcaster

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

11 months

It is my 20th birthday today, I am officially no longer a teenager

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

5 months

A good 16 incher on this beautiful windy day

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

5 months

Omg look at the baby 🥹

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

Got an interview in an hour then headed NW to hopefully catch a good storm. We're dominating today 💪 Pardon the dirty mirror

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

At 4:30 pm yesterday. Couldn't tell if that dust was rotating or if it was just inflow, but the clouds above were quickly rotating. At about 4:50 it was definitely down

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

8 months

I had a blast chasing yesterday. I ended up driving around 400 miles, which is more than I intended but it was worth it so whatever. Intercepted a beautiful supercell at dusk near mendota, and followed it for about an hour before getting caught by the hail

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

We've got mammatus!

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

5 months

Great shot of a little rainbow at sunset in the country tonight! I love Illinois

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

5 months

@TotallyWx Wow! Can we use this for free on all social media platforms and on air with credit to you? Thanks!

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

7 months

I'm sorry, is that 2 meso cyclones? #ilwx

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

4 months

One month ago last night was one of the greatest nights of my life. Saw some truly incredible Aurora from near home in central Illinois. It is very possible that I will never get better pictures than these, and I think I'm okay with that

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

8 months

Quick little time lapse of a KH wave #ilwx @NWSLincolnIL

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

THIS is what spring in Illinois should look like. Endless expanses of green fields and flowers as far as the eye can see. THIS is what we had 22 million acres of. This is what we need to bring back

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

6 months

@WNEWX For the last time, don't believe everything you see on fox news

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

11 months

@LHadinugraha @PSpaceAmoeba @1894gang @___frye Much of the old American forests were made up of hardwoods too, such as oaks, and hickories. So not only did they have a very tight grain due to being in an old growth forest, they were also naturally strong trees

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

5 months

"there is no such beautiful land in heaven as the valley drained by the Sangamo river. by nature it is the garden spot of America, and by the art of man is destined to become the paradise of the new world"

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

5 months

I know y'all have probably seen like 500 posts about how you need to go see the northern lights tonight, but I'm going to say it too: you need to see the northern lights tonight

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

3 months

@HuiSt @Wormbert It's dead?? 🥺🥺🥺

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

7 months

00z nam printing a PDS tor sounding over sangamon county IL for tomorrow #ilwx

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

3 months

@EmAndElOrganics @mbullobullo Yeah, the American chestnut foundation has been around for quite a while. I really hope they're successful but ngl I'm pretty pessimistic about it

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

3 months

@Bert_beanville @TheRealFTA @tkeller71097 She's from Algeria, where it is illegal to transition

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Byron Hurley (KILX)

@ByronNatureMan

8 months