YELLOW BRICK ROADKILL?
Friday I leave for Oklahoma City where my week-long quest for the wily, or sometimes not so wily, tornado will begin. My wife is absolutely convinced I’m a dead man walking; certain I’ll get swept up like Dorothy and end up as road kill on the Yellow Brick Freeway. More likely, if conditions ripe for twisters go into hibernation, I’ll die of boredom. But no matter. My primary goal, believe it or not, is not to get up close and personal with a Great Plains’ monster—-though I’m not averse to that—-but to learn how tornado chasers operate. To see what their daily routine is, what meteorological parameters they examine, what monitoring equipment they...
Read MoreThe Weather Channel®–The Early Days, Part III
Here’s the third and final blog of a trio describing the early history of The Weather Channel whose 30th anniversary is just around the corner—-May 2. In September 1989, John Hope helped bring The Weather Channel to national prominence as the source for hurricane information. Hurricane Hugo, a classic Cape Verde storm and the first category four to hit the U.S. in quite some time, slammed into South Carolina with 140-mph winds. John, red-eyed and rumpled, stayed on the air for 18 consecutive hours, advising and calming residents as the powerful storm swirled from the Atlantic Ocean into the Palmetto State. For its coverage of Hurricane Hugo, The Weather...
Read MoreA RELATIVELY QUIET HURRICANE SEASON COMING UP?
A couple of early outlooks for the 2012 Atlantic Basin hurricane season have been issued, one by the Colorado State University (CSU) Tropical Meteorology Project, and the other by Weather Services International (WSI). Both indicate a near-average season relative to the long-term (since 1966) mean of 11 named storms and hurricanes, but a somewhat quieter season when measured against the shorter term (since 1995) average of 15. CSU expects 10 named tropical cyclones, while WSI predicts 12. So, if you live or vacation along the East or Gulf Coast, what’s it mean to you? Well, not much, as I explained last year. Consider that over the last three seasons, 46 named storms...
Read MoreLOOKING OVER MY READERS’ SHOULDERS
I discovered recently, via a weekly email I receive from a Mr. Rob Eager, there’s a way to see which phrases from Eyewall are most frequently highlighted by readers on their Kindles. Another wonder of the electronic-digital era. I can look over my readers’ shoulders. Kindle readers, by the way, have the option of making public their highlights and notes, so it’s not like Amazon, the purveyor of Kindles, is electronically eavesdropping on them. Anyhow, I was curious to see which, if any, phrases from Eyewall readers might be underlining, so to speak. It turned out there are quite a few. Leading the pack is an aphorism from my father. I remember it well because,...
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Senior Meteorologist
The Weather Channel (Ret)
Colonel, USAF Weather Officer (Ret)
Awarded the Legion of Merit
