Fog Bank, Dec. 22, 2014

I think WeatherBrains 101 had sun dogs a few weeks ago.; Astronomy Picture of the Day had moon dogs
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141211.html

ESPOD with a nice lenticular cloud formation
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/12/lenticular-cloud-formation-above-volcan-de-agua.html

CoCoRaHS has announced a number of new webinars:
Webinar #37 - CoCoRaHS WxTalk: Tsunami Science and Tsunami Warning Systems
Date: Thursday, December 4, 2014

Greg Carbin of NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center, with “A Review of Significant Weather Events Occurring in  2014, Thursday Dec. 11

Thursday Jan 22, Simon Trautman, avalanche specialist with the US Forest Service “Avalanches in the US … In a Nutshell”

NOAA Satellites has a Flickr account now
https://www.flickr.com/photos/noaasatellites/

Guy walks into a bar and trailing behind is an old, mangy dog who promptly curls up in a corner and goes to sleep as the guy bellies up to the bar.
Bartender comes over and says "No dogs allowed in here, you'll have to put him outside."

Guy says "You can see he's an old dog. It's cold out there and I take him everywhere. If he can do a trick you like will you let him stay?"

Bartender says "Him do a trick? That I would like to see."

Guy goes up to the dog and yells “Hey, Navy beat Army". The dog's ears immediately come up, he pops up, jumps on the bar, does thirteen back flips, barks out the rhythm of Anchors Aweigh, jumps off the bar and promptly goes back to sleep in the corner.

Bartender says "That really is something - what does he do when Army beats Navy?"

Guy replies: " How would I know, he's just thirteen years old!"

Thanks for listening, Skydaver out!



Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, Nov. 24, 2014

Earth Science Picture of the Day
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/11/undulatus-asperatus-cloud-observed-over-guatemala.html

Dr. Shephard’s WeatherGeeks this week was great, talking about the polar vortex.

@brendanloy had some fantastic scathing tweets about the stupidity that emanated from NY Gov. Cuomo’s mouth after the Buffalo snowstorm.

NOAA’s Environmental Visualization Laboratory has some great tools to play around with.
http://www.nnvl.noaa.gov/

The British Antarctic Survey published a study of Antarctic sea ice done via a robotic submarine that used an upward looking sonar
http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/press/press_releases/press_release.php?id=2839

Not sure who first put this out on Twitter, but it’s a fantastic photo, I think from the Canary Islands, fog spilling out of an elevated valley
https://twitter.com/NEweatherHQ/status/535873427006304257/photo/1
Skydaver out!



Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, Nov. 17, 2014

Wow, I've fallen behind, and missed a bunch.  With no further ado, the Nov. 17 Fog Bank

APOD for Oct. 29 of iridescent clouds over Colorado.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141029.html

Great aurora video at space weather.com
http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=29&month=10&year=2014

ESPOD with a photo of a rainbow taken from aloft
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/11/rainbow-from-aloft.html

Space.com has a photo of the Astronomy picture of the year
http://www.space.com/27197-astronomy-photo-contest-winners.html?adbid=533451340744105984&adbpl=tw&adbpr=15431856&cmpid=514648_20141115_35646847

Since it's so darn cold this week, I thought I'd close with the website for the National Snow & Ice Data Center
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/


Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, October 20, 2014

Eric Fisher, Chief Met. for CBS in Boston, has a nice article on technology & tornado identification
http://boston.cbslocal.com/2014/10/08/why-some-of-the-mystery-is-gone/

Astronomy Picture of the day gets two slots, with a short video of  sprite lightning in slow motion.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141013.html

and an Auroral corona picture taken in Norway, from Astronomy Picture of the Day
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141014.html


An oldie, but goodie. From April 25, 2013, NOAA's Weather Ready Nation news on Dual Polarization Radar
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/com/weatherreadynation/news/130425_dualpol.html#.VDx4wNR4ru5

I'll close with two links from ESPOD.

ESPOD again with lenticular clouds over the Andes
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/10/lenticular-clouds-over-the-southern-andes.html

ESPOD has a photo of a roll cloud in Brazil
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/10/morning-glory-over-southeastern-brazil.html

Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, October 13, 2014

Jesse Ferrell had a great set of photos of asperatus clouds over NYC
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-blogs/weathermatrix/incredible-nyc-asperatus-clouds-this-morning/34907758

CoCoRaHS has a webinar coming up October 23, on atmospheric rivers. The webinar will be recorded and available for later viewing.
http://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=wxtalk

NASA offers a mailing list to get science updates from the ISS lead scientist.
https://lists.nasa.gov/mailman/listinfo/iss-program-science-group

The National Snow & Ice Data Center published their 2014 arctic melt season review
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2014/10/2014-melt-season-in-review/

Spaceweather.com has a very nice gallery of photos of the lunar eclipse
http://spaceweathergallery.com/eclipse_gallery.html

CIMSS_Satellite tweeted a picture of the Blood moon from the GOES East satellite
https://twitter.com/CIMSS_Satellite/status/519918104923881473

Audio for Fog Bank

Fog Bank, Oct. 6, 2014

I'll start this week with a photo of a fog bank, from Earth Science Picture of the Day
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/10/the-fog-rolls-in.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day with a full circle rainbow
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140930.html

@NOAASatellites tweeted about National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) and the Deep Space Climate Observatory, DSCOVR. The satellite is going out to the earth-sun Lagrange 1 point, about 1 million miles from Earth, and will monitor solar activity.
http://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/index.html

Tony Rice commented on pictures of the Milky Way. How about a picture of the Milky Way just before the sun rises over the Sahara, taken from the ISS?
http://www.nasa.gov/content/milky-way-viewed-from-the-international-space-station/#.VCxYQ-fc0Qg

A great aurora picture taken in Norway
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/10/auroral-corona-over-hemnesberget-norway.html

I sent out a tweet at the start of the show with my solution for watching The Weather Channel on a television .. Here it is:

Bonus link --- the polar vortex
http://www.gocomics.com/closetohome/2014/10/05

Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, Sept. 29, 2014

I really should have numbered these ...

Hello, WeatherBrains listeners, this is David Phillips, skydaver on Twitter

Astronomy Picture of the Day, with a photo of the Aurora & volcanic light pillar
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140923.html

Earth Observatory had a great photo and discussion of Clouds & Dust over the Sahara, taken from the ISS.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=84400&src=eoa-iotd

ESPOD has some great rainbow photos on Sept. 27.
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/09/the-span-of-a-rainbow.html

I've got a comic about the science news cycle I think you'll like
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php?n=1174

A few final, short, comments on the WeatherGeeks show on The Weather Channel. Dr. Shepard. A+. Guests, A+ (you were great, James, can't wait to see next week) Graphics … makes me think of a bad Geocities web site.

Thanks for listening, Skydaver Out

Audio FogBank

A Critique of "Weather Geeks", from The Weather Channel

In my last Fog Bank segment, I went off on a rant about "Weather Geeks", the new show on The Weather Channel.

I thought it might be worth while to go into details about the show.

First, the good things about the show. The host, Dr. Marshall Shepherd, is great. It's obvious that he's having a good time with the show, and talking with his guests. His guests are great. I think Dr. Shepherd's interviewing skills will improve, as well. That's the single issue I have with Dr. Shepherd; I think he takes a little too much time asking his questions, and could get to a question more quickly, rather than setting up so much background as he asks the question. That's a pretty minor issue, and one that others may disagree upon.

It's the video production of the show that irritates me.

I'll start with what isn't in the show. On a high definition TV, the Weather Channel shrinks this show down to about 3/4 of the screen. In the space made available, they have a bottom and side bar to show stuff.

The bottom bar is almost tolerable. It has The Weather Channel logo on the left hand side, with the time & temperature alternating above that.  To the right, the local conditions & forecast are displayed.
There is a crawler bar above the current conditions, that is a distraction, and nearly content free. It showed "information" such as "PollenCast" for El Paso, Game Day Kickoff temperatures for NFL games, and non-weather headlines. It is a waste of space.

The side of the screen is worse. This portion is divided into three sections. The top section says "Brought to you by The Weather Channel". Really? I'm SO glad you told me! I might have missed the logo on the bottom, and the fact that I TURNED ON THIS CHANNEL TO WATCH THIS SHOW!

The middle section of this bar is even worse. It's showing things like days until events (fall, winter, Halloween, Christmas), barometric pressure, temperature, dewpoint, and on and on. Some of the bits of information are not uninteresting, but could be shown (and may be shown) in the bottom section along with current conditions. What is inexcusable about this section is the way the information is presented. Every single infographic is animated, in a speedometer type graphic. As the temperature is displayed, a circular line winds around until it reaches a point on the scale to match the temp. Inside the circle, the numbers flash as if they're counting up to the value being shown. Even the days to an event get animated like this. This is just stupid.

In the lower section, they show the name of the next few items that are going to be displayed in the middle section.

This is a complete waste of space.

Onto the video of the show itself.

There's a large, opaque, bottom third, showing "WxGeeks", and a banner that describes the topic under discussion. When that banner changes, it's animated. The banner slides to the left, then slides back out with the new text. If the name of the guest is shown, that's shown on top of this bottom third, taking away even more of the screen real estate.

The set has a large green screen or monitor bank behind the desk where the participants sit. The graphics shown are constantly changing, with storm clouds rolling by, lightning flashing, numerical formulas scrolling around, animated charts, and on, and on, ad nauseum. Not one single bit of that information has anything to do with what is being discussed.

My final gripe (for now) concerns the switch from the in studio cameras to footage from other locations. For every single transition like that, the screen shows an animated (less than 1 second) Wx Geeks logo screen. The footage being shown, while usually slightly relevant to the discussion, is only rarely discussed by the participants, and provides very little value to the viewer. Coming back to the studio camera, the same animation is shown.

To the directors and producers of this show, I say that just because you have a production effect capability doesn't mean that you have to use it all the time. I'll stop short of saying that someone should take a fire ax to the control board ... but that thought is in the back of my mind.

I'll continue to watch, because Dr. Shepherd & his guests are great, and the discussions are great. I might watch the show online. Doing that gets rid of the bottom & side bar, and the small screen size on a computer or tablet make the junk shown behind the guest less obtrusive. The Weather Channel should make the show easier to find on the website, though.

To paraphrase an old insult, this TV show is perfect for radio.

I'll update this post with corrections or further observations after I watch episodes.

(@WXGeeksTWC tweeted a line to the online video of the show, which, as I mentioned, does not have the bottom or side bars. It still has all of the other issues I mention.)

Fog Bank, Sept. 22, 2014

Hello, fellow weather geeks, this is David Phillips, @skydaver, with the Fog Bank.


The magazine "Communications of the ACM" has an article about high power computing, big data, & weather forecasting. I think the article is available to the public.
http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2014/9/177940-weathering-a-new-era-of-big-data/fulltext

NWS tweeted out a FAQ on Wireless Emergency Alerts
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/com/weatherreadynation/wea.html#.VBsMLC5dVPw

Capital Weather Gang's Jason Samenow had a great post about the ISS-RapidScat, a new weather instrument about to be placed on the International Space Station
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/09/19/first-ever-weather-instrument-to-dock-on-international-space-station-improving-hurricane-forecasts/

This pick this is going to take some time.

I finally had a chance to watch WeatherGeeks on The Weather Channel. The episode is saw was with Dr. Ucellini. I watched it on my large flat screen.

The show sucks. It sucks pond scum. It could suck a golf ball through a garden hose. I'm almost certain that the director is an 8 year old child that has eaten nothing but cotton candy for a week.

Dr. Shepard, his guests, and the discussion are great. Unfortunately, they are overwhelmed by the absolute video garbage put on the green screen behind them.
This is a television show that should be on radio. The video  is horrible, with far, far too much distraction.

On HD, the picture is shrunk down to allow a side & bottom graphic. Those graphics are intolerable.  I can just barely allow the bottom bar which is showing local conditions & forecast, The side bar is just fluff, and I can't think of any non vulgar words to describe it.
What is inexcusable and visually jarring is the animated crap that the producers put on the green screen behind the host & guests. It is horribly distracting, and has nothing whatsoever to do with what the people are discussing.
I've edited out other more intemperate remarks.
But that's just my opinion.
In the time since I wrote that, I've seen more episodes online. Those are much more tolerable, probably because the video is only 5", not 60".

Astronomy Picture of the Day for Sept. 22 has a time lapse video from a geosynchronous satellite of an equinox day.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140922.html

Thanks for listening,
Skydaver Out.

Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, September 15, 2014

Hello, WeatherBrains listeners, this is David Phillips, skydaver on Twitter, returning with the Fog Bank.

My vacation wasn't really a month long. We left the day before one WeatherBrains, were gone for the next one, and returned the day after the third one.  I was still catching up, and wasn't able to put one together for last week.

Lets get to it.

Earth Science Picture of the day with a hole punch cloud & fall streaks
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/09/hole-punch-cloud-and-fallstreaks-over-sao-paulo-brazil.html

ESPOD again, with a shelf cloud photo
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/09/shelf-cloud-over-sugar-grove-illinois.html

SpaceWeather.com for Sept. 12 had a couple of nice Aurora photos, along with a great photo of the ISS transiting the sun, next to a fairly large sunspot. Unfortunately, their site crashed the same day, and they don't have an archive for Sept. 12. (as of Sept. 23, they still don't have an archive page for the 12th.

Not weather, but I find this amazing. A photograph from the Rosetta spacecraft, which flew for ten years to rendezvous with Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The spacecraft is now in the vicinity of the comet, and is sending back photographs. Astronomy Picture of the Day has one of those.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140915.html

ESPOD is one of my go to sites when I need to fill out my five picks. Here's a nice picture of a solar dog
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/09/solar-halo-over-pego-do-altar-portugal.html

SpaceWeather.com has a nice video of a recent Aurora
http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=15&month=09&year=2014

Thanks for listening, Skydaver out.



Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, August 11, 2014

CoCoRaHS will have a Webinar about Forensic Meteorology. It will be on August 14, available to 500 watchers. They will have it available for viewing August 15. Go to the CoCoRaHS site to sign up, or watch.

Title: Webinar #33 - CoCoRaHS WxTalk: Weather CSI - Forensic Meteorology
Date: Thursday, August 14, 2014
Time: 1:00 PM Eastern, Noon Central, 11:00 AM Mountain, 10:00 AM Pacific


"Television shows featuring detectives who use cutting-edge science to solve crimes are among the most popular programs on television today. But did you know there are weather detectives, too? Certified consulting meteorologists are often called on to help determine the causes of accidents for court cases, and sometimes even solve serious crimes. Any lawyer with a case that has weather as a contributing factor can enlist a forensic meteorologist to help determine whether a particular weather condition was occurring at the time of an accident and what impact it had on the event. In this talk, we will look at the role of meteorologists as expert witnesses and see some examples of the kinds of questions they need to answer in a typical weather- or climate-related case. "
Weather CSI: Forensic Meteorology  You can also go to the CoCoRaHS WeatherTalk page, and scroll down to Webinar #33.



A blog post from Bill Steffen, of WOOD in Grand Rapids Michigan. An upwelling in Lake Michigan caused Water temps in Holland State Park dropped from 63 to 39 degrees in less than 24 hours.  Most of the Great Lakes water temps are colder than they were in 2009
http://blogs.woodtv.com/2014/07/31/lake-michigan-upwelling/

Astronomy picture of the day for July 31 had a photo of noctilucent clouds, taken in Gotland, Sweden
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140731.html

The Univ. of Wisconsin Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies has a web page showing the timeline of satellite meteorology
http://library.ssec.wisc.edu/timeline/

@Malia_Ama sent me a link to an article from the University of Hawaii on how the Kilauea volcano affected Tropical Storm Flossie, back in July, 2013
http://www.hawaii.edu/news/2014/07/29/kilauea-exerted-an-influence-on-tropical-storm-flossie/

Inside the Eye, the official blog of the NHC, with an explanation of an invest
http://noaanhc.wordpress.com/2014/07/31/investing-for-meteorologists/

I'll be taking some vacation, so no Fog Bank until September. (I left on August 17th, the day before a WeatherBrains, and came back on Sept. 3, the day after a WeatherBrains.

Thanks for listening, Skydaver out.

Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, July 28, 2014

Hello, fellow weather nerds, welcome to the Fog Bank, my usually weekly contribution to the WeatherBrains podcast (www.weatherbrains.com)

My first pick is from Earth Science Picture of the Day (ESPOD),
Four Rainbows over Banks Lake, Washington
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/07/four-rainbows-over-banks-lake-washington.html

Next, Midnight sun dogs from SpaceWeather.com
http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=22&month=07&year=2014

ESPOD again, with a Tertiary Rainbow picture.
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/07/tertiary-rainbow.html

I've got a link for Cryosphere Today, from the Polar Research Group at the University of Illinois
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/

I'll close with a link for the Facebook page for NWS office in Honolulu
NWS Honolulu & Central Pacific Hurricane Center
https://www.facebook.com/US.NationalWeatherService.Honolulu.gov?sk=wall

Thanks for listening, Skydaver out.

Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, July 21, 2014

Hello, WeatherBrains Listeners. Send links for the Fog Bank to skydaver on Twitter, and I'll use them, and give credit.

My first pick is NASA's IMAX film, "The Earth" , available on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BgL0wUs6Hs&feature=youtu.be

From Astronomy Picture of the Day, I have an Aurora photo, for JB.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140714.html

Summer Solstice Sun Pillars from ESPOD
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/07/summer-solstice-sun-pillar.html

Red Sprites over New Mexico, from space weather.com
http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=21&month=07&year=2014

Thanks for listening, Skydaver out.



Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, July 14, 2014

Businessweek online had an article about gathering weather data from commercial airliners, and the aid to forecasting that the data provide.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-26/airlines-add-weather-forecasting-gear-to-planes?campaign_id=DN062714

ESPOD, iridescent lenticular clouds in Alberta, Canada
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/06/iridescent-lenticular-display-over-lethbridge-alberta.html

ESPOD, Atmospheric Halos
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/06/rare-atmospheric-halos-observed-from-athens-greece.html

ESPOD, June 25, Bushfire sunsets near Sydney, Australia
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/06/bushfire-sunset-over-the-blue-mountains.html

A picture of Noctilucent clouds from Space Weather.com
http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=07&month=07&year=2014


Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, July 7, 2014

The holiday schedule got me out of sync, but this was sent in for tonight's WeatherBrains.

I just remembered that I didn't put the audio up. Do people listen to my segment through this blog?

SPOD with a sunset rainbow
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/05/sunset-rainbow-over-samos-island-greece.html

From the Severe Weather Forecast office, a story about upgrading the NWS Doppler Radar in Des Moines, IA
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=dmx&storyid=102576&source=0&utm_content=buffer75b48&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

NOAA's National Ocean Service has a new video about rip currents
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f7V4OrGbvg&list=UUroWPW0Wg6zZPyt42N89P7g

ESPOD, cumulus congestus  clouds
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/06/mushroom-sky-over-paris.html

NASA has a picture taken from their ER-2 aircraft (a modified U-2), part of a study about storm formation in the Appalachian mountains
http://www.nasa.gov/content/storm-cell-over-the-southern-appalachian-mountains/#.U6NDFqjc3lI

You'll have to scroll down a bit to see the full picture.


Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, June 23, 2014

First up, StormGeek @wxSci, posted an article about refining wind scales
http://hamradioskywave.blogspot.com/2013/04/kinetic-energy-factors-of-dynamic.html

ESPOD had a great photo of twin sun dogs
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/05/sundog-pair-over-valle-de-chaschuil-argentina.html

ESPOD again, with All sorts of atmospheric niceties.  Upper tangent arcs, sun dogs, glitter path & a halo.
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/05/upper-tangent-arc-halo-sundogs-and-glitter-path-observed-from-vancouver.html

Space Weather.com had a couple of GREAT Kelvin-Helmholz cloud photos
http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=97360

The supercell storm of 5/18, in Newcastle, WY, made the Astronomy Picture of the Day for May 21
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140521.html

Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, June 16, 2014

Yes, June 16. No missing blog updates, just no FogBanks until June 16.


This one is a space picture, from APOD, showing an experiment done during the latest lunar eclipse
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140418.html

Spaceweather.com for April 28 has some nice photos of sun pillars, and sun pillar echoes
http://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=28&month=04&year=2014

APOD again, with a beautiful Aurora picture
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140429.html
and a lunar eclipse timelapse
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140428.html

NOAA Weather Partners posted a video on Solar Activity & Communications
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdGc0xh4LPM

Dept. of Atmospheric Sciences at University of Illinois
http://www.atmos.illinois.edu/index.html  HT to Rob H, @rherrin828 on Twitter.

Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, April 21, 2014

I think my post titles might be coming out of the Department of Redundancy Department, except for the date, since I got so far behind.

There were no Fog Banks between April 2 & April 21.


Great photo on Astronomy Picture of the Day of mammatus clouds
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140415.html

CoCoRaHS has a WeatherTalk Web seminar coming up on May 2. The topic  Aviation Meteorology.
(I'm hopeful the talk was archived for us to see later)
http://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=wxtalk

ESPOD, Iridescent Clouds & Contrail
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/04/iridescenct-clouds-and-contrail-above-turin-italy.html

Reed Timmer tweeted a great supercell photo from April 20
https://twitter.com/reedtimmerTVN/status/458315019277451264/photo/1

AccuWeather has an article about the Great Lakes ice & the effect on spring weather.
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/record-great-lakes-ice-coverag/25816804

Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, April 2, 2014

I had no FogBank for March 31, but I sent a link for JB. I can't remember whether he was on.

A YouTube video from NWS Norman about them joining the Impact Based Warnings Experiment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95HDAxRroA8&list=UUacncsbh_AhMe-CUmEMzmTg

The April 2, Fog Bank


Matt Schiess@wxboy sent me
November 17, 2013 Time Lapse Tornado Chase From the great Skip Talbot.
youtu.be/137R5mxqPwY

HT to Hurricane Track for this great April 1st story.
Lawmakers develop a solution to global warming
http://hurricanetrack.com/2014/04/01/lawmakers-to-push-change-in-freezing-point-of-water-to-help-win-battle-against-global-warming-hurricanes/

Landon Hampton @WxOrNotBG, has a post on the meaning of the convective outlook. Watch out, Brian Peters, he might be gunning for your Professor Peters segment!
http://wxornotbg.com/2014/04/01/storm-prediction-center-convective-outlook/

An article in The Verge about Thermodo, a gadget that plugs into the audio port of your smart phone, and tells the ambient temperature. Looks interesting, but kind of expensive at $30. Their webpages don't indicate whether you can track any history of readings from the device, but there is a software developers kit that is available.
http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/31/5566654/thermodo-thermometer-smartphone-hands-on-review
http://thermodo.com

Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, March 24, 2014

Geez, I not only missed many weeks of WeatherBrains, I fell way behind in posting the FogBank links.

Here goes:


Ricky Mathews posted a link to The FIve Best sources for awesome weather graphics
http://thevane.gawker.com/the-5-best-sites-for-awesome-weather-graphics-1539733044

ESPOD, with a photo of a sundog over Lake Superior
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/03/superior-sundog.html

NOAA Coastal Services Center has a page on Tsunamis, for Tsunami Awareness Week
http://www.csc.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tsunamis

Former WeatherBrain participant Dr. Tim Coleman has a blog post showing the sun angle for the
start of spring, compared to the start of winter
http://birmingham.raycomweather.com/2014/03/spring-is-here-officially.html

Damon Lane@KOCOdamonlane
Days since last severe thunderstorm warning for your area.
pic.twitter.com/f6VMKeMcSc

For JB
It might be nice to look at some mild weather, so here is the Facebook page for the
NWS Key West office
NWS Key West, FL
https://www.facebook.com/US.NationalWeatherService.KeyWest.gov?sk=wall

Audio Fog Bank at AudioBoo.com

Fog Bank, March 17, 2014

Hello, Weather Brains listeners, this is David Phillips, from North Carolina, where it's sleeting. In March.

From KOSU, an article about the Oklahoma Tornado Project:Severe Weather & Social Media
http://kosu.org/2014/03/oklahoma-tornado-project-severe-weather-and-social-media/
I think it points out one of the flaws of social media that have been discussed here as well.

NOAA WP Space Weather 101
http://youtu.be/Fz-EvArGIG8

NOAA WP Space Weather Affects Power
http://youtu.be/5ybdCcgGz2U

From Weather Ready Nation: National Severe Weather Preparedness Week: Be an Example
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/com/weatherreadynation/news/130308_swpw_example.html

ESPOD with Anticrepuscular Rays
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/03/anticrepuscular-rays-over-reunion-island.html

For JB
Earth Science Picture of the Day, with snow rollers in Ohio & New York
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/03/snow-rollers-in-ohio-and-new-york.html



Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, March 10, 2014

This is Dave Phillips, and you can send me links for the Fog Bank, @skydaver on twitter

First up
Alum of the show, and hopefully still a friend, Ginger Zee, had a user send her a Kelvin-Helmholtz cloud photo from Phoenix:
LOVE KELVIN-HELMHOLTZ  CLOUDS“@IrisABC15: Our viewers take the best pictures. This was from Chico Lopez in Phx: http://twitter.com/IrisABC15/status/440862333183602690/photo/1”

Second,
A new Lightning Imaging Sensor, like the one on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite, is going to be sent up to the ISS on a SpaceX supply mission. That will be happening in July 2016. There is an article about it at NASA's website
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/lis/#.UxZaCOddVPx

Third,
Kyle Mattingly tweeted a link to a Vimeo animation of mPing reports and radar from the March 1-4 storms.
Really awesome, but he must not be a Weatherbrains listener since he didn't send it to us!
Kyle Mattingly@ksmattingly 5:35 PM
Animation of #mPING reports with radar for the recent winter storm: bit.ly/1fYxd7J @NSSL @DrShepherd2013 @JimCantore @weatherchannel

Fourth,
@psrman sent a link from Mashable, with a cyclone near Antarctica
http://mashable.com/2014/03/05/eumestat-satellite-swirl/

Finally

NOAA Weather Partners video os Space Weather affects GPS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Epk93ATx5v4

For JB (repeat from last week, since he wasn't on)
An image from NASA MODIS satellites showing the Great Ice Rinks, or as they're more commonly known, the Great Lakes
http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/83000/83169/GreatLakes_amo_2014050_721.jpg


Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, March 3, 2014

A dust storm from Cimarron County, Oklahoma. Earth Science Picture of the Day, of course.
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/02/cimarron-county-dust-storm.html

Nick Walker, from The Weather Channel, passed on a wonderful Undulatus Asperatus cloud photo
https://twitter.com/wxdude/status/438353274710663168/photo/1

For much of British Columbia, Canada, January was warmer than normal, causing some spectacular fogs.
Earth Science Picture of the Day has a nice photo taken January 24, 2104
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/02/fog-engulfs-vancouver.html

Spaceweathergallery has a great photo of the Aurora, taken in Reykjavik. It has very little green in it, and the photographer thought at first he was seeing the effects of a volcano eruption
http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=94890

Halos and ice crystal arcs from Utah, featured at Earth Science Picture of the Day
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/03/halo-display-at-snowbird-utah.html

It is March 3 as I record this. We had snow all over North Carolina. Other people have said this, but…
Go home, Winter. You're drunk.

Finally, a bit of audio about why the Fog Bank is part of Weather Brains. The Origins of the Fog Bank


For JB
An image from NASA MODIS satellites showing the Great Ice Rinks, or as they're more commonly known, the Great Lakes
http://eoimages.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/imagerecords/83000/83169/GreatLakes_amo_2014050_721.jpg

Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, February 24, 2014

Not bad, posting the morning after the show:

This is David Phillips with the Fog Bank. You can find my links at skydaver.blogspot.com

First up,
Astronomy Picture of the Day has a rainbow pileus cloud photo
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140219.html

ESPOD with green rim & flash
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/02/green-rim-and-flash-over-the-notre-dame-de-la-garde-in-marseille-france.html

Andrew Freiden of NBC12 in Richmond, VA, has a YouTube video, "Franilla Ice: Ice Ice Freiden"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoCaBJ7HXe0

I'm not sure who brought this to my attention, but the SPC has a short daily web briefing
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/pwo.mp4?utm_content=bufferf997d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

It's not super easy to find. Go to the outlook page, http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/, click on the Current 1 day outlook, then click on the Public Severe Weather Outlook. Near the top of that page is a link for 'Experimental Multimedia Briefing MP4.' That link seems to change daily, but you can bookmark the Public Severe Weather Outlook, and that is in my blog.
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/pwo.html
SPC has a new experimental Twitter service, twitter.com/NWSSPC

Thanks for listening, Skydaver Out.

The link sent for JB
How about some beautiful Aurora phones, from Grand Forks, North Dakota
http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=94434

Audio Fog Bank

Fog Bank, Feb 17, 2014

A rare posting of the Fog Bank in advance of the WeatherBrains show!

ESPOD, Wave clouds over Southern Appalachians
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/02/wave-clouds-over-the-southern-appalachians.html

The Capital Weather Gang has another home run blog post, on The Love Storm, or Snochi, or even the other name I won't use just cause.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/02/14/the-feb-12-13-2014-snow-making-machine-under-the-hood/

NOAA Weather Partners has been busy. Two picks, "Get Weather Ready: Before a Tornado"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyfn1wgAOaE

and "Get Weather Ready: After a Tornado"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnpcSle4SbE

ESPOD with storm clouds over Essex, UK, where they've been having some terrible weather.
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/02/storm-cloud-over-essex-uk.html

Thanks for listening, Skydaver out.

Link for JB.
East CONUS water vapor loop
http://www.goes.noaa.gov/GSSLOOPS/ecwv.html

Audio Fog Bank, Feb 17, 2014

Fog Bank, Feb. 10, 2014

Finally caught up!

My first pick is a letter sent from CoCoRaHS about a drought project in the Carolinas. You might be able to find information at the CoCoRaHS home page, but I'll post the letter in the bottom of this post.

The Capital Weather Gang had an article titled "The drawbacks of the automated weather app and the need for human touch"
Their example of a bad app? The Weather Channel.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/02/04/the-drawbacks-of-the-automated-weather-app-and-need-for-the-human-forecaster/

This isn't weather, but most weather geeks have at least a slight interest in space, so I bring the Lunar Picture of the Day, with an animation, with audio from the Apollo 8 mission, of the photography of the first Earthrise
http://lpod.wikispaces.com/February+4%2C+2014

There is going to be an app for seeing the Northern Lights, live (I think), from the Poker Flat Research Center in Alaska.
http://www.space.com/24604-northern-lights-auroras-app.html?cmpid=514648_20140207_18241254
There is also a demo web page. The app should come out in March. I hope it's both iPhone and Android!

NOAA weather Partners has uploaded a new video; Get Weather Ready, during a tornado
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByveULSahKY&feature=em-uploademail


Audio Fog Bank, Feb. 10, 2014

The CoCoRaHS letter:

Dear North Carolina CoCoRaHS observers,

We would like to take a moment to share some exciting news with you regarding the ability to report drought impacts through the CoCoRaHS program.

Have you ever considered how the precipitation that you monitor every day affects the plants, animals and people in your community? Would you like to participate in a project that takes a closer look at these effects and makes them part of your role as a CoCoRaHS volunteer?


The Carolinas Integrated Sciences & Assessments (CISA) team at the University of South Carolina, in partnership with CoCoRaHS and the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), is working to establish a network of CoCoRaHS condition monitoring volunteers in the Carolinas. These volunteers are using CoCoRaHS to track things such as plant and soil conditions, weather impacts to local businesses, water quality and quantity, and wildlife by entering a weekly environmental status report online.

The ultimate goal of this project is to begin developing baseline data of environmental conditions when precipitation levels are ‘normal’ so that changes and impacts caused by a lack of rain during periods of drought are more easily identified.  This information can also help determine when conditions begin to improve once precipitation resumes.

If you would like to learn more about this project and how you can become involved, please join us for an online webinar on Friday, February 21st at 11:00 a.m. Webinars are an easy way to join a meeting or group conversation without ever leaving your home. It is a quick way to connect with your CoCoRaHS colleagues to discuss this new opportunity. You don’t have to commit to the project to join the discussion - information about signing up will be provided during the webinar.

If you would like to participate in the webinar please e-mail your name and CoCoRaHS station number to Amanda Brennan at abrennan@sc.edu. Amanda can also answer any additional questions you might have about the project.

Take care and stay warm!

Regards,
David Glenn and Heather Dinon Aldridge
NC State CoCoRaHS Coordinators

Fog Bank, Jan. 27, 2014

The first and second picks come from
Earth Science Picture of the Day, with a photo & explanation of a Sierra Wave
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/01/sierra-wave-clouds.html

and then with discussion of unusual clouds in the Netherlands
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2014/01/unusual-sky-over-deventer-netherlands.html

@AlexJLamers Tweeted a link to a youtube video on the science & beauty of Auroras
I don't know if James will watch this; it's from PBS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVTbolyobcE

My fourth pick
An article on CNN Money about the Weather Channel/Direct TV playground brawl
http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/25/news/companies/weather-channel-directv/index.html

I'll close with a short mention of the WeatherCaster smartphone app. Since I first saw it, it's been improved, and is more stable.
It's available for Android & iPhone, and might be worth a try.

Audio Fog Bank, Jan. 27, 2014

Fog Bank, Jan. 20, 2014

First up, @Starwalk posted a beautiful Aurora picture
https://twitter.com/StarWalk/status/412062055072796672/photo/1

My second pick is an article from the American Society of Civil Engineers about research examining the Joplin tornado
http://www.asce.org/CEMagazine/Article.aspx?id=23622328957#.UrCnImRDtPx

Third, Astronomy Picture of the Day with ice pillars in Finland
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131218.html

My fourth pick might not be accessible for a little while, as ESPOD upgrades their servers, but they had a great photo of
 Iridescent clouds
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2013/12/iridescent-clouds-observed-above-bangalore-india.html


I'll close with information from Ron Malinowski, who shared  links to 2014 Central Indiana Severe Weather Symposium,
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ind/?n=2010centralindianasevereweathersymposium
and the Ohio State Severe Weather Symposium
http://www.geography.ohio-state.edu/metclub/symposium.html

Thanks for listening, Skydaver out.

Sent to JB.
NOAA Weather Partners posted a video of a weather balloon launch with a GoPro camera aboard. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kSju2rIFPs

Audio Fog Bank, Jan. 20, 2014

Fog Bank, Jan. 6, 2014

Hello everyone, this is Dave Phillips. You can find my picks of the week at skydaver.blogspot.com. I just have two pics this week, because I'm going to spend a bit of time on number one, an update on the LaCrosse weather station.

The rain gauge is decently accurate. I've been comparing it with the CoCoRaHS gauge, mounted right next to it, and it's good enough.  I think, but don't have an easy way to check, that the temp & humidity gauges are also good enough.

Overall, I give the unit a C+.  The plus part of the grade is because of the price, $80. My dissatisfaction comes from the anemometer.  The system uses the thermometer sensor unit as its central data collection, and that sends the data for all the sensors to the base station and a wireless gateway. Everything has to be no more than 200 feet from the thermometer.  I have my rain gauge next to my CoCoRaHS gauge, 110 feet away from the thermometer on my front porch. My porch faces north, and the thermometer never gets hit by the sun.
I tried to put the anemometer at the same spot in the yard (it's my best spot for rain & wind sensing), but although the rain gauge has no problem getting its signal through the walls of my house, the anemometer cannot.  I might try moving my thermometer up in the eaves of my back porch, but I think the morning sun might disrupt those readings.  Given the small size of my lot, the wind gauge isn't going to be super accurate anywhere, so I'm guessing I'll end up with that somewhere in the front of the lot.

Finally, there isn't any interface to feed your weather data to any of the crowd sourced weather data sites. It just lets you see your own data on a their website.

An interesting story about the BBC's Shipping Forecast, from NPR
http://www.npr.org/2013/12/16/249722733/the-shipping-forecast-from-britains-seas-into-its-soul


Fog Bank, Jan. 6, 2014

Fog Bank, Dec. 16, 2013

First up, NOAA WeatherPartners uploaded a YouTube video, a weather balloon launch with a GoPro camera onboard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk8jP8chYCo

Second, Earth Science picture of the day with a nice roll cloud photo from Norway
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2013/12/roll-cloud-in-northern-norway.html

Third You have to love the Capital Weather Gang, when they analyze their forecast busts. They were writing about a snow forecast early in December.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/12/10/a-half-right-half-wrong-snow-forecast-and-how-we-can-improve/?tid=pm_local_pop

Fourth, From the Weather Channel, a story about fog in the Grand Canyon over the Thanksgiving weekend
http://www.weather.com/news/science/rare-sight-grand-canyon-20131202?hootPostID=792765d6ff0e97ee7a507b9073df69c2

My fifth pick is the La Crosse Technologies Wireless Weather Station. It's available at one of the warehouse clubs for $80. It has three wireless sensors; an anemometer, a rain gauge & a temperature/humidity sensor. It can be a standalone unit, with a fairly decent display station, or you can install a gateway into your network, and it will make your data available via a webpage. The webpage displays nicely on a smartphone, too.
It doesn't appear to come with software to let you share your data.  It probably isn't as good as some of the higher priced stations, but it does what I want for the price..
The only beef so far I have is with the rain gauge. That sensor is difficult to install because of the placement of the mounting screws, and has to be completely removed from its mount in order to change the batteries.

Thanks for listening, Skydaver out.

Sent to JB (again)
Winter Weather Safety page from NWS Norman
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=safety-winter-overview

Audio Fog Bank, Dec 16, 2013

Fog Bank, Nov. 25, 2013

ESPOD has a great picture of the solar eclipse from Nov. 3
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2013/11/total-solar-eclipse-viewed-from-gabon-africa.html

ESPOD again, with a picture of the Nov. 3 eclipse from geostationary orbit.
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2013/11/solar-eclipse-of-november-3-2013-observed-from-space.html


NOAA Weather Partners has a short video of highlights from the 2013 National Weather Festival
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmgGRZ2SE00

MattS, @wxboy, sent a twitter update to Nate, James & me with
A Facebook post from Terry Swails, Chief Met with ABC in Moline, IL,  with commentary on taking tornado warnings seriously.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=558179224251731&id=192048420864815&substory_index=0

The proposed replacement of the NWS Graphical Forecast page. Check it out, and respond to their survey
http://preview.weather.gov/graphical/

Washington Post Editorial, The Invisible Successes of Meteorology
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/mike-smith-the-invisible-successes-of-meteorology/2013/11/19/42520ad4-5142-11e3-9e2c-e1d01116fd98_story.html?utm_source=buffer&utm_campaign=Buffer&utm_content=bufferc9d1e&utm_medium=twitter


Thanks for listening.
Sent to JB.
Winter Weather Safety page from NWS Norman
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/?n=safety-winter-overview

Audio Fog Bank, Nov. 25, 2013

Fog Bank, Nov. 18, 2013

No promises that this matches with the audio; I got REALLY disorganized in November & December.

Joe Renken's discussion of his Bering Sea Rule
http://forums.accuweather.com/index.php?showtopic=31107
or
http://weather.kopn.org/wp/?p=145

Earth Science Picture of the Day had a great photo of a lenticular cloud over Sardinia, Italy
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2013/11/lenticular-cloud-over-sardinia.html

Astronomy Picture of the Day has a stunning Aurora Photo for Nov. 18
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131118.html


Audio Fog Bank, Nov. 18, 2013

Fog Bank, Nov. 11, 2013

Gee whiz, I fell behind on posting these!

Friend of the show Johnny Parker retweeted a magnificent photo of an ice halo, from @weatherpictures

Weather Pictures@WeatherPicture 5:19 PM

22° Ice Halo pic.twitter.com/3bckQifD3b

Retweeted by Johnny Parker

A funny greeting card, and an article about the psychology of snow, from WeatherNation

WeatherNation@WeatherNation 10:08 AM

Sound familiar? @pdouglasweather discusses the "psychology of snow" and why we worry. bit.ly/17ENb5i 

pic.twitter.com/prXr7wlEm6

For JB:

The Cryosphere today, a website with a huge amount of information about the polar ice coverage

http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/

Audio Fog Bank, Nov. 11, 2013