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