4 February 10
Weather Hound
You know you’ve become a serious weather hound when of the eight bookmarks in your browser toolbar, seven are weather-related. This phase of mine follows on to my aviation tack of the past month or two, meteorology being the first cousin to travel through the air.
We’re getting a nice little storm right now — the rain starting this afternoon and expecting to last until the middle of Saturday. California weather seems pretty simple though; just watch those cyclonic systems come in eastward from the Pacific. I am much more mystified by the weather elsewhere in the country though. My officemate is heading on a big trip to Africa tomorrow, and was quite dismayed to learn that a major snowstorm is on its way to hit Washington D.C. tomorrow, through where he was scheduled to fly. (The flight has already been cancelled; he was working on rerouting the trip as I left this evening). Where did that storm come from? Why is it expected to be an epic one?
Time to get back to the meteorology texts. It’s not so easy though; there’s a dearth of textbooks on what actually goes into making weather forecasts (there are plenty of texts on physical theory, not so many on the actual practice). I’m nosing out some resources, though.
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My interest in meteorology fades when storms leave. I live an hour west of D.C., and I’ve never been able to figure out how the ocean to the east interacts with the general tendency for our weather to come from the west.
Washington’s big snowstorms, though generally few in number, all come from our south, colliding with cold air from the north. The most we ever get from moisture from our west, on the other hand, is about six to eight inches of snow.
I guess I’ve just demonstrated how most people consider themselves experts on the weather to the extent to which they feel it’s required. You seem to be a lot more motivated.
Here’s an interesting insight into the predictability of Florida’s weather:
http://klindbeck.tumblr.com/post/382985582/before-these-florida-winters-i-have-never-lived
It’s funny to have read this a day after I read your post.