Someone named Casey decided to make a video commentary on bike lane laws in New York City. Check it out.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Jump In A Ditch
I remember hearing somewhere that if you are stuck out in the open during a tornado while driving, a safe suggestion is to park your car and climb up under a freeway overpass. I'm from California...what do I know?
Turns out that is a dangerous urban legend promoted by a video shot by a TV crew in Kansas during 1991. Since then, people have attempted to hide under overpasses....with less than desirable consequences.
Flying debris is one of the most dangerous aspects of a tornado. Being under an overpass actually increases the odds of being hit by debris because:
Parking under an overpass also creates a traffic jam for emergency vechicles and others fleeing the tornado.
Below is a collection of photos of storm damage. The majority consist of objects pierced by debris. The blue and white truck actually has part of a refrigerator in it. I threw the record in for fun... though I'm pretty sure that's a urban legend too.
What should you do? NOAA says park your car, find a ditch, and lay down in it. Oh...and if you are in a mobile home...your toast so you might as well go outside and find a ditch. Don't worry about opening windows in your house to equalize pressure. Odds are a flying 2x4 will do that for you.
Follow this link for more info on the freeway overpass myth.
Turns out that is a dangerous urban legend promoted by a video shot by a TV crew in Kansas during 1991. Since then, people have attempted to hide under overpasses....with less than desirable consequences.
Flying debris is one of the most dangerous aspects of a tornado. Being under an overpass actually increases the odds of being hit by debris because:
- you are higher off the ground than you would be if you were lying a ditch....and therefore more likely to be hit by something
- wind speeds can increase due to the shape of the bridge itself
Parking under an overpass also creates a traffic jam for emergency vechicles and others fleeing the tornado.
Below is a collection of photos of storm damage. The majority consist of objects pierced by debris. The blue and white truck actually has part of a refrigerator in it. I threw the record in for fun... though I'm pretty sure that's a urban legend too.
What should you do? NOAA says park your car, find a ditch, and lay down in it. Oh...and if you are in a mobile home...your toast so you might as well go outside and find a ditch. Don't worry about opening windows in your house to equalize pressure. Odds are a flying 2x4 will do that for you.
Follow this link for more info on the freeway overpass myth.
Monday, June 6, 2011
Atacama
Following the extreme theme....the driest place in the world is the Atacama Desert in Chile.
The driest place in the world is the Atacama desert near the Andes in South America. It's marked by an almost "lunar-like" landscape, nearly devoid of plants, animals and insects. The average rainfall there is less than a millimeter a year.
This is an average. Apparently some weather stations in this area have never recorded rainfall. NASA uses the area to test their Mars landing craft. The lack of people and clouds makes it an ideal location for telescopes (that's whats in the photo above and below). In 1973 Pinochet used an abandoned mining town in the area as a prison camp. The empty swimming pool below is from a different abandoned mining town in the same area.....not sure where the water would come from :)
The driest place in the world is the Atacama desert near the Andes in South America. It's marked by an almost "lunar-like" landscape, nearly devoid of plants, animals and insects. The average rainfall there is less than a millimeter a year.
This is an average. Apparently some weather stations in this area have never recorded rainfall. NASA uses the area to test their Mars landing craft. The lack of people and clouds makes it an ideal location for telescopes (that's whats in the photo above and below). In 1973 Pinochet used an abandoned mining town in the area as a prison camp. The empty swimming pool below is from a different abandoned mining town in the same area.....not sure where the water would come from :)
Waiʻaleʻale
I was reading about weather when I bumped into an interesting fact. Mount Waialeale, Hawaii, is the rainiest place in the world, with an average of 460". I wondered what that looks like and googled this photo. That's a lot of water!
As you know, I love weather. NOAA has a cool website for people who want to learn more about how weather works. Check it out sometime. There is an interesting section on how waves are made.
As you know, I love weather. NOAA has a cool website for people who want to learn more about how weather works. Check it out sometime. There is an interesting section on how waves are made.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Why Can't The Weather Guy Get It Right? Wait....That's Me
On Thursday I said the storm off the coast would bring windy conditions but no rain. I woke up this morning to a little rain. Oh well.
I was hearing rumors about rain yesterday but hoping I would out-predict them. The fun of weather forcasting is getting it wrong once in awhile.
Below is radar of the rain moving onshore this morning. It shouldn't rain all day though. Happy Sunday!
I was hearing rumors about rain yesterday but hoping I would out-predict them. The fun of weather forcasting is getting it wrong once in awhile.
Below is radar of the rain moving onshore this morning. It shouldn't rain all day though. Happy Sunday!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Models Say Gail...Who?
Looks like San Diego is going to be a little windy this weekend....along with some waves. The grib below show a lot of wind from the north on Saturday. See the pink arrows near the socal coast? They have multiple barbs and are pointing south. Wind will blow from north to south.
The map below is a 48 hour 500 mb chart from NOAA. This is a copy of the same file broadcasted to ships via shortwave radio. Basically the chart shows what the jet stream in the upper atmosphere will be doing on Saturday. The thick line shows the "trough" moving from east to west. Notice how the lines are uniform and relatively straight...the upper atmosphere is moving...wind but no rain. The "H 591" represents a high that is helping to keeping so cal sunny and warm.
The chart below is the 48 hour surface chart from NOAA. Basically this is a hand drawn version of the automated color computer model above. This chart shows the weather on the surface of the earth. You can see the same high mentioned above. You can also see a wind arrow with multiple barbs near socal. The cool thing about NOAA charts is that a human includes symbols to help us understand whats going on. In this case they wrote the word "gail" near socal.
What does "gail" mean? You could nerd out and read this but to make life easy I copy/pasted an exerpt below...
Gail refers to an extratropical low or an area of sustained surface winds (averaged over a ten minute period, momentary gusts may be higher) of 34 knots (39 mph) to 47 knots (54 mph).
A gail is half way beween what weather forcasters call a developing storm and a storm. So what do the surf forcast websites say about this? Below is an excerpt from WetSand:
"Models today show a much more impressive wind swell fetch forming off the California coast by the weekend. This is from a low that is just now kicking up some 20' seas in the Gulf of Alaska. This will throw some minor NW ground swell our way, but the dominant portion of swell is looking to come from wind swell that'd get kicked up by this system once the low positions itself closer to our area this weekend."
When surf forecaster refers to models, they are talking about the grib files and charts displayed above. My goal is to develop accurate surf forecasts on my own by using the same models they use. It takes longer than just reading a surf forcast but who said a hobby should be about saving time?
The map below is a 48 hour 500 mb chart from NOAA. This is a copy of the same file broadcasted to ships via shortwave radio. Basically the chart shows what the jet stream in the upper atmosphere will be doing on Saturday. The thick line shows the "trough" moving from east to west. Notice how the lines are uniform and relatively straight...the upper atmosphere is moving...wind but no rain. The "H 591" represents a high that is helping to keeping so cal sunny and warm.
What does "gail" mean? You could nerd out and read this but to make life easy I copy/pasted an exerpt below...
Gail refers to an extratropical low or an area of sustained surface winds (averaged over a ten minute period, momentary gusts may be higher) of 34 knots (39 mph) to 47 knots (54 mph).
A gail is half way beween what weather forcasters call a developing storm and a storm. So what do the surf forcast websites say about this? Below is an excerpt from WetSand:
"Models today show a much more impressive wind swell fetch forming off the California coast by the weekend. This is from a low that is just now kicking up some 20' seas in the Gulf of Alaska. This will throw some minor NW ground swell our way, but the dominant portion of swell is looking to come from wind swell that'd get kicked up by this system once the low positions itself closer to our area this weekend."
When surf forecaster refers to models, they are talking about the grib files and charts displayed above. My goal is to develop accurate surf forecasts on my own by using the same models they use. It takes longer than just reading a surf forcast but who said a hobby should be about saving time?
Sunday, May 22, 2011
On Vacation But Not Far From Home!
We enjoyed a relaxing weekend. I refinished one of the benches in the backyard while Michelle took her new Audi A3 to the carwash. The next day we trimmed the plants on the side of the house and gave everything a good water. After that I cleaned up some of our potted plants...including the one with the Rose Bowl grass growing in it. Jack chilled out in the shade while we worked. Afterwards we relaxed and enjoyed the scenery. Jack moved to the bench for a nap in sun. Got some good surf this weekend. I surfed twice on Sunday.
I'm looking forward to summer. People frequently ask me what my vacation plans for summer are....I tell them "nowhere but here".
I'm looking forward to summer. People frequently ask me what my vacation plans for summer are....I tell them "nowhere but here".
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tough Day
It was a tough day both in the office and chasing birds. Jack and I crashed out on the couch after work. Zzzzzz....
Sunday, May 15, 2011
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