What: Community Flea Market with assorted items. I will have Hurricane DVDs (September’s Fury/Hurricane Charley Director’s Cut combo for $5) as well as assorted other items.
Who: The Weather Warrior and a bunch of other folks from the community.
How much: Free to browse/attend. Vendors pay $20 Per Parking space (approx. 20′x8′)
Why: Well, for locals, they can come get stuff at really cheap prices. It is a good way to start a Saturday outside and meet folks. I’m there to sell as much stuff as I can so that I have no more stuff in storage….costing me money. This also helps fund my chasing, which by this date is getting close really fast.
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 at 10:44pm EST. DC area to see another warm day, but clouds moving in, rain to follow.
Over the weekend, Monday and again today I have tried to get as much as I can done that requires outside activity. One big task was the cleaning out of the Subaru “Warrior Wagon” after an extensive winter. All the salt, grime, dirt from the roads and such from all the outings in the snow and post storm build-up needed to be cleaned out to prevent rust and unnecessary added weight. Well, a lot of that weight was from the mud from some fun outings done in the fall before the snow. It took nearly 7 hours to wash (getting the car up on jacks to facilitate cleaning underneath) wax and detail the exterior. Tomorrow will be paying attention to the interior. Not only does that need a clean out of all the sand, silt and salt from the boots and other gear, but it’s also a chance to do the latest wire upgrades in preparations for possible camera mounts, mics, etc.
The forecast is set for more cloudy conditions, so it won’t be as pleasant as the last three days, but it is a time to get those outside errands done before a large amount of rain is forecast to move in starting Thursday and lasting until Saturday with good potential for flooding in the DC region.
Of course, you can always screw the responsibilities and go for a bike ride, picnic, grab some geocaches, or do a quick kayak adventure for the day. Doesn’t that sound more fun.
Monday, March 8th, 2010 at 10:55pm EST Tornadoes today, and a few chasers kick off the 2010 season.
February had preliminary said to have no tornadoes. One storm may have adding one (yeah..ONE) on February 27th, but the final numbers aren’t confirmed yet. If no reports of tornadoes are finalized, it will have been since 1950 since that has occurred.
For many, March does start to bring severe weather to the ‘chase territory’ in the central US Great Plains. Today we have at least one preliminary report of a tornado in southwest Oklahoma in the town of Hammon. Coverage was made on The Weather Channel, and images are out there of the event. Perhaps more reports will filter in as the evening and day tomorrow goes along and NWS staff investigate further.
A lot of talk has been going around as too what the chase season will bring this year considering various elements like El Nino, a strong arctic blast and cooler gulf temperatures right now are all part of the discussion.
Streaming video will not play as large a role as some other companies, chasers, media and such I’ve been following, but I will be using it for some things, but not always in the ‘traditional’ modes and activities. It will also not all be weather related. The initial phase was the Research and Experimental Phase, while the next phase will be the Content is Kind Phase. Basically, now that I understand a bit about the various outlets and options for streaming video, the technology, the planning, the resources, and costs associated with streaming. I don’t have a huge budget, and I don’t possess a ton of resources for the top streaming media sites, but I do find that I can still have a fun and viable production for Weather Warrior TV. I have not ruled out switches and enhancements at any point, but now the focus will be more centered around producing content, creating shows, and recruiting talent to join me in the process.
Content takes a bit of time to produce and regular updates and full time shows won’t likely be well developed until hurricane season (August thru September), which will also likely coincide with the peak of hurricane season. Locally, attempting to stream for the media market in the weather realm isn’t going to happen. Free sources from ‘citizen journalists’ has not become readily available and budgets at television stations is growing smaller and smaller with each month due to such a poor economy.
Some target things I want to produce may include a local and national weather summary show, chaser related shows, hurricane hunter related shows, weather events and press conferences. In-studio and field reporting will be done and some shows will be prerecorded and played at the same time each week. There is a lot of ideas, but nothing is concrete as of yet. I have to evaluate as I go along the precess of building content, to see what I am able to handle and produce. This may include bringing other networks and shows in, additional talent and more.
I’m sure I’ll be fairly transparent on upcoming products and shows as they start to come together. As I like to remind folks, be sure to follow me on twitter for all show updates and notices of when I’m live or when a schedule program will start. To follow me on twitter, the best way is to click on the link on my front page at http://www.weatherwarrior.net
Sunday, February 28th, 2010 at 10:33pm EST: A different kind of blog post for the last day of Meteorological Winter for 2010
The following question was asked over at www.skywarnonline.com:
As new developments in technology come (i.e. new radar technology, etc.), how do you think SKYWARN and storm spotting will be affected? Will spotters become not as vital as they are now? What are your thoughts?
My response was a little lengthy, and certainly went directly with the forum, but the points I made at least take some review and consideration:
I think the biggest issues at times is the fact that there are a large number of people that use (nay…abuse) the Skywarn name. It could go either way. If NWS was smart, they would make Skywarn a more organized, more regulated, with verifiable courses, and such. They would also put more organization into it with a national oversight committee with standards and requirements that each and every local group must adhere to and follow closely.
At the moment if feels more like a ‘feel good’ organization and the amount of misuse, distrust, incorrect oversight, improper ownership, profiteering (the amount of sites selling merchandise for example) and more it certainly isn’t a very serious thing. There may be some gold star groups here and there, but they are far and few between. Groups like ARES and certain County OEMs among others claim to be in charge of Skywarn which is erroneous (as I’ve stated multiple times). Ham radio also has not helped the organization overall with various folks using the name as some sort of ‘official’ badge to cause interference with true first responders. Of course we can also see how many false or inaccurate reports are becoming a problem too.
In fact, I thought when this site was created there was actually some communications between Dave and the National Weather Service, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Anytime I bring up Skywarn with the top folks an HQ in DC or Silver Spring, many of them only know the basic premise, but are clueless to what the real story is. Skywarn was also left out, where even geocaching was mentioned, in a recent NOAA exhibit. But the lack of anything seriously involved with this site and a national connectivity is just one example of how badly organized everything is.
I’m currently not encouraged with the future and any and every time I’ve brought up the topic it is clear there is no one yet to help with trying to get anything forward or organized or pushed forward to make the necessary changes to advance the Skywarn back into a viable and reliable organization.
Luckily there are a good core and very serious and dedicated people as part of Skywarn and if they are able to shine through the muck and other issues at the fringe that are getting all the attention these days, it could be a stellar situation.
Won’t be much of a blog today. I’m trying to get information about Santiago, Chile and some friends who have family in Chile. I just visited one friend’s family in Santiago this past September. I am hoping and praying for them and the rest of Chile.
Also keeping an eye on Hawaii for surge from a tsunami. Some areas like French Polynesia have already reported tsunami affects.
TGI-Friday, February 26th, 2010 at 9:35pm EST Lots of trees and power lines down around the DC region, big snows in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Reports have been coming in all day from various areas around Washington, DC of trees down, large branches broken and power outages due to those trees coming down on power lines. Cars were not safe either with at least a dozen or more cars being crushed by cars. A few house have seen damage from the high winds too.
While the immediate region hasn’t even seen any snow accumulation (although flurries have been on and off all day) as you move to the north and east, first in the Baltimore region, snow began to amount and by the time you move into northeast Pennsylvania you can see snow totals up to 24 inches or more (isolated spots of 30″ being reported). It seems that the east coast is still dominating the country with mega record breaking snow storms. I know many in the DC region are more than happy to pass up on another major storm though, even though our snow has nearly melted all the way down to the grass. Of course I’m ready to go another two or three rounds…but that’s just the way I am, even as unlikely as it is for this area. I am more than happy with what we’ve had…how could any snow lover not appreciate the record breaking season.
Thursday, February 25th, 2010 at 10:57pm EST No snow, but winds may be the story for the DC region this time around.
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A HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM EST FRIDAY.
STRONG GUSTY NORTHWEST WINDS WILL INCREASE ACROSS THE MID ATLANTIC REGION LATE THIS EVENING...AND CONTINUE THROUGH FRIDAY. NORTHWEST WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WILL GUST BETWEEN 55 TO 60 MPH...WITH LOCALLY HIGHER GUSTS OVERNIGHT INTO FRIDAY.
WINDS THIS STRONG WILL CAUSE DANGEROUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS...AND LIKELY KNOCK DOWN TREES AND POWER LINES.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A HIGH WIND WARNING MEANS A HAZARDOUS HIGH WIND EVENT IS EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. SUSTAINED WIND SPEEDS OF AT LEAST 40 MPH OR GUSTS OF 58 MPH OR MORE CAN LEAD TO PROPERTY DAMAGE.
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This time the DC region won’t see snow, or very little snow with only 1″ or so expected. Many areas will not see any snow at all.
However, winds are already kicking up to 35mph or more. As noted above in the local NWS warning, winds are expected to make in to 50s. I would not be surprised by end of the day tomorrow, we see a few gust reports over 60mph. Just in the past thirty minutes while getting this blog ready, we’ve had a few really good gusts here. I’m going out to put up the mobile wx station up on the deck so I can hopefully get a few gust readings overnight.
Friday, February 19th, 2010 at 4:35pm EST Last chance to visit a wonderful Exhibit (and it’s FREE). http://preserveamerica.noaa.gov/
Located in downtown Silver Spring the NOAA/NWS offices will be hosting for the last day on Saturday, February 20th, 2010 (TOMORROW) the Preserve America Initiative exhibit. There is all kinds of fun things to read and see about while there. The NOAA Science Center is located at 1301 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, Md. Photo ID required for adults. RIGHT NEXT TO Silver Spring Metro station. Pay public parking available nearby as well. Call 301-713-7615 (or visit link above) for more information. Tomorrow’s hours are from 11am until 4pm.
I am planning to attend, so good chance you’ll see me there.