Tsunami of Weather links

For some reason this month, I have run across what I will call a "tsunami" of weather related articles. I thought I would share them here to not only help me remember them all, but in hopes of stirring up some conversation.

Here is a fascinating article on where the United State's stands in the numerical weather prediction (NWP) game.

Has the U.S. Fallen Behind in Numerical Weather Prediction?

How useful are tornado sirens? To me, this almost seems like two different articles. It is a shame that the most important facts don't come until the end: only meant to be heard outdoors, should be one of multiple ways of receiving notification, just about as many policies for sounding them as jurisdictions that have them. I do, however, have to agree with others that even if they only help a limited number of people, they should remain a part of the warning system.

Tornado Sirens

Can a helmet help you survive in a tornado? This topic came up at the 2012 Severe Storms and Doppler Radar conference in Ankeny, IA this year, so I thought I would include it here.

Helmets for tornado safety

Here is an interesting article from the VORTEX II data analysis. I love the contradiction between the second and fourth paragraphs. Second paragraph: the ribbon spawned the tornado. Fourth paragraph: It is unclear what significance or role, if any, the ribbon might play in creating a tornado.

Low Reflectivity Ribbons

This is one of many articles that discuss the local impact wind turbines have on the environment. This is a hot topic locally here at Iowa State.

Wind Turbines and Local Heating

This article discuss repeat tornado paths. It seems unbelievably unlucky to me that people have experienced multiple tornadoes. I can see training supercells from a single event, but separate events, my goodness.

Do Tornadoes Have a Favorite Path?

Technology in the Classroom?

Personal Response Systems (PRS), annotation devices, PowerPoint and Flash presentations, laptops, and smart phones. The list goes on and on. I am curious to hear the students point of view on the use of technology in the classroom, both for use by students and by instructors. Is it more of a distraction or would you consider it a legitimate teaching or learning aid?

Chile Earthquake Tsunamis

I recently came across this article on why the Chile earthquake tsunamis weren't as large as expected. Some pretty interesting theories and most definitely worth the read!

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/02/100228-earthquake-in-chile-2010-tsunamis-hawaii-japan/

Enjoy!

Huge Swing Back to Normal

After an amazingly warm November in Iowa, it was nice to see a strong cold front finally sweep through the state. Yesterday's Iowa Environmental Mesonet feature

(http://mesonet.agron.iastate.edu/onsite/features/cat.php?day=2009-12-01)

really told the tale of how much warmer we were last month. To me, the most interesting feature is the range of temperatures we will go through in the next couple of days. Yesterday (Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2009) was 15 degrees F above normal. Today's temperature will be just about at the climatological mean of 38 degrees F. As the cold air continues to pour into the state, tomorrows high temperature is only expected to be in the high 20's or close to 10 degrees F or more *below* normal.

We still haven't received measure snowfall in Ames this season and it doesn't look like it will occur any time soon. To add to the fun, the circulation opens up the Arctic toward the end of the week and blasts us with even colder air.

Jump on a Wave!

Thanks to Ben Green, ISU College of Veterinary Medicine, I have received and accepted a preview invitation for Google Wave (wave.google.com). After a short presentation at Iowa State on Friday, I was very curious to be more than just a spectator. At the moment, it is lonely on the wave. However, more people I know are receiving invites and I am anxious to see if Google can overcome the challenges Wave presents and make it live up to its promised potential.

It is fascinating, often humerous, to see the number of different ways people are getting their hands on invites. Seems like just about everything is fair game from getting the invite directly from Google to begging on Twitter (Way to go Nick K.!)

If you have an account, feel free to Wave me at daveflory@googlewave.com.