Davis
Instruments Weather Club
June 2003
In This Issue:
Single
Male Roadrunner Seeks Female: Free Frog and Own Anemometer for the
Right Gal
"Single Male
Seeking Female Seasonal Soul Mate: I am young and handsomely bedecked
with glorious tawny feathers, my head feathers in a jaunty and stylish
'crew cut,' and I have a very long tail. I'll be waiting for you,
my love, and easy to spot on my luxurious Nevada perch, a Davis
Weather Wizard weather station, complete with anemometer. I'll be
holding a fat little frog for our honeymoon dinner."
This
handsome guys finds that Jack Philip's anemomenter is the perfect
spot for tempting would-be mates with frogs and bravado.
(Thank you Jack
Philip, of Pahrump, NV, where it's mating season for roadrunners!
Next issue: how Pahrump got its name… Jack?)
Jack's isn't
the only Davis weather station that is irresistible to wildlife.
Ralph Ferraro has had a Vantage Pro for three years and loves it.
However, he noticed a problem with the rain readings.
"Over the past
month," he wrote, "the tipping bucket began recording virtually
nothing in spring showers at my home in Sykesville, MD (about 20
miles west of Baltimore). For events of 0.10", I'd see only 0.01.
Then, a few days after the event, I'd see 0.01" when no rain occurred.
So, I opened the gauge and what did I find? Hornets (about six of
them) building three separate nests, one of which was fastened to
the underside of one end of the .01" reservoir which essentially
did not allow the gauge to tip anymore!" Jack found two more nests
under construction, one cleverly situated within the protection
of the rain collection cone itself.
Yikes. Thanks,
Ralph, for the nice lead-in to our usual spring-cleaning tips! Now
is a very good time to check your station for nests, webs, leaves,
bird droppings, etc. All your external components would appreciate
a wipe-down with a soft damp cloth - but be careful not to touch
any solar sensors you might have. The anemometer and rain collectors
will need the most attention (even if you don't have visiting roadrunners
or hornets). You should remove the rain collector cone and use a
soft damp cloth to clean any debris from the tipping bucket mechanism,
as well as the cone itself. Make sure all your cables and connectors
are attached securely; check and reseat any outdoor connections.
Ask any hornets
to relocate. Ask very sweetly.
Weather
Check Quiz Question 1: Besides the fact that they prefer to run than fly, what is the roadrunner famous for? (Not the cartoon, "meep-meep"-ing, Roadrunner - we mean the real ones.)
So
You Think You Saw a Thunder Lizard?
Michael S. Webster,
of Price, Utah (also known as "Utahraptor Country"), was inspired
to write us after reading about the origin of the name "brontosaurus"
in our last E-News.
"Being both
an amateur meteorologist and paleontologist has its advantages,"
he wrote. "Like telling one of the newsletters I'm subscribed to
that they are in error.
"You recently
mentioned the 'thunder lizard,' known as the brontosaurus. This
prehistoric beastie never existed. Yes, that's right. Never. Yes,
I know, we all had little plastic toys that said 'brontosaurus'
on the belly in raised plastic. And, yes, you can still get these
toys. But they are wrong.
"When first
discovered, brontosaur skeletons seemed to be missing the skull.
So the paleontologist took a skull found miles away (actually a
camarasaurus). However, a more complete skeleton was found in 1915,
but not until 1975 was the true skull displayed.
"The proper
name is apatosaurus, meaning 'deceptive lizard.'"
Thanks, Michael.
(It doesn't seem fair that poor old apatosaurus gets stuck being
called "deceptive." It wasn't his fault he lost his head…)
Weather
Check Quiz Question 2: It is now almost uniformly accepted by
the scientific community that apatosaurus, and all his dinosaur
pals, became extinct after a huge asteroid hit the earth. Where
do scientists think the asteroid hit? Why would this event cause
world-wide extinction rather than being limited to local impact?
Safe
Weather Forecast for Easter Island: Windy!
Karl Williamson
chimed in after last month's E-News question about Easter Island
to say that he "believes that southern Chile is quite moist contrary
to your blanket statement about the country that spans such a wide
range of latitudes."
He is, of course,
right. Chile's long skinny shape makes it geographically and climatically
fascinating. It is 2,650 miles long, but only averages 110 miles
in width. Karl is right on when he mentions the wide range of latitudes
- from +15 degrees in the north to -60 degrees in the south! Similar
spans might be Anchorage, AK to Los Angeles, CA, or Moscow to Khartoum.
Northern Chile is one of the most arid places in the world, but
it is not terribly hot, thanks to the moderating effect of the cold
Peru Current. But the central area enjoys a moist Mediterranean
climate, and the southern end of Chile has year-round rainfall.
At the Strait of Magellan, precipitation reaches 200 inches a year
- most of it snow.
Easter Island
is off the west coast of Chile, and at about -27 degrees, it is
off the more north-central portion of Chile, where it is still pretty
arid. That said, the fact that Easter Island is 2,300 miles out
to sea means that drawing much similarity between the weather on
the island and on the mainland is kind of stretching it anyway.
Karl also pointed
out that we "neglected to mention the winds on Easter Island, which
I've heard are incessant and make it not a nice place to be." Karl's
also right about the incessant winds, which seem to come from every
direction. But, being weather buffs, we have to disagree that winds
make a place unpleasant. The winds keep the temperature cool for
one thing, and they sway the few palms Easter Island still has left.
We have a hat with a chin strap and enough bulk to not fly away,
so we're definitely game for a visit to windy Easter Island!
Weather
Check Quiz Question 3: Why is it that large objects -trash cans, chunk of wood, even boulders - can be tumbled along by a strong wind, yet that same wind does not disturb the tiny clay and sand particles in the soil?
VPs
Got Us Cake and Champagne from New Delhi and a Great View of SF
Bay
Amit Kaushal,
Assistant Network Supervisor of New Delhi Television, Ltd. ("one
of India's best news channels," according to Amit), sent us some
virtual "cake and champagne" to celebrate the addition of two new
Vantage Pro stations to NDTV's collection, bringing the grand total
to 17.
The weather
stations are set up all over India, and report back to NDTV's studio
in Delhi, which then broadcasts a "weather ticker" across the veiwers'
screens. The information can also be accessed on the NDTV website, where you can click on a region to get the
latest weather data. Check it out.
Closer to home,
Davis staff members got to spend a few hours atop San Francisco's
Palace of Fine Arts visiting a recently installed a Vantage Pro
at the Exploratorium, one of Bay Area's most fascinating and educational
spots. It's "the museum of science, art and human perception" --
and a place where the scientifically curious from ages two to 102
can spend hours painlessly learning.
You can see
the station on the Exploratorium's webcam;
click "6" to see the VP. The VP is almost as gorgeous as those bay
views!
Weather
Check Quiz Question 4: According to the Exploratorium, what is the fundamental role of the oceans in our climate?
Never
Mind the Temp, What's the Heat Index?
All good Weather
Dudes and Dudettes know that when someone wants to know how hot
they will feel outside, and they ask "What's the temperature outside?"
they may be asking the wrong question. The temperature is only part
of the equation for how a person perceives the heat. The other half
of the equation is humidity. Add them together and you get the real
question: "What is the heat index?"
For example,
let's jet over to the Persian Gulf, or maybe the Gulf of Aden. We
check the thermometer and see that it is a pleasant 115ºF outside.
We can take 115ºF! But a few minutes into our dune-stroll and we
faint away with heat stroke. We should have also looked at the relative
humidity, which, on this particular day, is a not terribly unusual
34% (dewpoint: 80ºF). That leads to a heat index of a whopping 152ºF.
Back in the
U.S. of A., we saw some mighty impressive heat index readings during
a particularly torrid heat wave in 1995. During the late afternoon
of July 13, Cedar Rapids, IA, reported not-so-awful temps of 100ºF,
but with a relative humidity of 61% (dewpoint of 84ºF), it felt
like 134ºF. On the same day, Appleton, WI, reported an almost balmy
temp of just 101ºF, but with a relative humidity of 71% (dewpoint:
90ºF), the heat index was a killer 159ºF.
The American
Grand Champ of deceptive temperature readings, however, has to be
New Orleans. Back in July of 1987, the heat index was a hellish
177ºF, despite temperature readings of just 91ºF. (Relative humidity:
97%!!)
So next time
you are wondering whether you ought to take your lunch break out
on the patio, instead of looking at your Vantage Pro console's readout
of the outside temperature, you might want to check heat index instead.
Weather
Check Quiz Question 5: We all know that heat can be deadly.
Every year, an average of about 200 people die from heat-related
disorders. Are the following statements about heat stroke true or
false?
A. Symptoms
of both heat exhaustion and heat stroke include dizziness, vomiting,
weakness, and headache. However, if the victim is sweating, he or
she is probably not in danger of the more dangerous heat stroke.
B. Heat stroke
is a medical emergency that requires immediate medical treatment.
C. First
aid for heatstroke includes moving the victim to a cool place and
using tepid water, fans, and ice packs to lower his or her temperature.
D. More men
than women are heat stroke victims.
You're
Brilliant! Answers to Quiz Questions
Question
1:
Roadrunners are famous for being very tough little guys. How tough
are they? They are so tough, they not only eat rattlesnakes for
breakfast, they do it with style! Check out this description by
A.R. Royo from The
Roadrunner (Desert USA) website: "Using its wings like
a matador's cape, [the roadrunner] snaps up a coiled rattlesnake
by the tail, cracks it like a whip and repeatedly slams its head
against the ground until it's dead. It then swallows its prey whole,
but is often unable to swallow the entire length at once. This does
not stop the roadrunner from its normal routine. It will continue
to meander about with the snake dangling from its mouth, consuming
another inch or two as the snake slowly digests." Eeewww.
Question
2: Although it is the whole world to us, our Earth is one small
place when it comes to environmental impact. If our Apatosaurus
in Utah was strolling around on a particular day 65 million years
ago, he was quickly made aware of an event that occurred way down
in the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico: an asteroid 6 miles wide blasting
a 100-mile wide crater into the earth. According to the National
Museum of History's Department of Paleobiology, "the heat of
the impact sent a searing vapor cloud speeding northward which,
within minutes, set the North American continent aflame. The fireball
and the darkness that followed caused major plant extinctions in
North America. Environmental consequences led to global extinction
of many plants and animals, including the dinosaurs." The debris
flung into the atmosphere hung on - leading to years of darkness
and cold all over the earth. The good news? Apparently, a few furry
little creatures managed to make do in the dark and cold, leading
evolution to take a path toward some upright, tool-making, car-driving,
weather-station owners.
Question
3: Even when high winds are blowing only a few meters above
the surface, at the layer nearest the ground (less than 0.1millimenter
thick), the wind speed is always almost zero. Only particles that
protrude up into the wind flow, or are bounced up into the wind
flow by impact from another particle get picked up into the wind.
When they do, they can be carried for great distances. (Source:
Meteorology Today, by C. Donald Ahrens.)
Question
4: The Exploratorium's Global
Climate Change web pages explain that the ocean stores and transports
heat around the globe. "The oceans store vast amounts of heat, much
more than the heat stored by the atmosphere, because water is 1000
times more dense and has a heat-holding capacity four times that
of air. Ocean currents are primary highways for the transport of
heat around the globe."
Question
5:
A. False. Although
some heat stroke victims show "anhydrosis" or lack of sweat, many
people with temperatures higher than 105ºF sweat diffusely. Don't
assume that sweating means the person is not in danger. Lack of
sweat is often a symptom only of late heatstroke and is even less
common when the heatstroke is brought on by exercise in a hot environment.
If a person shows the symptoms, and has been exposed to high heat,
assume he or she has heatstroke.
B. True. Call
9-1-1 and begin first aid.
C. True. Move
the victim to a cool room or vehicle. Remove clothing and spray
with tepid water. Directing a fan at the person will help with evaporative
cooling. Ice packs placed on armpits, groin, and neck can help.
Transport to hospital with air conditioning on.
D. False. The
numbers of female and male victims are equal. However, infants and
the elderly are more at risk.
(Good reference:
Heat Exhaustion
and Heatstroke, by Amy Kunihiro, MD )
Who You Gonna Call?
Each month after the E-News goes out, we receive messages back.
Sometimes the messages are in response to a story we shared; other
times they are a request for help of some kind. We read all the
emails, answer those we can, and pass the rest on to the appropriate
departments.
We think you
should know, though, that if you're interested in the fastest possible
reply, news@davisnet.com
may not be the best place to send your message. Questions about
how things work should be addressed to tech support directly at
support@davisnet.com.
For general information about the products, such as how much cable
comes with a station contact sales@davisnet.com.
To request a catalog, you’ll find links for catalog requests
on our web site at http://www.davisnet.com/contact/catalog.asp
Please continue
to send your comments, weather URLs, and story suggestions to news@davisnet.com.
We look forward to getting your comments and any responses you have
to the E-News. Member participation is what keeps the E-News alive
and kicking.
Well, that’s
it for this edition. You’ll be hearing from us again next month!
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