WEATHER 101 :
We Can’t Wait to Celebrate the End of 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season

At this point in US weather history, it’s hard to think about any weather other than Atlantic hurricanes. We’re counting the days until hurricane season ends. We guess we are excited to be witnesses to several record shatterings, but wish the records were for the fewest, least severe, and least damaging year in Atlantic hurricane history. For the past few weeks, the NOAA site has said, strangely, “There are no tropical cyclones in the Atlantic at this time." As of e-press time, "tropical depression 27" is lurking south of Puerto Rico and threatening to become the 24th named storm of the season, ending first break we’ve had since Beta. (Beta closed out October by causing lots of damage in Providencia Island, Nicaragua, and Honduras.)

Beta and his/her androgynous Greek sibling, Alpha, are ground-breakers just for existing. They are the first time in the history of naming storms (which began in 1953) that meteorologists have had to go beyond the 21 predetermined alphabetical names and into the Greek alphabet. Wilma, not content to merely tie 2005 with 1933 for number of tropical cyclones in the Atlantic, also had to set the record for being, at one point, the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. She killed 28 people on her way to the record books. Of the 23 named storms, 13 have been hurricanes (beating 1969’s record of 12), and seven were major hurricanes.

If you can laugh at any of this, you’ve got to be amused by a story in the Houston Chronicle about Lillie Wright, 73. She has eight children, including daughters, in this order: Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. Luckily, she has no children named Alpha, Beta, or Omega.

USA Today’s weather website has a cool graphic of all the 2005 storm paths. (Go to Resources on the side bar and click on “Graphic: 2005 storm season.)

Weather Check Quiz Question 1: What was the largest number of hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean at the same time? (And let’s all offer a group sigh of relief that, so far, that record does not go to 2005…) (Click here for answers.)

Extra Credit: Here’s a good question we found on the Palm Beach Post website: “How many tropical storms and hurricanes would it take to exhaust the Greek alphabet?” (Click here for answers.)

WEATHER STATIONS IN ACTION:
Davis Station Affirms What We Already Knew: We Have Some Nice Weather

John Fletcher, F.R.A.S., is an amateur astronomer in Gloucester. UK, so he knows how important a role the weather plays in trying to get a glimpse of the stars. He wrote to tell us about his chance to compare in real time, the weather-watching advantages of our Bay Area weather.

“I recently spent time at Mount Hamilton observatory at the University of California at Santa Cruz using the large 36-inch refractor to observe the red planet Mars. I had occasion to join as a guest professional astronomers at the 120-inch Shane telescope, and to my surprise, saw that one of the TV monitors displayed the Davis WeatherLink screen. The night assistant brought up my online station back in Tuffley in UK and we made some comparisons. Boy, their barometric readings were simply a straight line and mine were peaks and troughs on an almost daily, and often an hourly, basis. The humidity average there was 45% to 55%, while mine was nearer to 75% upwards daily. Also no rain for months! The stable air there above the cloud tops cloaking San Jose in Silicon Valley on many days was an amazing thing to see.”

We know, John, but we try not to gloat about our lovely weather more frequently than, say, ten times a day.

Vantage Pro2 Going Where No Weather Station Has Gone Before

Davis distributor, Craig Wicks of WeatherShack.com is sending one of his Vantage Pro2 weather stations where no weather station has gone before. “We were approached by a representative of the 2006 Amateur Radio DXpedition to Peter I Island in Antarctica to provide a weather station for their operation. As a fellow ham I can tell you that this is a BIG deal, not only to ham radio operators around the world, but also to universities and other research organizations. As they state on their website: 'More people have flown in outer space... than have set foot on Peter I Island!' This is only the third time (ever) that Peter I has been made 'radio' active! According to their rep, James 'Russ' Russell, weather data has never been taken, let alone relayed, from there."

WeatherShack is providing the Vantage Pro2 and USB WeatherLink and in return, they'll see a link on the Peter I site, as well as pictures of the equipment in action.

Craig went on to explain that "ham operators are very much interested in weather. Beyond their active support of severe weather-related activities, they also like to have weather information displayed at their stations so they can tell contacts what the current conditions are."

Good thing Vantage Pro2s love extreme weather! It's going to be fun to see what that VP2 reports.

EXTREME WEATHER STATION CONTEST:
Jason Really NEEDS a Davis Cap

Jason Hicok needs a nice, warm Davis cap. His weather station in Vinton, Iowa, tells us that Jason lives in a rather wet part of the world. On July 21, during a 20-minute period around 6 a.m., it recorded a temperature drop of 4ºF, peak wind speed of 63 mph, and rise in barometric pressure from 29.851 to 29.923 inches. But the cap is his because it also recorded 1.03 inches of rain, with a high rain rate of 20.57 in/hr. Sheesh.

Catch Santa in the Act of Delivering a Davis Weather Station

We know it’s only November, but the season of great gift gifting is at the door. Every year about this time we send out bunches of Vantage Pro2s, and we can only imagine the fun they’ll cause at gift-opening time. (You can start shopping right now! Click here to see our catalog online! Or call us and we’ll send a lovely gift certificate to your favorite weather buff.)

This year, we want to be included in the fun! Send us a photo of your favorite giftee opening or posing with his/her new Vantage Pro2. Tell us a bit about the recipient and why he or she was a good enough boy or girl to merit such a lovely gift. Winning photos (and we can just tell that there might be several, or even all of them!) will earn their owners a Davis cap. Try to get us the photo before January 15, 2006. (news@davisnet.com)

MAILBAG:
Davis Stations Blowing in the Florida Breezes

Storm Chaser Val Castor went down to Florida to visit Rita’s aftermath and had an interesting experience. He came across a toll bridge with a Davis station mounted on it. Inspired by his knowledge of Davis stations, he hit the “recall” button and found a gust of 115 mph recorded on 9/24/2005 at 2:54 am. He, and we, found that way cool.

Another old friend, John T. Van Pelt, of The StormStudy Project - Storm Education Team made the news during Wilma. He was happy to show off his Vantage Pro2 on several Fox News appearances.

“Our web traffic went up 2500 percent during the storm, too,” John reports. “I am blown away (no pun intended) by the range on the new Vantage Pro2 equipment! We were on one side of a 20-story building and the anemometer transmitter on the other side kept on ticking during the nearly Cat. 3 Wilma, even after the anemometer itself took a debris hit and quit registering! We have some great plans for using Vantage Pro2 gear in 2006.”

Andy Schut sent us a copy of a very informative Florida Public Information Statement, detailing weather during Wilma’s trip across Florida. At the bottom is this: “10/24, 9:05. Palm Beach. Gust to 103 mph reported by trained spotter 41 at Boynton Beach Blvd and Jog Road with a Davis Instruments anemometer.”

Spotter 41 turns out to be Rich Semmelmeier, and he wrote to say that that report was from the front part of the storm.

“We had even stronger winds on the back side of the storm,” Rich wrote. “There was another public information statement on the gust I had to 118 mph later in the day. Great equipment, it has survived many hurricanes here in Florida since the early 1990's when I got it.”

Rich sent us some amazing data from Wilma, the eye of which charged right through Boynton Beach. “Front eyewall: 9:03 a.m.; wind SSE, sustained wind 77 mph, gust to 103 mph. Back eyewall: 11:54 a.m., wind W/WNW, sustained wind 90 mph, gust to 118 mph. Lowest Pressure: 28.15" / 953 mb at 9:58 a.m. Total rainfall: 1.54 inches."

“Of interest," Rich added, "I also show a temperature and dew point drop of 8 degrees in the 30 minutes prior to the strongest winds at 11:54 a.m. This shows the interaction of the cold front with the hurricane to cause the increase in the winds on the back side of the storm. My Davis weather station actually survived the storm, but I had lots of damage to my home, such as roof, fence, screen enclosure, satellite dish, trees, etc. My front door even blew in at the height of the storm.“

You can view Rich’s Wilma data and graphs online.

Richard Fankhouser of Ft. Myers, FL filed this Wilma report: “It was 6 a.m. on October 24, 2005 when the full fury of hurricane Wilma began to be felt in Ft. Myers. My Vantage Pro2 was in place and ready to take anything Wilma could throw at it. As the gusts increased to over 100 mph and trees in the yard began falling, the console was recording what was going on outside our shuttered-up house. As morning passed into afternoon, we ventured outside to find a mess with trees down on the ground as well as on houses, no power or cable but our Vantage Pro2 was intact with the exception of a missing debris screen in the rain collector. What more can I say about the quality of this fine product? Hopefully next year we won't have the opportunity to put it to the test again but considering the fact that we had Charlie last year and Wilma this year, who knows what 2006 will bring!"

We're So Sorry, Uncle Irving!

Dave Van de Water, of Imperial Beach, CA, has a big nit to pick with us! We misspelled his beloved Uncle Irving’s name (in fact, we spelled it Irwin!) in last month’s Weather Check Quiz Question about attempts to alter the weather.

“IRVING Langmuir was my great Uncle,” Dave wrote, “and his first name was certainly not Irwin. I spent some very happy times with him as I was growing up.” Dave sent us a copy of the cover of Time magazine’s August 25, 1950 issue featuring an illustration of his uncle’s face beneath an umbrella. He also directed us to a more recent article in the fall, 2005 issue of Invention & Technology.

The article, “Weather on Demand,” by Stephen Cole, chronicles the history of serious cloud seeding, both to produce rain and as an effort to ameliorate the destructive power of hurricanes. Dave’s uncle is a major player in that history. In the article, Langmuir’s brilliance and creativity, along with his insatiable curiosity and zest for learning and life are well portrayed.

“Whatever work I have done, I have done it for the fun of it,” Langmuir said upon accepting a Popular Science Monthly gold medal in 1932.

We were reminded by this article of how young the science of meteorology is. When Langmuir set out to create rain during droughts, no one really understood just how rain is created naturally by clouds. His work, while never quite achieving the weather control he dreamt of, led to many discoveries on cloud physics – which is possibly of greater value in the long run.

Thanks, Dave, for keeping Irving’s name as clear as your memories of him.

Weather Check Quiz Question 2: Here’s a fun factoid from Cole’s article: Using rough estimates for the density of water inside an average cloud, how much water would a cloud one cubic kilometer in size contain? (Click here for answers.)

Extra Credit: Another fun factoid, thanks to Stephen Cole! In 1915, a rainmaker named Charles Hatfield did a very good job of creating rain in San Diego, CA. Why was this not such a good thing for the future of rainmaking? (Click here for answers.)

G. David Offers Further Clarification on Rain and Words

We are beginning to think we’d worry if we didn’t hear from smart-guy G. David Thayer after we send out an E-Newsletter! Last month’s issue and David’s enthusiasm for absolute accuracy inspired this note from him:

“The first of three answers to question #3 in October's Davis Weather News e-zine was technically incorrect. While it is true that Waialeale, HI, has the highest average annual rainfall in the world (good old Cherrapunji averages a 'mere' 428 inches or thereabouts), that wasn't the question. The question was 'Where in the world have the records been set for greatest annual rainfall, greatest one-month rainfall, and greatest 12-hour rainfall?' Cherrapunji holds that record, too, with 1,041.78 inches recorded between August 1, 1860, and July 31, 1861. I believe their record for a calendar year was about 888 inches in 1861. In either case, that will definitely keep your garden green! The Atacama Desert in Chile is certainly one of the driest places known. At one location there, a drought some four centuries long was broken in 1971 when a small amount of rain fell. That's a long time to wait for some rain!”

Thank you, Sir Boffin.

Weather Check Quiz Question 3: We just called our dear David, who must be one of Florida’s most affable atmospheric physicists, a boffin. What do we infer by that name? A. He reminds off a certain elegantly long-beaked marsh bird which nests in the Everglades. B. We think is not right as often as he thinks is. C. We aspire to honor his delight in research and science. D. He is a sailing enthusiast who built his own 20-foot, concrete hulled, double-masted Boffin schooner. E. He holds the world record for Boffin-Fighting, in which competitors try to knock one another off floating logs by whacking each other with inflatable plastic clubs. (Click here for answers.)

Jacob Surges to the Rescue of Fact

Jacob Domizio, of Greenwich, CT, begs to differ on our answer to a Quiz Question last month in which we state that storm surge is caused by the low pressure of the eye of a hurricane, with the effect enhanced by wind. He says it is the other way around, with wind being the main cause and low pressure adding a secondary, negligible effect. He backs up his assertion with link to a question and answer page on the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory website.

After checking a plethora of weather sources and finding the weather wizards a bit split on the primary cause of storm surge, we’ve decided that Jacob is right. Surge on, Jacob!

Weather Check Quiz Question 4: In the Atlantic Basin, if you are on shore awaiting the arrival of a hurricane, should you be hoping it will hit just a bit south of your town with its front right side, or a bit north, with its front left side? (Click here for answers.)

Driving Miss Vantage Pro

Subaru drivers who are also weather enthusiasts, like Tom Pratt, got a double treat when they got their fall issue of the Subaru magazine, Drive. There at the bottom of a follow-up article about the Mt. Washington Observatory, is a photo of Brian Yeaton’s (of “The Weather Notebook”) Davis-bedecked Subaru Weather Mobile.

That station looks good on you, Subaru!

Doc Duane Says Storm Surge Does Not Suck

It’s a lucky month when we hear from TWO of our favorite weather teachers! Duane Harding, Ph.D, couldn’t resist commenting on our description of storm surge in last issue. (We wrote, “When this low pressure passes over the water, it draws the surface of the water up like a straw.”)

“For years," the prof began, "I have told my students and interns that air cannot ‘suck.’ Air can only push – from high to low pressure. Low pressure cannot ‘draw’ liquid or air. That would require a force pulling the liquid or air. The lowest pressure is a vacuum; how can nothing exert a force? Liquid is forced up a straw when you ‘suck’ on it because you are reducing the pressure in your mouth. The higher air pressure outside presses down on the liquid and forces it up the straw. That’s how a mercury barometer works.

“At sea level, a barometer made of water instead of mercury would measure an average height of about 34 feet of water. What does that mean? If you had a 36-foot straw, you couldn’t sip lemonade, no matter how hard you suck. No matter how hard you try, you can’t sip lemonade on the moon. A vacuum well can draw water from underground to a theoretical depth of only 34 feet. (So how do wells get water or oil from greater depths? Several ways – do your own homework!)

"For every 34 feet you dive below water, you increase the pressure on your ears or your submarine by one atmosphere. The increase of pressure under water is linear – 68-foot depth is 2 atmospheres pressure. This is unlike the exponential decrease of air pressure as one goes upward in the air. (Why? Another homework question.)

“Back to the hurricane. If your explanation is correct, why is the storm surge always higher to the right of the center? Sometimes the highest storm surge can be a hundred miles away.”

After doing a very thorough job of telling us why our description of storm surge, well, sucked, Duane adds insult to injury by informing us that the main cause of deaths by hurricanes in the Atlantic, is the rain, not the storm surge or the wind. “Galveston, TX in 1900 was an exception, but if they had known about hurricanes then, they could have evacuated. Witness the mudslides in Mexico and the Caribbean Islands, the floods from a slow-moving tropical storm in the U.S. The levees in New Orleans gave way after the storm surge passed to the east. The amount of rain from a tropical system is related to its forward speed, not its maximum wind speed.”

You think Duane had a lot to say? We couldn’t tell you the half of it – he sent lots more fascinating stuff, but our fingers began locking up on the keyboard. (Good thing he doesn’t charge by the word…or even the fact!)

However, we just had to include this gem from Duane:

Weather Check Quiz Question 5 from Duane: The yellow slicker and hat that fishermen wear (you can see them on cans of seafood) – what is it called, and why? (Click here for answers.)

Tony’s Vantage Pro is Lonely in Cyprus

Tony Hutchinson has his Vantage Pro set up in Northern Cyprus. He’d love to get in touch with other weather station owners in the eastern Mediterranean to share data. If you and your weather station are in the area, send Tony an email! thutchinson@iecnc.org

YOU'RE BRILLIANT!:

Question 1: According to the NOAA’s hurricane site: “Four hurricanes occurred simultaneously on two occasions. The first occasion was August 22, 1893, and one of these eventually killed 1,000-2,000 people in Georgia and South Carolina. The second occurrence was September 25, 1998, when Georges, Ivan, Jeanne and Karl persisted into September 27, 1998 as hurricanes. Georges ended up taking the lives of thousands in Haiti. In 1971 from September 10 to 12, there were five tropical cyclones at the same time; however, while most of these ultimately achieved hurricane intensity, there were never more than two hurricanes at any one time.”
Extra Credit: Says the Post: “The answer is 24, and despite what some folks at competing ‘South Florida’ newspapers seem to think, they would end with Hurricane Omega, not Zeta. (Zeta is the sixth letter, not the last.)” They even have a link to the Greek alphabet for all of us who slept through Greek 101 and never joined a fraternity… (Back to stories.)

Question 2: Cole writes that clouds show a huge range of variations, but that most clouds have fewer than 200 droplets of cloudwater (each less than a tenth of a millimeter in diameter) per cubic centimeter. This computes to about one gram of water per cubic meter, or 250,000 gallons in a cubic kilometer.
Extra Credit: Hatfield did a good job indeed. He evaporated a secret combination of stuff into the air, and was rewarded with a “17-day deluge that totaled 28 inches. The downpour washed out more than 100 bridges, made roads impassable over a huge area, destroyed communication lines, and left thousands homeless.” We think that probably made other folks wishing for a few drops of rain say, “thanks, but no thanks, Mr. Hatfield.” According to Cole, attempts at serious rainmaking were curtailed by concerns over the legal issues of man-made rainstorms. No wonder. (Back to stories.)

Question 3: C. David’s Yahoo handle is flboffin, which stands for Florida boffin, because he wakes up every day eager to learn and celebrate scientific research. More than you probably wanted on the misunderstood British-based word can be found in a fun article on World Wide Words. (Back to stories)

Question 4: Depends on whether you like wind or rain better. The front right quadrant usually brings the fastest winds and is the most destructive. This is because the wind is blowing in the same direction as the storm’s forward motion. If you are more the rainy-day type, you’ll like being a bit further south, because the heaviest rains usually come with the front left quadrant. But we think you should be hoping you evacuated when you were told to evacuate… (Back to stories.)

Question 5: “The slicker, and they weren’t always yellow, is to protect the men from the rain, wind, and cold of a northeaster, as they are called here, or nor’easter as they are called in New England. Because the slicker counteracts a nor’easter, it’s called (Ta-Dah!) a sou’wester! Really.” (Back to stories.)

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 URL's, 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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