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Davis Instruments Weather Club
November-December 2008
In This Issue:
DAVIS SPOTLIGHT PRODUCTS:
Great Weather Gifts for Great Weather Geeks
Oh, the holidays! Our favorite time of year. Not only do we get to experience some dramatic weather, we get to provide all the good boys and girls who love weather with a way to measure and record it all! It is truly Vantage Pro2 time of the year!
If you don’t have a Vantage Pro2, you might want to print out this newsletter and use a big, black, felt pen to circle this: I Want a Vantage Pro2 For Christmas. Then leave it somewhere strategically chosen to capture the attention of Santa Claus.
Is your roof or backyard already sporting the best home weather station ever? Here are just a few accessory gift ideas for the weather buff on your holiday list:
1. Add to his station’s usefulness by adding a second Vantage Pro2 Console/Receiver.
2. Upgrade her Vantage Pro2 to a Vantage Pro2 Plus by adding a UV Sensor, Solar Radiation Sensorr, and Sensor Mounting Shelf
3. Keep his Vantage Pro2 working all winter with a Rain Collector Heater.
4. Add a second
Wireless Temperature Station so she can keep tabs on soil temperature in the garden, water temperature in the pool, air temperature in the garage…
5. Let him post his weather data directly to the Internet with WeatherLinkIP .
Then you can snuggle up by the fire and sing, “Let it snow/rain/sleet/blow!”
Weather Check Quiz Question 1: What animal is Christmas Island famous for? (Hint: there’s a weather connection!)
A. Giant, destructive toads
B. Venomous Komodo dragons
C. Endangered ringtailed sloths
D. Migrating red crabs
(Click here for answers.)
WEATHER STATIONS IN ACTION:
Vantage Pro2 Offers the Only Real Time Hurricane Data in West End, Anguilla
Steve Donahue is an island kind of guy, running diving trips in West End, Anguilla, and living the laid-back lifestyle of sun and sea. But in October, the other side of Caribbean life made itself known as hurricane Omar cruised in for a visit.
“My Vantage Pro2 continued to operate right through the entire passage of hurricane Omar – the ‘backward’ hurricane that formed in the southwest Caribbean and then moved northeast thru the Virgin Islands and northern Leeward Islands. With winds measured by the Vantage Pro2 at 70 mph, the unit continued to transmit uninterrupted and – because I never lost internet service – allowed me to updat my weather site using generator power with live weather information. With the airport in Anguilla only operating dawn to dusk (Omar passed at 3:00 AM on October 16), the Vantage Pro2 was the only station on the island of 15,000 providing weather data as it was happening. While the sustained winds were not quite hurricane force, the large sea swells from the south and west did much damage to beachfront property, and washed ashore all eight boats that were anchored in Road Bay Harbor – including my 34-foot sailboat pictured below. On a south facing beach, a 35-foot sailboat was washed up over 100 feet over a rocky shoreline and into the bush.”
A Category 3 storm, Omar actually gave the area a lucky break by keeping its eyewall over the ocean. Damage on the islands was less severe than expected, and mostly to beaches and boats. Omar’s winds came onto the islands from the “wrong” direction. The usual trade winds there blow from east to west, and the major beaches are on the leeward side of the islands, or the west. When Omar came in with strong westerly winds, those normally protected beaches were hit hardest.
WEATHER 101:
Frost: NOT Just Frozen Dew
Is Jack Frost going to come visit your weather station soon? If so, will he dust it with true, or hoar, frost? Or will he just freeze some dew and be on his way?
You might be thinking, what's the difference? (Then again, if you are reading this newsletter, you may NOT be thinking that at all!)
Hoar frost forms from moisture in the air, without it first condensing into liquid. This is different from moisture that condenses out of the air, forming dew, which then freezes. You can tell the difference because hoar frost is composed of delicate, feathery ice crystals, while frozen dew is a solid frozen droplet.
Radiation frost forms when the surface temperature falls to below the dew point and the air and surface are colder than freezing. Hoar frost forming on the ground is most likely to happen on clear nights when clouds allow the heat to radiate quickly from the ground so it cools efficiently. It can form on the ground, cars, fences, roof tops, leaves, branches, pipes – almost any outdoor surface. (And those who live in a cold climate might have enjoyed Mother Nature's little perk of hoar frost forming on the inside of single-pane windows in a house where the moisture level is higher -- but not too high -- than outside.)
Another kind of frost is advection frost which is caused when cold air replaces warmer air and is trapped by the layer of warm air above it. Unlike radiation frost that forms in clear, calm conditions, advection fog occurs under cloudy, windy conditions.
While many of us think frost is just darned pretty, ask an orange grower what he thinks of it and you will get a very different answer. In fact, in the United States, frost damage creates a greater economical cost to agriculture than any other weather phenomenon. Not so pretty, when ice forms in your young orange and bursts the juice vesicles, leading to dry oranges. Or ask a person who maintains roads. He will think that frost heaving, the expansion and contraction of the soil, is also not very pretty. Skiers and residents of towns at the foot of snowy peaks may not think much of depth hoar, which can cause avalanches.
Since we are not growers, skiers, or road maintainers, we kinda like frost. Especially after seeing some very cool photos of "frost flowers" on
SnowCrystals.com.
But pretty or not, on our half of the globe at this time of year, frost is definitely on the menu.
Weather Check Quiz Question 2: In New Zealand, they use what to help prevent frost in vineyards:
A. Moths
B. Helicopters
C. Spray-on gels
D. Subterranean electric heating coils
Extra Credit 2.1: If your vantage Pro2 says it never got to freezing last night, yet you wake up to frost on the lawn, does that mean:
A. We are wrong; frost can form even if temps do not reach 0ºC or 32ºF.
B. Your Vantage Pro2 is wrong.
C. Neither A nor B.
D. Both A & B
Extra Credit 2.2: Just who is Jack Frost?
(Click here for answers.)
Just How Dangerous is the Weather?
We all worry about being struck dead by lightning or freezing to death while out shoveling the driveway. We worry about dying in a flood, or our house being swept off to Oz in a tornado. But really, how dangerous is the weather?
If we want a dose of reality to appease (or intensify, as the case may be) our concerns, the National Safety Council has figured out the odds of your dying in just about every non-natural way. This list is quite comprehensive!
According to their data, your odds of dying (over your lifetime) in a cataclysmic storm are 1 in 59,836. That might sound bad, but you are more than ten times more likely to die in an airplane accident (1 in 5,552).
It seems your odds of being killed by lightning are one in 81,949. You are more likely to die as a result falling, jumping or being pushed from a high place (1 in 53,094).
The odds you’ll die in an earthquake are one in 125,655, about the same as your odds of dying as a result of being bitten or struck by a dog (one in 139,617).
Freezing to death? At one in 5,576, it could happen. In fact, the odds of your dying as a result of any force of nature are one in 3,421.
But contrast that to your odds of dying due to risks we all take every day, just by going about our lives, like complications of medical or surgical care (1/1,308), assault by a firearm (1/324), falling (1/200), or, the big danger: motor vehicle accident: one in 84.
Your safest way to live dangerously? Ride a streetcar. Odds of dying: one in 3,769,664
Weather Check Quiz Question 3: Rate these from least likely to kill to most likely. No peeking at the chart.
Venomous snakes
Flood
Choking on food
Fireworks discharge
Alcohol poisoning
(Click here for answers.)
TECH TIPS:
WeatherLink for Windows Update, v 5.8.2
Our tech team has posted an update for WeatherLink for Windows on our support page. The upgrade fixes a problem with proper USB installation, especially with Vista. It also cleans up leaf temperature files, and daily UV Dose on the Daily Summary screen.
To upload it, click here or go to www.davisnet.com, click on Support on the top of the page, then Weather Support , then Software Support, and finally Software.
MAILBAG:
Ike’s Swath Reached Corn Country
Joe Niederhofer of Centralia, Illinois, wrote to tell us that his home state of Illinois was affected by hurricane Ike.
“Probably a lot of people around the country were amazed at the damage caused by hurricane Ike in Texas in September. I live in Illinois (and have a Vantage Pro2) and was very surprised to see the amount of damage done to the corn crop here.
“I slept in the morning that Ike went thru just west of where I live, so I missed the rain and wind. It didn't do much near my house anyway, but about 30 to 60 miles to the west, hundreds of acres of corn that was nearly mature was flattened by the wind and rain. Not all fields were affected, as it seemed to vary because of maturity, direction of the row planting and just the general lay of the land. There might be a large field flat on the ground while the field next to it was hardly touched. Nature, and weather of course, are amazing.
“The area had received ample rains during the growing season, so it was going to be a very good crop.”
Joe, you are so right. We often think of the effects of a hurricane all being felt where it came ashore, and fail to remember that just because it is weakened by coming onto land does not mean it is not still dangerous.
(Here’s a good story from Sign On San Diego on the subject. It points out that many Midwest farmers suffered serious crop losses, but a few others were actually helped by Ike's rain.)
YOU'RE BRILLIANT!:
Answers to Quiz Questions
Question 1: D. Every year about this time, rain events and tides somehow send a message to thousand and thousands of red crabs on Christmas Island. Upon receiving the message, every crab heads for the sea, through homes and over highways, where they mate. For those five or so days, the island is alive with big, marching red crabs. The migration is one of the most spectacular animal migration events in the world. The human inhabitants and visitors of Christmas Island do their best to protect the crabs, but driving over a street teeming with crabs leads to many inevitable crab crushings. Here’s a video on YouTube -– see for yourself. (Back to stories.)
Question 2: B. Dozens of low flying helicopters hover over the vineyards at night and use their blades to pull warm air down from the inversion layers and prevent pooling of colder air on the ground.
Extra Credit 2.1: Well, you know it sure isn’t B! Your Vantage Pro2 is telling you the truth. However, it is telling you the truth about the air temperature where it is, which should be about 4 - 6 feet (1.25 - 2 m) above the ground. The surface temperature can be much cooler. And the actual surface may be even cooler! If there is frost, then the temperature where it formed DID reach freezing or below. So the answer is C.
Extra Credit 2.2: Some elf who nips at your nose, of course. In other words, we don’t really know. But he probably came from Norse and Russian character of Jokul Frosti. Jokul is closely related to Santa Claus, and may even be the same being! There once was a Norse dude known as Father Frost who gave gifts to good children. But Father Frost was old and cranky and a bit scary, while Jack Frost is young, playful, beautiful, and fun who loves to entertain children -- and paint. So who knows? (Back to stories.)
Question 3: Guess we just have to avoid food and drink and not worry about rattlesnakes. Fireworks discharge 1/1,884,832; Venomous snakes 1/628,277; Flood 1/171,348; Alcohol poisoning 1/10,530; Choking on food 1/4,293. (Back to stories.)
WHO YOU GONNA CALL?
Davis!
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 contact sales@davisnet.com. To request a catalog, you’ll find links for catalog requests on our web site at 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 Davis E-News. Member participation is what keeps the Davis E-News alive and kicking.
Well, that’s it for this edition. You’ll be hearing from us again next month!
The Davis Weather Club E-Newsletter is published by Davis Instruments.
© 2008 Davis Instruments Corp. All rights reserved.
Vantage Pro2, Vantage Pro2 Plus, Vantage Pro, Vantage Pro Plus, Weather Monitor, Weather Wizard, WeatherLink, WeatherLinkIP, Weather Envoy, and Perception are trademarks of Davis Instruments Corp.
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