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Jason Ramos of the Northern Cascades Smoke Jumpers is a very special person. Not only is he a member of the very elite and daring brotherhood of smoke jumpers, he is also the first person to send us a photo of a Vantage Vue in the wild! This Vantage Vue, mounted on the smoke jumper van, is in the process of proving to Jason that it will be a perfect addition to his firefighting unit. If, that is when, Jason is sufficiently impressed with how well the Vantage Vue performs, he may recommend it to the National Forest Service and other smoke jumper groups. Smoke jumpers are specialized fire fighters. They are specialized not only in their training and physical fitness, but apparently, in their lack of fear! Smoke jumpers parachute into the most remote, timbered, steep, boulder-strewn areas to control fires before they spread. They are trained to land in trees and get themselves on the ground. Tools, food and water are dropped in after them. Imagine, not just jumping out of an airplane, but jumping out of an airplane into a bunch of trees, and then imagine those trees are in the path of a forest fire. Wow. The history of smoke jumpers is full of firsts and innovations. After the advances in aeronautics made during World War I, it seemed a nice fit to use airplanes to fight fires, mainly by dumping water or chemicals. A few hardy souls thought dropping a fire fighter or two into the smoke might be a good idea, but it wasn't until the 1930's that the idea was taken seriously. The first training smoke jump was done by a group of about six firefighters, most of whom had never even been in an airplane, much less parachuted! But they weren't worried - they had the latest equipment, which included football helmets, boots and back support belts. (The night before the jump, sitting around a campfire, they learned of the death of a cargo dropper who had fallen out of a plane without a parachute. Bet there wasn't much snoring around camp that night.) In 1940, the first American smoke jumpers leapt into an actual fire; a few months later a smoke jumper went to the aid of a pilot and passenger in a downed plane. (You can read the memories of Rufus Robinson and Earl Cooley on the National Smoke Jumper Association page.) But no description of the history of smoke jumpers would be complete without a mention of the "Triple Nickels." Like the Tuskegee Airmen, the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion was an all black battalion; the only all black airborne unit in the US Army. Though highly trained and very capable, they were never allowed to fight in Europe. Instead, in 1945, they were sent to the west coast to deal with a little-known war tactic: balloon bombs. These incendiary bombs were set afloat into the jet stream in Japan, with the idea that they would land on the western US coast and ignite. Though not very successful at killing people, the bombs did cause forest fires. The Triple Nickels, in their three years of service, made a total of 1200 individual jumps into fires. They also suffered the first lost of life in a fire jump, and were the first to be called smoke jumpers. Today there are smoke jumper groups in the northwestern United States, Russia, Mongolia, and Canada. Their bravery and dedication have saved many acres of back country, as well as human lives. We are thrilled to think we might have a few Vantage Vues helping out the brave smoke jumpers.
Two thousand twenty two! Not years, but dots on the map! With over two thousand public sites on the WeatherLink map, the "24/7" weather data you need is bound to be there! Click on the WeatherLink map and start counting. (Don't see your backyard weather on the map? Get yourself WeatherLinkIP!! And then get yourself the WeatherLinkIP iPhone app!) >> Back to Menu We've Already Taken a Few Orders from the North Pole Vantage Vue is really taking the weather watching world by, uh, storm. Our newest weather station has been flying off shelves and taking on the weather all over the world just in time for the holidays. If there is a weather fan on your holiday list, you might consider getting a Vantage Vue to tuck under the tree. It's our easiest to install station, and is more affordable than our flagship Vantage Pro2, but it has the same speedy updates, looooong transmission distance, accuracy, and ruggedness. Already have a Vantage Pro2? You can enjoy the best of both worlds by adding a Vantage Vue console to your system. The Vantage Vue console is fully functional with your Vantage Pro2 and offers a few additional fun features, like the weather center and the "this time yesterday" feature. How handy would it be to have one console in the living room and another in the bedroom? If your weather buff has a station but no software, s/he's missing half the weather fun! Wrap up WeatherLinkIP and see what happens!
>> Back to Menu As the holiday decor starts to appear here in the Bay Area, we get a little "left out" feeling with all the images of sparkling, moonlit, pristine blankets of snow! While it does snow here occasionally, it is rare enough to make the news; and snow that "sticks" is headline-worthy. We can just hear our east coast and midwest readers moaning! Snow can be a pain in the neck, we know, not to mention very hazardous, damaging, and costly. But because we don't own a snow shovel, or even an ice scraper, we feel the need to come to the defense of snow! Here are our top six reasons to love snow: 1. It's beautiful. We recently visited the Sierras and woke up to the first snow. There are few things as lovely, in our opinion, than a fresh blanket of snow on the ground and in the evergreen trees. 2. Snow is an excellent insulator for plants and soil. If you happen to be a farmer in a place that gets very cold, you are grateful for a layer of snow that will retard the loss of ground heat and keep your soil from freezing to great depth. Frozen soil is impossible or difficult to cultivate and keeps spring rain water pooling on the surface instead of percolating down into the soil. 3. You can ski and snow board on it. (Here's a link to a story in the Central Oregon Bulletin about a very unusual snow boarder.) 4. Snow melts to make rivers and creeks run with clear water. Winter recreation leads to spring and summer recreation and provides much needed drinking and irrigation water. 5. Snow, especially new snow, absorbs sound and makes the world a quieter and more peaceful place. 6. Snowy weather gives you an excuse to get another gadget for your Vantage Pro2: a Rain Collector Heater! It will keep your rain collector from turning into a packed snow collector. So for now, you snowbound luckies, you can bask in the warmth of our envy. (We'll talk again, say mid-February?)
Weather Support Page Chock Full O' Info Have you checked out our weather support pages lately? One of the perks of being a Davis user is getting access to all the info we can cram into your voracious little head! We post spec sheets, manuals, and maybe best of all, software updates. We even have installation videos and replacement parts. All free for the clicking. In fact if you are a Mac user and have WeatherLink for Mac, you might want to go download the latest update for of WeatherLink for Mac right now. (It's free!) The update will allow your software to work with Vantage Vue, and it has added USB drivers that support Snow Leopard.
>> Back to Menu Vantage Vue Gets Its Praises Sung We really don't like to brag, but when somebody does the bragging for us, we are not against repeating it!! Vantage Vue got such a nice review on the Australian web site Digital Reviews, we thought we'd just mention it and give you the link. Oh, okay, if you insist, here are some highlights: "Suffice for me to say it simply does everything you could possibly want, plus more. ...With other reviews I have done, I have always found something I believe is not quite as good as it could be. This is one of those rare occasions when I can find nothing wrong. ...Did Davis set a new overall benchmark for their competitors to aspire to? They sure have!" Thank you. (Sometimes it's just really hard to be humble.) Let's Talk About the Birds and the Beers Dennis Timm, of North Bend, Washington, knows his birds and beers. In response to our September issue, Dennis wrote, "I am reasonably certain that the hummingbird featured in this edition is a Rufous, not an Allen’s. While they are virtually indistinguishable from one another in the field, western Washington State has only two natives: the Rufous and Anna’s. The Rufous also hangs out on open branches, as I have witnessed countless times in my backyard. It would be a very windblown Allen’s that made it this far north. " Also, Fremont, Washington is the 'Center of the Known Universe.' Just ask anyone who lives there. They are also the original home of Red Hook brewing, one of the very first micro brews, established in 1982. Fremont is actually part of Seattle. They even have a web site." Well, Dennis, you might be right about the bird. >> Back to Menu We've Heard of Cat Burglars, but Bird Thieves? Keith Lathrop, of Hendersonville, North Carolina dropped us a note to tell us about a strange occurrence in and about his Vantage Pro2. "I have had my Vantage Pro2 for about two years --without a single problem of any kind, I might add. Several months ago I noticed the debris screen for the rain collector cone was missing. I figured it must have been a bird thief and temporarily placed a small piece of screen wire shaped like a cone down in the rain collector with a small rock on it. Today when I checked the cone the small screen was missing but the small rock was still there. There on a hanging basket right below the rain gauge was the piece of screen wire. Now I wonder, which bird would confuse a plastic debris screen and also a small piece of screen wire for food? Perhaps I am accusing birds incorrectly and shouldn't but I can't imagine wind causing this displacement of filters nor the two filters sprouting legs and jumping out of the cone. Has anyone else had this type of problem? Perhaps Davis should design the debris screen so that it snaps into place in order to discourage thieves, or the sprouting of legs." Keith, birds and Vantage Pros go together like, well, like birds and any nice high perch! We know birds have been responsible for um, adding stuff to rain collectors, but this is a first for stealing things! We know crows like to collect odds and ends, or perhaps a mama bird thought your screen might be a nice addition to her nest. Or the one who took the wire screen might just be a Weather Bird, because they are sticklers for accuracy, and she knew a non-standard debris screen might alter your rain data. We don't suggest making a new screen out of wire or anything else for your rain collector, and the rock! Accckkk! No matter how small, a rock or a non-standard screen can block rainfall, cause bounce out, or damage the slick interior of the cone. We can provide you with a replacement debris screen. Contact our Tech Support team for more information. (Maybe you should ask for two, Keith!)
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What do you think of the E-Newsletter?How can we improve? How do you use your Davis weather products? Email us at news@davisnet.com. Question 1: True or false: Most "hotshots" are also smoke jumpers. False, but put it the other way around and it's true! Hotshots or members of hotshot crews, are highly skilled and specialized wildland fire fighters. They tend to make very good smoke jumpers because of their physical fitness, experience and training. >> Back to Menu Question 2: What is the Pineapple Express? If you are a weather buff, then the right answer is B. If you are a movie buff, the right answer is D. If you are a weather-loving, movie-watching pineapple fan, the right answer is both! >> Back to Menu Question 3: How does the United States National Weather Service determine the intensity of a particular snowfall (light, moderate, or heavy) determined? By visibility. If the horizontal visibility is greater than 1/2 mile (0.8 km) it is light; if it is more than 1/4 mile (0.4 km) it is moderate; if it is less than 1/4 mile (0.4 km) snowfall is heavy. >> Back to Menu Question 4: Are the folks who think elevation accuracy is not terribly important: The most right answer is C, the most wrong is A. We'll allow you to make a case for B and D as well. Here is a fun way to see just how sensitive your Davis barometer is. Change the barometer units to read in HectoPascals. (How? On your Vantage Vue or Vantage Pro2 console, press BAR, then press 2ND, then UNITS until data reads in hPA.) Put the console on a high shelf, wait for the barometer to update (barometer updates once a minute). Now put the console on the floor, and see what happens. Remember that this is just a five- or six-foot difference! (Okay you sticklers, we guess the pressure could actually change in the two or three minutes it will take to do this, but it is not likely.) If you are interested in the numbers: The barometric pressure decreases by .01 inches for every 9.26 feet you rise; 1 mm for every 113 cm (3.7 feet); 0.1 hPA for every 2.74 feet / 84 cm. So while we recommend getting your elevation as close as possible to reality, you can see that even a few feet will make a difference in your accuracy! >> Back to Menu Question 5: Besides crows, what other bird family is famous for collecting human and natural objects to decorate and attract a mate? The males of the family Ptilonorhynchidae, known as Bowerbirds, construct fabulous love nests, or bowers to lure in that special feathered hottie, and as many of her sisters as possible! They spend most of a year and use flowers, twigs, plus any manmade tidbit they can find to make the place (and themselves) irresistible to the ladies. Australia, home of lots of fascinating avian life, has several species of bowerbirds. Check out this article on Don Roberson's bird web site about bowerbirds and their bowers. >> Back to Menu Davis! What do you think of our new E-news format? 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. Vantage Vue, 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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WEATHER IN ACTION
