January 2009 Newsletter

Published 01/05/2009 | By WD4NYL

ALERT NEWSLETTER – January 2009 Vol. 2 No. 7 Hi Everyone, I hope you all had a good Christmas & that 2009 treats you well. The first thing I’ll comment on is the Spotterchat. Activity during the last storms has been good & interactive, with, people chatting & good reports coming in. This I’m glad to see. As you probably know, the prototype IEMChat will be terminated on February 3 and replaced by the new NWSChat. So, if you are an Operational Member, please be sure to sign up for a NWSChat account by that date. See https://nwschat.weather.gov On another note, if you are a user of radar provided by the College of Dupage, they have had serious problems with their server, which they are close to resolving. It you haven’t tried the COD radar, once they get it fixed, you should. They provide displays not available on the NWS website. Multiple radar angles, storm relative velocity, storm radial velocity, 1 hour precip, storm total precip, vertical integrated liquid, storm echo tops and more. And, when the NWS site is slow or down due to overload during storms, COD will still be up and will be faster than the NWS site. A good radar program is Metwise by Ensco Inc. It is a home version of the NWS AWIPS – Advanced Weather Information Processing System. See http://www.extremeforecasting.com/net/details.htm It’s very good, but, it’s not free. Running $9.95 a month But, then again neither is Gibson Ridge, which, is perhaps the best thing out there. See http://www.grlevelx.com/ This is very good, but, has a high (to poor folk like me) purchase price. But, is the most advanced public radar available. If you want a whole heaping helpin of radars you might check out http://www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/ and go to Emergency Quicklist. These are good & they are MY type of price – FREE! ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Mark’s Almanac January is named for the Roman god Janus, the god of gates and doors, and so openings and beginnings. January receives more sunlight than December, but the equilibrium between incoming solar heat and the heat radiated into space by the northern snowfields does not peak until late January and early February, six weeks after winter solstice. So the weather continues to cool, with January 8 – 20 being the coldest part of the year. One of the most tragic outbreaks of cold weather in Alabama occurred January 10-18, 1982, when 20 people died and 300 were injured. 16,000 people were forced into emergency shelters and storm damage totaled 78 million dollars. At least 5 people perished in the extreme cold of January 19-22, 1985, that rewrote low temperature records over much of Alabama. This storm brought ice accumulations up to one foot in Lauderdale County. Bridges were coated with ice well into Central Alabama and four people were killed in traffic accidents on icy roads. On Saturday January 19, 2008 Central Alabama enjoyed a rare snowfall, with Trussville getting 0.8 Inch, and Central Alabama getting from 2 to 5 inches from Dallas to Chilton County. Typically in January there is a 53% chance of up to one inch of snow & a 25% chance of over one inch of snow. And, just in case global warming goes in reverse this January, here is how to build an igloo: http://beta.nfb.ca/film/How_to_Build_an_Igloo/ Which proves I spend too much time on the internet. Barometric pressure is highest in January. January’s Full Moon is “Wolf Moon” in Native American folklore. ………………………………………………………………………………………. This month’s meeting will be on January 13 at 7PM at the National Weather Service Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport. I hope to see you there. Mark / WD4NYL President ALERT www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/

Posted in ALERT Newsletter

January 2009 Newsletter

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