JayStream

These are difficult days in tornado alley – if you are a storm chaser seeking twisters for fun or profit. That was proven on Wednesday afternoon, when an army of chasers flooded into the panhandle of Nebraska from all directions after the Storm Prediction Center had rated this patch of prairie a paltry 2% risk for tornado production.

For a meteorologist spectating from afar, it was a curious situation. A cold front had passed through the area several hours before, and only some post-frontal thunderstorms were anticipated. A glance at the Rapid Update Cycle atmospheric profile showed the air in the lowest few thousand feet of the atmosphere was dry, the opposite of what is required to feed supercell-induced tornadoes. The wind field was weak, and the available potential energy was elevated above high cloud bases. The SPC’s mesoscale discussion promised only “a few damaging wind gusts especially if short bowling line segments can organize.” No watch – tornado or thunderstorm – would be issued this day.

Yet the chasers had seized upon the long-shot and raced to the panhandle. The Vortex2 tornado project was already in the area with an armada of equipment in search of a rare, 2009 High Plains tornado. When a garden-variety thunderstorm popped up south of Alliance, Nebraska, chasers swirled around its flanks hoping for the action that would never materialize. It was fascinating to watch the GPS locations of more than a dozen chasers converge on the center of radar reflectivity – on a storm that did not even warrant a severe thunderstorm warning.

The drought of tornadic weather has been unlucky for the world class scientists and researchers who have set aside five weeks of their lives hoping to study tornadoes in Vortex2. One would expect good odds for severe weather in tornado alley in late May. So far this year it has just been wishful thinking.

After Wednesday’s bust, the outlook for the rest of the month is no better. Vortex2 announced it is grounding its media chase vehicle due to poor expectations for severe weather.

Thursday the Storm Prediction Center’s Convective Outlooks were released with what is probably an unprecedented severe-free late May. The SPC forecast contained no high, moderate, or even slight risk areas for the entire nation going out eight days. That means no areas of organized severe weather are anticipated for the final week of May.

With that outlook, it appears most tornado chasers will have to find something else to chase for the Memorial Day Weekend and beyond.

Jay Weather storm chasers, tornado alley, tornadoes, Vortex2

Tucked away in the “Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights” approved by Congress is a clause aimed at protecting those who act irresponsibly at the expense of those who follow the rules. Actually, most of the bill does that. But here I am talking about the bill’s crackdown on credit extended to teenagers and young adults.

Consumers under the age of 21 will be required to have a co-signor, or be able to prove they have independent means of paying their bills. It also limits prescreened offers of credit to young consumers, and places limits on credit card marketing to students.

The bill is clearly intended to strike back at evil credit card companies and banks, which apparently can’t make a profit despite their predatory practices. By restricting the ability to do business with those under 21, credit companies will find it even harder to return to the black.

But the bill is also an insult to college students, the nation’s best and brightest, who are now being told by Congress that they aren’t smart enough to be trusted with a Visa card. Those who are old enough to drive, live on their own, or serve in the military aren’t considered mature enough to say, “charge it.” Responsible young people will be penalized because of the actions of others who used credit irresponsibly.

We all know stories about college students running up bills by over-charging on newly acquired plastic. I suspect those so pre-disposed would have demonstrated poor spending habits later in life anyway.

For me, the acquisition of credit was a valuable lesson I was fortunate to receive. Like many boys, I had a paper route, necessitating a checking account at the age of ten. When I was fourteen, I applied for and received a Dayton/Target credit card. The account had a fifty dollar limit, which I often maxed out. But it taught me how to spend wisely and pay my bills on time, with the dreaded interest rate experience included for good measure.

A couple of years later, I received a Sears credit card. This one had a whopping two hundred dollar limit, which I handled with care. During college I worked at Sears briefly and found I was the only employee in the catalog department who actually had a Sears card. I was told Sears was very selective about who received credit, and even the assistant manager had been deemed unworthy by the Sears credit people.

That was a long time ago, and I no longer have a Dayton’s or Sears credit card. But I am still proud to have a credit history dating back to my teenage years. I wish more of today’s youth could have that experience. But Congress has just deemed them untrustworthy.

Jay News Congress, credit card

We get a lot of questions from schoolchildren – especially when they are assigned to research a potential career by writing to people who work in that industry. Here is a list of typical questions about becoming a meteorologist, with my typical answers.

What does a meteorologist do?
Most meteorologists are involved in forecasting the weather. Broadcast meteorologists deliver forecasts on television. Government meteorologists (e.g. National Weather Service) prepare forecasts for the public and aviation sectors. Research meteorologists investigate the science behind the weather, contributing to better forecasts.

What does a person have to do to become a meteorologist?
An undergraduate college degree (B.A. or B.S.) is the bare minimum for any career in meteorology. Increasingly, employers are giving preference to job seekers with graduate degrees. Even in television, which used to require no degree at all, you will find some meteorologists with Master’s (M.A. or M.S.) degrees – and even a few Doctorate (Ph.D.) degrees.

What made you decide to become a meteorologist?
Almost everyone in meteorology can trace their career path back to an interest in weather during childhood. Many can point to a specific storm they can recall in vivid detail that pointed them toward a career as a meteorologist. There are exceptions, of course. I myself started in television as a sportscaster, became a newscaster, and turned to weather after taking university classes as a non-traditional (meaning older) student.

What is your favorite weather to forecast?
My specialty is severe thunderstorms, but I enjoy the challenge of winter weather as well. Snowstorms are probably the most challenging to forecast, because the “bust” potential is so high. A degree or two difference in temperature can turn a snowy forecast to rain, and sometimes snowfall comes in narrow, heavy bands in which one place can get 6” while 30 miles away people get nothing.

Do you love your job? If so, why?
Yes. Meteorology is one profession which is never the same from one day to the next. As a forecaster, you get an immediate report card on your skill by simply looking out the window. If a public forecast is wrong, everyone knows it. But there is a silent satisfaction that many people fail to appreciate – most of the time the forecast is correct.

How much money do you make?
I think it is fair to say that a beginning meteorologist will make about the same salary as a school teacher. The very best broadcast meteorologists in America make salaries exceeding a few hundred thousand dollars per year. No jokes about getting paid even when you’re wrong, please.

Jay Television industry, Weather career, degrees, education, meteorology

President Obama’s background in community activism has apparently set the standard for his administration’s behavior. Two months ago, cabinet level officials participated in a conference that promoted civil disobedience. It was yet another significant story that the media chose or neglected to cover in any great detail. American media, that is.

The BBC has a continuing series called “The Ethical Man,” featuring quirky reporter Justin Rowlatt. He is roaming around the United States, collecting views about climate change from the perspective of the common man. This week, BBC Newsnight aired an installment in the series in which Rowlatt attended the Power Shift ‘09 conference in Washington February 27-March 2. Rowlatt elicited a level of candor about climate initiatives unlike anything revealed on newscasts in the US.

Power Shift is an organization which defines itself in a stated “demand“:

We want politicians to stand up to the dirty energy lobby and pass the energy and climate policies we truly need. We expect the politicians we elected in November to listen to what science is telling us and act immediately to reduce emissions, create jobs and re-engage globally to tackle the climate and economic crises.

The Power Shift ‘09 conference received only passing coverage in the national media, except for the attention garnered with a post-conference protest at a power plant. But Rowlatt put more effort into it, and came away with an amazingly candid view of radical environmentalism now promoted to the mainstream thanks to the election of Barack Obama.

Rowlatt’s story can be viewed by following this link. The whole story runs more than 14 minutes, but you can fast forward to the 6:25 mark to start with the conference.

The administration’s level of support of the conference and its attendees (described by Rowlatt as “what many people would consider a rabble of green radicals and student activists”) played out. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar told the group, “You are the engines of change… I am here for Barack Obama, because he is the agent of change.” EPA administrator Lisa Jackson also spoke, after being introduced to the throng as “one of us.”

Powerful government officials showed up at that conference, lending the credibility and support of the administration, presumably helping to recruit environmental activists. Down the hall from the speeches a class on civil disobedience was taught, teaching protesters how to chant and link arms and resist arrest.

Rowlatt pointed out that if Congress fails to pass climate change legislation, the administration is planning an end run using the regulatory powers of the EPA to impose a carbon cap on the nation. Rowlatt confronted administrator Jackson on the subject, and she told him that the EPA had begun to “wake up its regulatory machine” and was there to “backstop the President.” After the conference, on April 17, the EPA declared carbon dioxide and five other gasses “pollutants that threaten public health and welfare” – subjecting them to government control.

The protest tactics taught to those who attended the conference were later employed in an attempt to shut down a nearby coal-fired power plant. Never mind that the plant operates legally under laws passed by our Congress. But neither the power plant nor the US Congress matters any more, because the federal government is now run by environmentalists who support mob mentality, and have the power to circumvent existing laws to impose their own agenda. No one can stop them.

Jay News, Weather