You are browsing the archive for November 2013 - Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal.
30 November 2013
Is Ison The Phoenix of Comets??
Just when everyone thought that little of it survived its high speed solar dive…. Stay tuned! More from NASA here.
29 November 2013
Solar Oven Melts Comet Ison
No Christmas comet it seems. NASA satellites (including SOHO) show Ison breaking apart and dimming as it approached the Sun today. Update 04:10 GMT Friday: There seems to be some indication that at least part of the comet survived. The most definitive word on it as of now is here: http://www.isoncampaign.org/karl/schroedingers-comet
25 November 2013
Weather Forecasting and Social Media; Are We Doing It Wrong?
My friend Greg Fishel (the long time Chief meteorologist at WRDU in Raleigh, NC) brought up something the other day that’s really stuck in my mind. It’s actually been bugging me for awhile, and it has to do with posting raw model data on the internet (and showing it on air). You may not even realize you are seeing it, and that itself is part of the problem. It’s NOT …
22 November 2013
Why Isn’t Tom & Jerry On?? My Memories of 50 years Ago Today
Everyone old enough to remember this day 50 years ago has a story, and here’s mine. I was a young child, and my memories of that day are a bit jumbled, but some events that day I remember like it was yesterday. The sky in Oklahoma was a bright but deep blue, and not a cloud was in the sky, just like Dallas 200 miles away to the south. My Dad …
21 November 2013
Automation, Weather Warnings, and Social Media
This is a guest post from The Digital Meteorologist by Nate Johnson at WRAL-TV at Raleigh in North Carolina. It brings up just one of the multitude of issues that forecasters face as we move into a world where social media is a prime source of news information. As Twitter, Facebook, and other social media began to take hold in weather centers and news rooms across the country a few …
19 November 2013
NASA Launch Tonight Visible Over Much of The U.S.East Coast.
A large high pressure system is producing clear skies over much of the eastern Seaboard tonight, and the visibility is excellent. This launch will actually put 29 different satellites in orbit, including one designed by a group of high school students! I’m just 40 miles away from it here in Salisbury, and should have a great view of the launch. I’ll post some pics of it later tonight here.( A …
17 November 2013
November Severe Weather Outbreak Expected Sunday in Ohio Valley
I cannot remember the last time I saw a moderate risk for severe storms in November, but it has seemed to happen more often in recent years. A negatively tilted trough will swing through the region on Sunday and severe storms will likely develop along a fast-moving cold front. The wind field will be strong as well with south winds of 20-30 mph ahead of the front, with almost all …
14 November 2013
Yes, The Planet Is Still Getting Warmer and Pretending it Isn’t Can Be Expensive.
Some interesting news in the climate science field this week. First is a new paper that indicates the so-called slow down in the warming over the last decade is actually an artifact of the lack of temperature data in the Arctic. An excellent summary is available on REAL CLIMATE. This is actually not a big surprise, since the Arctic is warming more rapidly than just about anywhere on the planet, …
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.