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24 February 2018
We are Not Amused. The Ridiculous Comment Every Meteorologist has Heard.
Meteorologist Keith Carson at WCSH in Maine likes to give grief in the form of facts to flat-earthers and chemtrail believers, but he just did a report that covers a comment that every meteorologist has heard many times: It must be nice to get paid to be wrong! My usual response is to point out that my batting average is higher than the best Major League Baseball player and then ask …
12 February 2018
The BBC’s New 14 day Weather Forecasts Are Bollocks
I have no problem with the BBC dropping the UK Met office for their forecasting and going with a private company. and their new on-air weather graphics are actually quite good. HOWEVER Their new 14-day deterministic weathercasts are (in terms the average UK bloke will readily understand) bollocks. Make no mistake, forecasts are getting better and better. A report (a few years back) estimated that reliable forecasts are increasing by about a …
4 February 2018
Groundhog Day From A Meteorologist’s Perspective
When I referred to Punxsutawney Phil as “that rat in Pennsylvania” on air last week, I received a hot email from a viewer upset about it (The groundhog is indeed a rodent but explaining this did no good). I also had the following Twitter message: I think Ashton is correct, and I know where she is coming from. I’d agree that most people do indeed know that Punxsutawney Phil or …
21 January 2018
Visitors to Our National Parks Deserve the Unvarnished Truth about History and Science
Note: The following is a guest post by Brian Ettling. It’s from his own blog, and I’m indebted to him for allowing me to share it here. I met Brian briefly at the AGU Science meeting in San Francisco a few years ago, and what he has to say is important. “A man or woman could hardly ask for a better way to make a living than as a seasonal …
17 January 2018
GOES-16 Lightning Detector Spots Michigan Meteor
My friend and superb meteorologist Paul Gross at WDIV has just posted some new info on the meteor last night in lower Michigan. It was loud, it rocked seismograms and it was even seen by an instrument on the GOES-16 weather satellite! Paul has a piece just posted with some cool info about this. My first thought last night was if the Geostationary Lightning Mapper on the GOES-16 might have spotted it, …
15 January 2018
What Science Really Knows About The Asteroid That Took Out T-Rex and his Friends.
NOTE: I had the wrong video posted. Fixed now. Every time I watch a TV show about a science field other than atmospheric science I have to remind myself that I’m being given a very simplified version. Sometimes too simplified, and I know it because when I watch a show on atmospheric science, I often cringe. This is true even on programs like NOVA because you can read the script for …
13 January 2018
It’s a New World; You Can Attend A Great Science Conference from Home
I’m just back from the AMS Annual Meeting, and like the much larger AGU meeting, it’s impossible to make every talk. That’s ok because it’s 2018 and (thanks to scientific discoveries) you just go online and watch what you missed! I did not make the AGU in New Orleans this year, but many of those talks are now online, and I plan on sharing some of my favorites here over the next …
11 January 2018
Dr. Richard Alley’s Amazing Talk at the Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society is a Must Watch
I’ve been at the AMS Annual Meeting all week and as always it was an adventure in learning in so many ways. My highlight was seeing two good friends become Fellows of the Society. Those in the Detroit area are lucky to have Paul Gross (at WDIV) and those in Columbia are lucky to have Jim Gandy (at WLTX). They are two of the finest broadcast meteorologists in the country. …
1 January 2018
Stopping by The Woods on A Snowy Morning.
Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some …
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.