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31 July 2017
The Secret Discoveries Scientist Are Hiding
Every cancer specialist has the cure for cancer in his desk, and every climate scientist has proof that carbon dioxide is not causing global warming. Oh, and every physicist has a paper showing Einstein’s theory of relativity is all wrong, and I need to come clean as well since I’ve been hiding a method of dissipating hurricanes for 35 years. All these earth shattering, Nobel prize winning, pieces of science …
21 July 2017
The Cognitive Bias Survival Guide
As a reporter in Tampa was doing a story on an Alligator in the road yesterday, someone drove past and screamed “Fake News!” I suspect the gator was real, and the story was factual, but this is happening rather frequently. You might ask how people can be so deceived that they will accept news only from those who tell them what they want to hear. Unfortunately, this is the America we …
6 July 2017
GOES-16 View of the SAL around Tropical Depression 4.
The image above is from GOES-16 (Ctsy. CIRA) and you can easily see the dry dusty Saharan air to the North and east of Tropical Depression 4. This layer of dusty air is called the SAL for Saharan Air Layer, and it often inhibits tropical cyclones. It’s already impacting TD 4. The new GOES-16 continues to wow we meteorologists. Truly, a new era is underway. Update 12 AM EDT 7 July) …
25 June 2017
Tom Nichols is Spot On
The Death of Expertise “Tom Nichols, a professor of national security affairs at the US Naval War College, says America has become a country “obsessed with the worship of its own ignorance.” Americans have always been skeptical of intellectuals and experts. Today, says Nichols, that attitude has mutated into outright hostility. In general, Americans have never been so willing to reject the knowledge of those who actually know something. This …
19 June 2017
Fire & Rain, and Heat as Well.
Intense heat, with low humidity has led to a horrible catastrophe in Portugal. The hot and dry weather in Europe led to a firestorm in Portugal that killed at least 60 people. A strong upper level high pressure system will stay over the area tomorrow and little or no rain is in sight. This high pressure is bringing warm weather all the way into the UK with highs tomorrow in …
13 June 2017
An Anthropogenic Heat Advisory
So, why such a small Heat Advisory? Look at the temps. at 11 PM EDT Monday night: Note the temps. in Central Philadelphia and Wilmington are around 6-10 degrees F. warmer than the surrounding areas. Yes it’s the urban heat island effect, and Philly has a big one.The extra heat pushed Philly beyond the criteria for a Heat Advisory, while areas away from the city were not hot enough. You may …
6 June 2017
The Clown Just Popped Out of the Box!
Since the U.S. pulled out of the Paris accord last week, old climate myths have been crawling out of their coffins. This includes some real winners from the past like “They said in the 70’s we were going to freeze to death!”, but I have yet to hear the “but grapes grew in Greenland!” claim. Just in case, John Cook at Skeptical Science has a long list of these along …
28 May 2017
How To Get Your Science Noticed? Get The Government to Try and Cover It Up!
Raul Grijalva, the ranking member of the House Committee on Natural Resources, sent a hot letter this week to the Secretary of the Interior. It was about the removal of the first line of a USGS press release last week. The press release was about a newly published paper showing a dramatic increase in coastal flooding as sea level rises, and I wrote about it last week here. Even Richard Nixon …
18 May 2017
Every Student Needs To Understand This
You really should read Tom Friedman’s book Thank You For Being Late. He skillfully put into words something I’ve been thinking about for a long while now about education and why a high school diploma is no longer enough. Every student needs to understand this, and students and parents, you ignore it at your peril. The Culture Issue Our educational system could certainly use improvement since, in most of the …
9 May 2017
This is Long, but it Explains a Lot.
A friend of mine told me about this essay, and while Foreign Affairs magazine is not on my usual reading list, I see why it has such a high reputation. Take the time to read this.
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.