This post is from my twice monthly column for a news paper out of Port O’Connor Texas called the Dolphin Talk. The focus is on last months Tropical Storm Debby and how hurricane tracks can be messy to predict.
http://thedolphintalk.com/2012/07/12/fish-out-of-water-by-thomas-spychalski-8/
The Storm Prediction Center in Norman Ok has stated that a high risk of severe weather is possible on Saturday, April, 14th, 2012.
As set ups for severe weather go this is most likely going to be a life threatening situation for some areas. This is also the earliest the SPC has ever issues a high risk, so this is serious indeed.
by Karin R. Herrmann
Weather-related phobias are a type of natural environment-related specific phobia. Just as a phobia can develop of any object or situation, any type of weather phenomenon can become the subject of a phobia. Some common weather-related phobias include astraphobia, brontophobia, or tonitrophobia (fear of thunderstorms), aluchophobia (fear of darkness), anemophobia (fear of wind), lilapsophobia (fear of tornadoes and/or hurricanes), heliophobia (fear of sunlight), cionophobia (fear of snow), or cryophobia (fear of ice or frost).
The Weather Phobia Support Group of the 4 States got some exposure for the group and severe weather phobias when a story about the group got written up in the Joplin Globe.
The World Meteorological Organization would like you to know that each year on the 23rd of March it is World Meteorological Day.
Who are the World Meteorological Organization?
What is World Meteorological Day?
Good questions.
Despite a horrible breakout of severe weather that broke out in 2011 and seems to be now carrying over to Spring 2012, the US Government proposes cuts to the National Weather Service (NWS), that could affect lives and property.
The cuts would come to the tune of forty-million dollars in cuts and the loss of one ITO computer specialist for every weather field office (WFO) who are the people who run all of the city/county locations for the NWS and also who give out severe weather warnings that save lives.
A system for profiling winds in the Midwest is also affected by the cuts. As is cutting all funding to providing better data for hurricane intensity as well as air quality forecasts.
Dan Sobien, President of the National Weather Service Employees Organization, had this to say on that matter:
“I believe cutting this position and the wind profiler network that’s across the Midwest will lead to a lessening of lead time for tornado warnings and it will put people’s lives at risk…
You’re talking about $325 million for military marching bands, $60 million to protect the salmon population in the Pacific Northwest and it’s going to be less than $10 million they’re going to save.They’re risking people’s lives to save $10 million. Apparently, they have $60 million to save salmon. It’s just crazy.”
But you can help by signing the petition to try and stop these obscene and misguided cuts to a vital and life saving national service.
