Meteorology

The subject of meteorology deals with the weather and climate of planet earth. Weather forecasting is the most popular career in meteorology. Meteorological scientists may also specialize in collecting and analyzing data on global warming, study atmospheric conditions, assist in airport design, testify as expert witnesses, and the develop computerized meteorological information systems. A bachelor’s degree in meteorology is the basic requirement for an entry-level career in this field...Read Full Story

We where greeted by some unexpectedly warm weather this weekend. It allowed our tremendously exciting agenda of grocery shopping to be wrapped around a trip to the park. Trinity, our oldest had Monday off for Pulaski Day . Upon hearing about the impending deterioration of weather, we looked for school closures on the news. Fox news is as good as SNL for a weeknight dose of laughter, so when they over-dramatized the sudden shift in weather, the level of Emo gave Josh and I the laugh we...Read Full Story

We where greeted by some unexpectedly warm weather this weekend. It allowed our tremendously exciting agenda of grocery shopping to be wrapped around a trip to the park. Trinity, our oldest had Monday off for Pulaski Day . Upon hearing about the impending deterioration of weather, we looked for school closures on the news. Fox news is as good as SNL for a weeknight dose of laughter, so when they over-dramatized the sudden shift in weather, the level of Emo gave Josh and I the laugh we...Read Full Story

A couple of weeks ago Lionel Lévac, the agricultural specialist on Radio Canada in Quebec City, gave a long ramble about how larch trees always turn yellow the week before the first snow. Seems they had already in his bailiwick, and so he was forecasting a storm. The trees' predictive ability was pretty good for Lévac's region, but not for elsewhere since it snowed a few days later all over the province although the larches around Montreal were still as green as any other conifer. It was only...Read Full Story

Wednesday Quebec City received its 400th centimeter of snow this season, a fitting milestone in its 400th anniversary year. In Montreal we haven't had as much--only about three meters or something like 9.5 feet--but this is turning out to be a record-beating year. I took the picture last Sunday, a beautiful mild day with blue skies and much sunshine. Lee had just finished cleaning up after the last snowfall, and the snow banks are nearly as tall as he is: you can get some idea when you...Read Full Story

Whilst many news outlets reported that the beginning of December in the UK was the coldest since 1976, the reality is slightly more subtle, and depends upon the definition of 'the start of December'. Meteorologist Philip Eden reports that the 1st to the 7th, and the 1st to the 8th were the coldest since 1998; the 1st to the 9th was the coldest since 1980; the first to the 10th was the coldest since 1976; the 1st to the 11th was the coldest since 1981; and the 1st to the 12th, 13th, 14th and...Read Full Story

Getting tired of rain here, which has sent me looking for news about precipitation. It seems that good rains earlier this year in Burundi have meant good crop yields, according to he UN’s information service IRIN reports. Crops are so abundant that “prices in some markets had significantly dropped. A kilogram of beans in Kirundi now goes for 200 Burundian francs (US$0.16) from 600 francs ($0.40) previously,” the press release says. That’s good, probably, although it points out a basic problem...Read Full Story

Last night it was dark at nine o’clock. The days change by a minute or two, so slowly that you don’t really notice. But then suddenly the pieces fall in place and you realize that whereas it was clearly light until well after 9 p.m. in late June, it is now dark by then. The fact that it was cloudy and rain threatened only accentuated the general trend. The days are growing shorter, the construction vacation—that peculiarly Quebec institution—is half over, summer is advancing, and I haven't...Read Full Story

The fresh snow was crisscrossed by squirrel tracks this morning as I walked through Parc Joyce. The temperature is approaching freezing for the first time since mid-January, and obviously after weeks of deep freeze the beasties have awakened briefly to go looking for food. But I suspect the groundhog who foraged in our bumper crop of pears last summer won’t make it out of whatever hole he hides in: there's too much snow. If he did manage to dig his way out, however, he’d see his shadow and...Read Full Story

Wind followed rain yesterday, and to judge from the reactions to yesterday's post about Robert Louis Stevenson, it elicits stronger reactions. Here's another poem from Stevenson that seems to fit right into set of emotions that strong winds raise. The wind blew shrill and smart THE wind blew shrill and smart, And the wind awoke my heart Again to go a-sailing o'er the sea, To hear the cordage moan And the straining timbers groan, And to see the flying pennon lie a-lee. O sailor of the fleet...Read Full Story