Weather or Not

Severe Outflow by R. Edwards

Scattershooting 160508

by Leave a Comment

Scattershooting while mourning the loss of Blackie Sherrod, one of the greatest sportswriters…hell, one of the greatest journalistic writers, period, of my lifetime. He started the “scattershooting” tradition many decades ago; and I, for one, plan to carry it forward by doing the same from time to time, on this BLOG, in my style. Get ready for brutal honesty; it’s the only way I know.

…

I’ve been on five storm intercepts this year, four of them substantially in the same Frederick-Lawton-Marlow corridor. All have been wet, messy supercells or bow echoes–interesting and worth observing (given their close proximity to home), but not yielding much in the way of outstanding photography. Regardless, the mere opportunity to head out a short distance and observe a fascinating variety of severe-storm morphologies, multiple times per year, is a privilege I do NOT take for granted. Every storm intercept is a unique adventure and learning experience. I’d like to thank visiting Polish atmospheric scientist Mateusz Taszarek for his keen and enthusiastic company on all the SW OK storms so far.

…

As I ponder the upcoming High Plains storm-observing season, the mind’s eye wanders longingly toward those tremendous, post-frontal, upslope-flow supercells that roll off the Laramie Range a couple days each June, like clockwork. They never fail to plant astounding storm structure and/or a picturesque tornado in the viewfinder–sometimes both. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Raton Mesa, Palmer Divide and Cheyenne Ridge too. But all things equal (and how often are they?), I’ll choose the rotating slinky coils that lumber eastward to southeastward off the Laramies toward Yoder, La Grange, Morrill and Pine Bluffs. Their beauty and power mesmerizes me.
…

We’ll need to behold and appreciate all the natural beauty we can find, and seek solace outside this world (in the Lord), given the continuing degradation of mankind. Here we go…

…

Speaking of degradation, are you on the left and want someone to blame for Trump? Since leftists love to assign blame instead of solving problems, look no further than Obama. Yes, Obama begat Trump. Every overreaction has an unequal and opposite overreaction. The pendulum keeps swinging wider and wider. That’s the brutal and unpleasant truth. Trump’s support is the overreaction to the thoroughly and unequivocally disastrous Obama regime, which was an overreaction to a mixed-results Bush administration. Both Obama and Trump, at this stage of the game, were/are presidentially unqualified figureheads of pathetic personality cults; and indeed, one is the yin to the other’s yang. Sad thing is: Trump isn’t even an actual conservative; in many ways he is a flaming liberal. Celebrity-worshiper voters, willing to follow any Pied Piper who promises them hope and change, feed these political monstrosities, and the second monster was spawned by the first.

…

So Bernie Sanders’ supporters are dissatisfied by the powerful moneyed lobbyists and corrupt political climate of Washington, and the Fourth Amendment-violating invasions of Americans’ privacy by the NSA and CIA. So am I, actually, even if I think Sanders is a Utopian leftist crackpot with unworkable solutions, behind his facade of an affable and congenial old guy. So who has been overseeing that source of angst for the last eight years? Guess Obama didn’t deliver the “hope and change” you wanted, did he? Blame Congress instead? Bullcrap. The President and Congress were Democrat-dominated for two years and didn’t even accomplish then what Bernie and his far-left lapdogs want. In fact Obama’s underlings doubled down on the domestic spying from the Bush era. Hey, this is what you voted for. You should have known he, like the overwhelming majority of politicians, would sell out on many of your ideals. Guess what: so would Bernie. That’s right, so would Bernie. The only one I’d even partly trust to make any dent in the spying/cronyism machine is Rand Paul or perhaps the Libertarian candidate that emerges from their upcoming Orlando convention. The former is out of the race, and the latter is unlikely to win despite likely getting my vote. Hanging onto the promises of any one politician is a setup for disillusionment and despair when they inevitably break them. The sooner you realize this, the less naive and more truly enlightened you’ll be.

…

Bernie Sanders’ odds of winning the primary asymptotically approach zero as Hillary racks up “superdelegates” in a rigged party-machine system, and as more time passes with no criminal indictment against her from a Chicago Democrat-machine Department of Justice. Now, how convenient it is for many Bernie supporters, they of the religiously self-righteous, anti-corporate, income-inequality Puritanism, quietly to lose all interest in Hillary’s nasty habits of 1) covering for and going after the victims of her husband’s serial sexual predations; and 2) playing kissyface with corporate donors, speech-buyers and political influence peddlers. Harder to “feel the Bern” as one’s own principles are sacrificed to expedience, eh? Welcome to the real world, grasshoppers. You’re just pawns in their game, fools played for fools. That’s not cynicism; it’s the plain truth. The sooner you realize this also, the less naive and more truly enlightened you’ll be.

…

This is going to be the ugliest, most revolting Presidential election of my lifetime, by far. It’s making me consider tuning out politics altogether for a few months (for the first time since age 5 or 6), exiting that malodorous theater stage right, and paying even more attention to storms and sports. You tell me: why should I continue to watch this toxic train wreck that I cannot stop? I didn’t and won’t vote for either of these two vermin. If I’m a lot less conversant on social media about political subjects for awhile, you’ll know why. It’s largely pointless. Defeatist? No, instead realistic…I already cast my vote for a different, better candidate and lost, and will vote out of conscience for a third-party candidate who practically is likely to lose in November. Don’t blame me for whatever happens next. Do improve your survival skills, armaments and stocks of nonperishables, for the sake of dependents even more than self.

…

I am not depressed in the least, despite all of the above and more ills in the world. In fact I can sit and pragmatically observe this tragic circus, and adapt to the developments arising therefrom, while living reasonably well and happy, in a state of long-term peace beyond all short-term trouble! Why? Easy: Jesus. He is the cure for the disease of worldly culture and suffering. At the Father’s command, on a day and hour we cannot know beforehand, He (unlike any politician) will fulfill His promise. He shall return, then set about cleaning the earth of all its rubbish: literal, figurative and spiritual. His whip-cracking, table-tossing tirade in the Temple, against the money-changers, was small change compared to what’s to come; Revelation promises such. The sooner the better, as far as I am concerned! Until then, through all tribulations, then forever after, glory be to Him!

Wind Energy: Here to Stay

by Leave a Comment

Wind farms: I’ve got mixed sentiments about them. They can and do extract relatively clean and easy energy that’s renewable on a daily basis–it’s basically solar energy converted by the atmosphere to kinetic. The energy isn’t simply “lost” by the atmosphere, since the sun will supply more of its own power to be translated to wind tomorrow.

Turbines, and clusters thereof, can be an absolute eyesore in some settings, rather photogenic in others, sometimes even in the same setting under different circumstances. Besides, what’s an eyesore or beautiful is completely subjective; without very intense community consensus one way or the other, this should not be a decision factor.

Bird kills by these turbines sadden me, especially with raptors. Is it acceptable “collateral damage”? That’s hard to say. It probably depends on whether the population can be increased through other means (e.g., habitat gains, rehab efforts) for a net gain. There are some fairly easy strategies that can help, especially for bats.

Yet let’s not be delusional that other “clean” energy is guilt-free on the animal-impact front. Solar arrays can disrupt and kill wildlife too. So can hydroelectricity in some instances. Those are two other common forms of natural, “clean” energy, each of whose hardware takes energy to design, manufacture and install. Let’s be real–there is no loss-free energy form with respect to wildlife. Pick your poison.

I’ve long been a strong supporter of nuclear energy in the U.S., especially now that the technology to keep them secure and safer is so much advanced over the 1960s/70s when most existing plants were built (and those have a remarkable track record in this country…Fukushima and Chernobyl being stupidly built and sited overseas). Still, its drawbacks (namely waste disposal and fuel security point-to-point) are duly acknowledged. Nuclear power must be a part of the U.S. energy portfolio, and if the desired outcome is lowered particulate and/or carbon emission, it has to be a much bigger player than presently. Even some formerly strident anti-nuke greens have backed off, changed their minds and decided nuclear is at least a lesser-of-evils option, if not outright good.

Fossil fuels are demonized continually, sometimes (but not always) justifiably. Let’s be real–for energy affordabilty’s sake, they MUST continue to be mined to serve as a bridge to more long-term energy sources of the future. Otherwise costs go even higher than now and the economy (including tens of millions of poor) suffer from said high prices.

Any regulatory measures that ratchet gasoline taxes, base prices, or (relatively) clean-coal costs up will affect the poorest folks disproportionately–a factor conveniently ignored by the most ardent zealots of at-any-cost “green” energy. As someone who actually has lived in the American version of poverty and therefore has first-hand understanding of it, I see that the latte-sipping, city-slicker eco-hipsters have no clue about living for many years in a state of financial duress severe enough that every nickel of higher fuel, transportation and goods costs, or larger electric bills, makes a big difference in whether or not rent is paid this month. Those who propose measures that yield big energy-cost increases aren’t the folks greatly affected! Hence, the costs to the poor get lip service and are merely treated as collateral damage to the napalm bomb of energy-price increases.

Conservation? That’s great! I like it! We all should rally around this ethic regardless of sociopolitical affiliation, but especially if we call ourselves conservative. To me, a central part of being conservative means to conserve…and that includes energy. If we use more here, we should offset with less there. It’s a simple concept. Somehow, too few fellow political conservatives are onboard with this.

As noble as it is morally, conservation will delay energy crises and mute their intensity, but not eliminate them. Demand outpaces conservation as long as technological (e.g. huge servers) and plugged-in population (India, China) are exploding. Even with a mass infusion and market-driven cost lowering of more “green” energy sources, some of the current ways rightfully will take time to draw down because of their own low cost and pre-existing infrastructure. It’s not as simple as, “out with the old, in with the new.”

In short, there is no fail-safe, completely harmless energy panacea–not unless you become an unsociable hermit, entirely off-grid and 100% self-reliant somewhere on the side of a mountain with a dependable water supply. A big, diverse ensemble of energy sources is the best mass-societal approach, and whether we like it or not, that will include wind and some substantial components of fossil fuels for the foreseeable future. As with the others, we’ll have to figure out how to reduce their bad effects (e.g., killing wildlife with blades and spills, respectively) while enhancing their good ones.

Wind farms are here to stay. That’s reality. Most of the time I like them, sometimes not. It doesn’t matter. As long as those turbines are out there, I’ll be finding ways to incorporate them into photogenic compositions. Sometimes they’ll even experience too much wind, whereupon I try to witness the ensuing spectacle, once again…

June-November Satellite Loop

by Leave a Comment

Geek up! NOAA has uploaded a great video to YouTube that shows an unenhanced, composite-IR composite satellite loop of the June-November season–not just the tropical Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf as advertised, but also the eastern 2/3 of the conterminous U.S.

Click right here on this text to watch it in a separate, pop-up window (maximize to full-screen mode and step back a little for best results).

Of course, the 2010 Atlantic tropical season was tied for the third most active on record, despite the fact that the U.S. mainland was spared hurricane impact. Coastal residents, emergency managers, and especially insurance companies, can thank the flow patterns associated with a combination of persistent, early-mid season upper troughing near the east coast, and strong later-season ridging over the Gulf and northern Caribbean, for helping to keep America’s beachfront structures and residents relatively safe. We won’t be so lucky every year! In some years, such as 1992, there’s only one storm of note, and that’s all it takes.

Some of the easternmost action in the Eastern Pacific also can be seen; though that basins’ tropical cyclone season was the most lame on record (7 named storms) in the satellite era.

Outside of the meteorologically prurient eye candy briefly offered by the spinups of the mature hurricanes themselves, this loop is jam-packed with weather action. For one, it covers the entire Great Plains! Those of us who spent a large chunk of June wandering the Plains in search of supercells will find out daily convective eruptions here, in the fascinating context not only of what happened on a larger scale, but in the days before and after. What happened with your favorite chase-storms and the systems that spawned them in the hours and days afterward? Follow the processes originating from any given supercell, and you may find new storms the next day somewhere in the eastern part of the nation, or even cloud tags over the Atlantic days later.

One of the other fascinating things about videos like this is that one can track the steady procession of tropical waves (the trough part, at least) from E-W across the low latitudes, even after they spawn tropical cyclones that may or may not remain in phase with the originating wave. When I worked at the National Hurricane Center an increasingly long time ago, we did this primitively, by pasting daily, time-matching strips of satellite printouts into a board, in effect yielding a Hovmöller diagram.