Brad_Burton's Blog

I always enjoy reading through the day's NWS forecast discussions. There is almost always something insightful or educational in them for both skilled meteorologists and enthusiastic amateurs. Although the FOX8 team does a great job of covering all aspects of the weather that the public needs to know, these technical discussions allow you to read more in-depth into the actual processes and goings-on of our current atmospheric processes which would most likely bore, confuse, or turn-away most viewers. But for those interested in more that just knowing whether or not its going to rain tomorrow, I highly recommend checking it out once in awhile. I even read other state's discussions occasionally, especially if there is interesting or exciting weather taking place there. Plus, every so often you get a rare nugget of information that serves to be a real treat.

Speaking of which, in this evening's discussion out of Raleigh, they had an add-on paragraph at the end about a phenomenon that happened today over Durham County. Commonly mistaken as tornadoes/funnels (for a good reason), this phenomenon can be quite an amazing sight if you ever get the chance. Below is a copy of the discussion text.

ON A SIDE NOTE... WE RECEIVED NUMEROUS CALLS FROM DURHAM COUNTY
EARLIER THIS EVENING WITH REPORTS OF A FUNNEL CLOUD. THIS FUNNEL
CLOUD WAS THE RESULT OF AN INTERESTING WEATHER PHENOMENA KNOWN AS A
COLD AIR FUNNEL. THE COMBINATION OF A RELATIVELY WARM GROUND... THE
COLD TEMPERATURES ALOFT ASSOCIATED WITH THE CLOSED LOW... AND SPIN
IN THE ATMOSPHERE CREATED BY THE CLOSED LOW... LEADS TO THE
POTENTIAL FORMATION OF A COLD AIR FUNNEL. A SHOWER DEVELOPED IN THE
AREA OF THE FUNNEL REPORT AND WAS LIKELY THE FACTOR THAT HELPED TO
FOCUS THE ROTATION ALOFT TO PRODUCE THE FUNNEL. THIS TYPE OF
OCCURRENCE RARELY EVER PRODUCES AN ACTUAL TORNADO AND IS TYPICALLY
HARMLESS. THIS TYPE OF PHENOMENA OCCURS MANY TIMES IN ASSOCIATION
WITH COLD UPPER LOWS.


For a little more information on cold air funnels, as well as a picture, check out this website: http://www.theweatherprediction.com/habyhints/329/

I uploaded one picture of hail on a friend's deck on College Dr. right at HPU. Most of it appeared to be pea-sized with a a few larger pieces mixing in shortly before it tapered off.

Anyone else take pictures from the storm today?

And we were just talking about it the other day....

2/13/08 -- 8:05 pm.  Thundersnow in High Point.

This morning's 11am Forecast Discussion from the National Hurricane Center included a very interesting final paragraph concerning the impressive development of Hurricane Humberto. The last line, especially, seems noteworthy.

BASED ON OPERATIONAL ESTIMATES...HUMBERTO STRENGTHENED FROM A 30 KT
DEPRESSION AT 15Z YESTERDAY TO A 75 KT HURRICANE AT 09Z THIS
MORNING...AN INCREASE OF 45 KT IN 18 HOURS.  TO PUT THIS
DEVELOPMENT IN PERSPECTIVE...NO TROPICAL CYCLONE IN THE HISTORICAL
RECORD HAS EVER REACHED THIS INTENSITY AT A FASTER RATE NEAR
LANDFALL.  IT WOULD BE NICE TO KNOW...SOMEDAY...WHY THIS HAPPENED.

It's not often you find people wishing for a tropical storm landfall in their area, however I'm sure that's exactly what the folks on the NC coast are doing right now.

With much of the coast under worse drought conditions that we are, choosing between continuing the drought or dealing with a tropical storm landfall (possibly a cat. 1 hurricane) seems like not a bad deal. I would sure love to see that rain!

 Unfortunatly, Gabrielle's current track doesn't seem to include us here in the Triad with much, if any, rain. So I wish everyone down on the coast the best of luck in dealing with the storm, and I hope you enjoy that rain!

After seeing Chad Tucker's great piece on "How Trustworthy Are Temperature Signs?" this morning, started thinking about this.

I know my mom told me yesterday that her car's thermometer said 119 when she got in after work. It definitely was not 119 (thankfully!). So, if anyone else sees an outrageous thermometer reading (car, bank, etc), take a pic and post it!

Who knows, I might even have a weather-related prize for whoever post the most outrageous temperature before, lets say, 7pm on Friday.

Of course this holds no meteorological value, but it should be good for a laugh especially on a day where temperatures are yet again looking to be record-breaking!

Happy thermometer hunting, and stay cool!

 

According to the NWS site, PTI officially hit the century mark at 14:54 (2:54) this afternoon.

Hope you all have kept cool on what has been the hottest day of the summer this year!

As I mentioned in my last blog, I have known for a long time that I want a professional career in meteorology. Growing up through my childhood and teenage years, while most kids my age were not even thinking about colleges and careers, I was searching and narrowing down possible college choices. However, it wasn’t until my senior year in high school, while visiting another college (NC State) to find out about their program, that I discovered that Mississippi State offers an excellent major in Broadcast Meteorology. I did some research, went for a visit, and instantly fell in love with it… even more so than NC State. (Sorry Van & Emily).

As I started my first year there, taking most of my general college courses, I still did not know that much about the concentration courses of the program that I would get into during my junior/senior years. Now, though, I’m to that point and have a better understanding of the structure of the classes and programs. I’ve always found it interesting to know the background and education behind many professions, and because of that I’ve decided to share with you the course load and class descriptions of what it takes to get a degree in Broadcast Meteorology from Mississippi State Univ. Who knows, maybe this will interest and/or inspire some of you. For others, I hope this will finally prove to you that we’ve moved past the era of licking our index fingers and sticking them in the air (although we still count the stripes on our wooly-worms, haha).

A total of 122 hours are required for the degree, which are broken up into University Core Courses and Concentration Courses.


University Core Requirements:

- Math (6 hours)
- Calculus I (3) and Calculus II (3).
- English (6 hours)
- English Composition I (3) and English Composition II (3).
- Foreign Language (6 hours)
- Levels I (3) and II (3) of any foreign language.
- Natural Science (9 hours)
- General Chemistry I (3), General Physics I (w/ lab) (3), and General Physics II (w/ lab) (3).
- Humanities (6 hours)
- A literature (3) and a history (3) elective.
- Fine Arts (3 hours)
- Intro to Theater (3).
- Social Sciences (6 hours)
- World Geography (3) and Mass Media (3).
- Geosciences Core Classes
- Public Speaking (3) and Physical Geography (w/ lab) (4).


Concentration Requirements:

- Intro to Meteorology (3) - The basic concepts of Earth’s atmosphere, geography, and the interaction of weather with each.
- Weather Analysis I (2 each) -Analyzing meteorological data; as well as locating and interpreting sources of data and beginner forecasting.
- Weather Forecasting I, II (2 each) - Methods of forecasting, forecasting for specific meteorological events.
- Applied Climatology (3) - Study of the interaction of climate and human life.
- Physical Meteorology (3) - The physics of Earth’s atmosphere and the affects of physics on meteorological processes.
- Statistical Climatology (3) - Study of the statistical interpretation of meteorological data/events.
- Synoptic Meteorology (3) - Study of meteorological events/processes on the synoptic scale.
- Satellite & Radar Meteorology (3) - Interpreting data from satellites and radar; as well as study of the processes by which they function.
- Natural Hazards (3) - Study of direct threats from Earth’s climate and atmosphere to plants, animals, and humans.
- Dynamic Meteorology I (3) - Study of dynamic atmospheric motion, especially dealing with thermodynamics.
- Mesoscale Meteorology (3) - Study of meteorological events/processes on the meso scale.
- Water Resources (3) - Exploration of Earth’s sources and usage of water.
- Practicum in Broadcast Meteorology I, II, III, IV (each w/
lab) (2 each) - Lecture on the business of broadcast meteorology, and introduction to weather graphics systems. Labs are recorded, on-screen performance practice of weather shows.
- Voice and Articulation (3)
- Television Production (3)
- Advanced Television Production (3)
- News Writing for Electronic Media (3)
- Broadcast Performance (3)

And any TWO of the following:

- Conservation of Natural Resources (3)
- Geography of North America (3)
- Planetary Geology (3)
- Environmental Geology (3)
- Intro to Oceanography (3)
- Coastal Environments (3)


All this information, as well as a semester-by-semester course layout, can be found on Mississippi State Univ.’s Geosciences Dept. website.

And if you have any questions, leave comments!

Why is it that us "weather nerds" are the first ones to be going blog-crazy here? I don't know, but I am the newest member of Fox 8's weather team to join the community... even though I'm just one of the summer interns, haha.

Being an intern this summer has been an absolutely wonderful learning experience, and I am very thankful to Van, Emily, and everyone else here at Fox 8 that I have worked with this summer. This has definately given me a new perspective on what has been my dream career since I was in 3rd grade.

So lets go back for a minute and review that.

As far back as I remember I have always been interested in weather. I figure that as a child, you're either scared of it or completely awe-struck by it. I was the latter. From when I was a young child, I can still remember being fascinated as I watched the news and effects of Hurricane Hugo on the Carolinas. Hopefully I was watching Fox 8... I don't remember. I also clearly remember spending what seemed like forever hiding in a bathroom in my house one night shortly after a news cut-in of a tornado warning had interrupted me from wathcing Woody The Woodpecker. After the storm I witnessed the damage around my neighborhood. Trees were dowm, power was out, and roofs were damaged. Although I was briefly upset by the interruption, I soon forgot all about my cartoons.

However, despite my fascination with these events, I still contribute the majority of my meteorological interest to a visitor to my 3rd grade class. A local meteorologist by the name of Van Denton came to talk, and I pretty much knew from then on that he had the job I wanted. Soon after that visit to my class, my parents arranged for me to make a few visits to the Fox 8 studio to see Van do the weather. Van took me on a tour of the station and let me watch him do his show for the news.

I visited one or two more times after that, but then at the end of my 6th grade year I was contacted to come visit again... this time not to watch Van do the weather, but to do the weather myself! This was the start of the Van's Weather Kids segment, which still airs every Thursday night. So I showed up there at the station again, helped make a promo-commercial for the program (which my infamous quote, "One day... all this will be mine!" still haunts me to this day), and did my spot as the Weather Kid. This solidified it for me. There was no stopping me. I was going to be "the weather man" one day.

Flash forward a few years, I ended up going to Mississippi State University to major in Broadcast Meteorology. I've been there for 3 years now and I am loving every minute of it. I came back to High Point this summer to intern for Van, the one person who got it all started for me. Even though I only have one year of school left, Van has promised to continue to work with me on my meteorological career. This coming May will be the 10 Year Anniversary of his Wether Kids program, and that happens to coincide with my (hopeful!) graduation from college. There are already plans underway for me to re-visit on a Thursday afternoon as the first Weather Kid to become a meteorologist. Although I'm pretty sure it will be quite humiliating for me as they show my old tape, and that horrible, horrible commercial, I am very excited at the idea of coming back to Fox 8 to be on the news again.

Here's to hoping I do well in school... haha.