Category: Life

December 7 – weak upper impulse

weak upper impulse
lingering secondary
fairly pleasant start

Ernie Hemingway could not have been a meteorologist.

Mr. Hemingway’s prose can be described in the one word, terse.

A meteorologist’s prose can be describe in the one word, verbose.

Weather forecasts may be the best example of the use of descriptive adjectives in modern english writing.

Consider today’s forecast from the National Weather Service.

SHORT TERM /Today through Sunday/…

A lingering secondary weak upper impulse is allowing for some
isolated light rain/drizzle potential mainly in portions of central
GA early this morning, otherwise should transition to NW flow aloft
and dry Saturday on tap. Some continued mid level moisture
especially in central GA could keep some cloud coverage hanging
around today. Should be a fairly pleasant start to the weekend with
afternoon highs mostly in the low to mid 60s.

Surface high center sliding into New England this evening will result in
a CAD wedge building in for Sunday across the area. We can expect a
shift to cooler temps (about 10 degrees lower than Saturday across
north GA), increased easterly gradient winds, and some low level
moisture overrunning/isentropic upglide causing increased cloud
coverage and some return of afternoon shower potential in parts of
the south and west. Ascent and late shower potential could also be
aided by a weak upper shortwave.

Baker

LONG TERM /Sunday Night through Friday/…

The long term period begins on Sunday night with a wedge still in
place across northeast Georgia. As southwest flow advects moisture
over the wedge, chances for showers will continue into the early
hours on Monday. Have included slight chance pops for Sunday
afternoon with increasing chances Sunday night into Monday
afternoon, as the wedge breaks down. A large longwave trough will
push a strong cold front towards the area on Tuesday into Wednesday
with the arrival of the front during the day on Wednesday. Have
included chance pops across much of the area with likely pops across
portions of northern Georgia in addition to the mountains. The
highest QPF amounts for Monday through Wednesday look to be across
far northern Georgia, around 1 to 2 inches with around a half inch
or less further south. In addition, models are showing some slight
differences on the backside of this system with the GFS showing
another shortwave trough developing and crossing the local forecast
area late Wednesday into Thursday and the ECMWF, while still showing
the shortwave trough, clears precip from the local forecast area by
Thursday and takes the trough much further south of the area.
Overall, decided to trend on the drier side for pops in this time
period, with slight chance to chance pops Wednesday afternoon and
clearing across the area on Thursday.

Post frontal passage, high pressure will build into the area at the
surface, providing dry weather for Thursday. By Friday, chances for
precipitation will increase again as models show a developing
surface low in the Gulf moving towards the local forecast area on
Friday and Saturday. Although models are showing some differences in
timing, have included chance pops for Friday through the early
weekend.

High temperatures on Monday and Tuesday will be about 5 to 15
degrees above average in the 60s and 70s, returning to the 40s and
50s through the rest of the extended. Overnight lows Tuesday morning
will be very warm in the 50s and 60s, around 20 to 25 degrees above
average. Otherwise, lows through the rest of the extended are
expected to be in the 30s and 40s.

Reaves

Notice in the 2nd paragraph the abbreviation CAD.

CAD stands for ” Cold Air Damming. The phenomenon in which a low-level cold air mass is trapped topographically. Often, this cold air is entrenched on the east side of mountainous terrain. Cold Air Damming often implies that the trapped cold air mass is influencing the dynamics of the overlying air mass, e.g. in an overrunning scenario. Effects on the weather may include cold temperatures, freezing precipitation, and extensive cloud cover.”

Good Grief.

I can see why they used the abbreviation.

These are some of the words used in just the short term forecast.

lingering
secondary
weak
upper
isolated
light
mainly
early
mid
especially
fairly
pleasant
mostly
low
mid
high
cooler
lower
increased
easterly
gradient
overrunning
isentropic
upglide

Impressive list.

Notice also the names Baker and Reeves and the end of the forecasts.

Are these the meteorologist who wrote these forecasts?

Did they learn this style in meteorology class?

Is there a special thesaurus for weather modifiers?

At the end, what do want to know?

I take my hat off to these people.

I salute these people.

I also recall once seeing my good friend George Lessens come into the newsroom after a particularity wordy forecast and I yelled, “oh come on. You guys make all the stuff up!”

Even George joined in as everyone in the newsroom laughed.

December 6 – Beethoven, Simone

Beethoven, Simone
unexpected partnership
as are their talents

Of late, I have been listening to a collection of recordings of the Beethoven trios for piano, violin and cello.

I had not had an opportunity to hear these compositions before.

Truth be told, I didn’t know they existed.

That the magic of digital music, iPhones and the internet makes it possible for me to listen to these pieces of music as I drive will take another haiku.

For today I have to gush over the magic that is Beethoven.

In another entry, I quoted the movie Amadeus on Mozart’s music when Antonio Salieri shuffles through pages of sheet music penned by Mozart and says, ” … music, finished as no music is ever finished. Displace one note and there would be diminishment. Displace one phrase and the structure would fall.”

I wouldn’t say that about Beethoven.

He is all over the place.

His notes are loaded onto a flat bed truck and you get the feeling that some of the notes are just hanging on.

Just when you think you know where the music is going, the flat bed truck hits a bump and all the notes fly in the air and come down again and go off in a different direction.

He makes all it work.

Somehow.

Somehow as only Beethoven can, it all works.

In the Ken Burn’s film on Frank Lloyd Wright, whose name could have been in this haiku but it didn’t fit, architect Phillip Johnson says about the house, Falling Waters, “I don’t know how he (Wright) does that. If I did, I would do it too!”

Listening to these trios on my commute I can lose myself in the music and its 20 minutes closer to home.

My thoughts aren’t on driving which is both good and bad thing.

What are my thoughts on?

Since you ask, I find myself thinking about Simone Biles.

I am not making this up.

As I listen to the music bounce, jump, leap and rebound beyond human possibility, Simone Biles is bouncing around in my brain.

Maybe it’s just a natural reaction of my brain to use creative visualization to get my arms around the music.

The computer in my mind sorts through the uncounted gigabytes of memory to come up with images to match the music and the computer spits out Simone Biles.

I am not a big fan of Gymnastics.

Like most American’s, I watch every 4 years for about 1o minutes.

A little bit more attention than I give, say, curling.

Nevertheless (dear, sweet word), how can you not be aware of Simone Biles.

In the same way the music of these Beethoven Trios are unexpected explosively wonderful, so are these performances of Biles.

I watch and I stare and I say, “HOW?”

I listen and I hear and I say, “HOW?”

December 5 – no time, fake anger

no time, fake anger
social media sets bait
but I will not bite

The Apostle Matthew wrote, ‘For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also‘. Matthew 6:21 (NIV).

I put forward that where your anger is, there your mind will be also.

In the grand scheme, there isn’t anything wrong about.

I should be angry.

I should have things in my life that I believe in enough to get angry.

Recently I noticed that my life seems to be filling up with a different anger.

An anger that rather than built up by me was manufactured by someone else.

Too often I trace the source of the anger to something I saw, read or heard about online.

Again, nothing wrong with getting angry about something you find out online.

BUT if the purpose of what I saw, read or heard about online was to get me angry?

Who is in charge here?

I have said so often that there is nothing social about social media.

Too much anger.

Too much hate.

In the early days of chat rooms, I liked to post witty-pithy comments about football teams until I got someone to respond to me.

And the response I was hoping for was an angry response.

I had found a way to make someone else angry enough that they were going to TELL ME.

Once that happened, I would log out with a feeling of just accomplishment.

I don’t have time for that anymore.

I have enough anger in my life to not need to be manipulated.

I get angry thinking that I was manipulated in the first place.

I don’t have the time.

I don’t have the emotional rope.

Most of all, I don’t have the anger to spare for such nonsense.

Drop all the bait you want Mr. Social Media.

I will not BITE.

Hear I stand.

December 1 – life support system

life support system
a nonnegotiable
necessity, sleep

I was struck by the juxtaposition of morning headlines on wired.com.

One touted the “The Absolute Best Black Friday Deals Online”.

The best deals on the 62 items you currently can’t do without.

The other headline was “Stop Obsessing Over Sleep—Your Brain Will Thank You”

The sub headline is, ” Worrying about sleep is perhaps the most counterproductive thing you can do, no matter how many gadgets try to tell you otherwise.“

The article states, “Sleep has become one more thing to feel guilty about, even when the data we’re consulting is often flawed or incomplete. It’s one more number we didn’t hit, one more goal we didn’t achieve. Pangs of guilt follow every new study reminding us of this magical panacea, if we would just turn off Netflix, forget our social lives, emails, and all the dishes in the sink, and just climb into bed.

Sleep may be a biological necessity, but our stress over it is a choice. So let’s put the issue to bed. Hit the snooze button on this one! All the wide-eyed worry over shut-eye is the thing that’s actually cheating us of immortality, or at the very least, stealing the promise of a delicious, relaxing, no-pressure night of sleep.”

I need sleep.

And I can’t sleep due to worrying about sleep.

And the gadgets that are available online actually re-enforce if not create the anxiety.

And that isn’t even commenting on the anti sleep anxiety I create for myself because if I DO SLEEP, I might miss out on the great deals available on these gadgets.

Only in America!