Weather Sayings

There is a lot of truth with weather sayings.  For example:

Red skies at night, sailors delight.
Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.

These refer to the fact that the sun rises in the east (morning) and sets in west (night).  The color of the sky with the sun shining through tells us a little about the clouds and other atmospheric conditions.  And for us in the mid-latitudes, weather travels west to east due to the westerly wind flow and the pressure belts.

What other sayings of weather have you used?

Sun Path Diagrams and travel

Want to know what time and in what direction the sun will rise where you are?  What about where you might  travel.
Well, you can use a sun path diagram to help you answer that question.  An explanation of what the diagram does is found here.

(source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Sun-path-polar-chart.svg/300px-Sun-path-polar-chart.svg.png)

This complicated graph plots the movement of the sun across the sky from sunrise to sunset, what azimuth (compass direction) and what altitude above the horizon.

Got it?

Hurricanes and tourism

Ever wonder why the best deals for the Caribbean occur late summer and fall?  Hurricanes!

I would not book a trip to the Caribbean anytime from July to November until a week out.  Since these tropical storms move slow, say 15-20 mph, and the general direction of the path can be predicted a few days out, it is best not to risk it by "early birding" a trip months out.

For conditions in the Atlantic and Eastern Pacific visit NOAA.

Google Earth and Physical Geography

Google Earth is fantastic.  I have blogged about the usefulness of Google Earth for tourism but it is also great for just plain geography.

If you don't have it on your computer or smart phone, get it right away.  Not only can you see areas from above, but ground based pictures are also available.  A great way to study the Earth.

For example, next week I will be in Maryland and might be able to see this haunted landmark.

Use Google Earth to explore!

Sustainability in Tourism: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Ian Jenkins reports:

We would like to let you know of this new publication.  This is an Anglo-American/German collaborative approach to sustainability.  A good reader for your bookshelves and your summer hols!

We hope you enjoy it!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sustainability-Tourism-A-Multidisciplinary-Approach/dp/3834928062

ESRI and GIS

Goit an email from ESRI to check out a new website.  Considering the world is going wireless now, it might be a good site to check out.

See http://pro.arcgis.com/ for details.

Biking

A very popular sport and activity is biking.  Locally you risk your life biking in Westfield, so hopefully these videos will help educate people about biking safety.

See this link.