Smart phones and Weather Forecasting

This morning, before I headed out for a hike, I checked my Weather Underground App to see what conditions I might experience (cool and warming but dry, at least until tonight).  Before I excited the App, I was asked if I wanted to contribute to the forecasting by allowing the App to record the local pressure.  Yes, not only does my phone record where I am, but can sense the atmospheric pressure!

I declined, but then wondered how much of my actions are already being recorded by location and actions.   hmmmm

Anyway, citizen based weather reporting is not a bad thing.  I even wrote about it back in 2005 in the paper titled "Emergency Preparedness and Tourism: Both Win with Help of the Amateur Meteorologist."  See this link for the paper.  The additional data provided by citizens makes for a better forecast.  Makes sense, right, after all, Denver's weather is not representative of the whole state.

Bristow, Robert S.; Leiker, Karl; DeBlois, Roland 2006. Emergency Preparedness and Tourism: Both Win with Help of the Amateur Meteorologist. In: Peden, John G.; Schuster, Rudy M., comps., eds. Proceedings of the 2005 northeastern recreation research symposium; 2005 April 10-12; Bolton Landing, NY. Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-341. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station: 135-139.

For Sale $8.9 million house in Category 1 Hurricane flood zone

Water front property is the dream of many, but if you buy land on the Cape of Cod, Massachusetts, your waterfront may be underneath you.  Compare these two images.

The first is from Zillow.com and shows today's listing for properties in Cape Cod.  For $8.9 million you can buy a 4 Bedroom, 6 Bathroom (?!?!), cottage (nearly 8,000 square feet).

But if you research this a bit, the Cape Cod Commission notes the location of flooding from a modest Category 1 Hurricane.

Not to be fair, will the hurricane happen?  Maybe and maybe not.  Is the house high enough to reduce the damage from a small hurricane?  Perhaps.  My estimates are just based on a quick look using the imagery and not a ground survey. 

But in any case, the Cape of Cod will cease to exist in the future (10,000 years) according to a report in the New York Times.

Nordic Geographers 2019

First announcement: Nordic Geographers Meeting 2019 in Trondheim, Norway.  I presented at this conference a few years back when the University of Iceland sponsored it.  The paper I presented led to to this publication.

 A great conference (and Venue).

65th Running of the Westfield River Wildwater Races this weekend

The oldest continuously run canoe race in North America will take place this weekend.

Can't race?  Watch the racers at the famous Hill and Dale Rapids.

oh yeah, we published a travel behavior paper influenced by climate change induced stream flow recently as well.

Sun Country Airlines

The lesson here, is do not take the last Plane/Bus/Ferry/fill in the blank, to return home

Sure, if you were vacationing in Mexico and used the seasonal airlines called Sun Country, you might have been screwed when poor weather cancelled flights.  I can relate from a layover in Philadelphia.

Yet, I also know to not use the last option if I can.  Ferries between islands is one example.  If you miss the last one, you might be spending the night.  So why add stress and take a return trip earlier.

Be sure to fill up the gas in your car rental before returning the car to the boat dock at Sandy Point Landing North Caicos.

NERR 2018 Poster Presentation

Here is the poster I shared at the 2018 National Environment and Recreation Research Symposium (NERR)  earlier this month.

Curling finals

Sorry but I have been at the NERR conference the past few days, so I didn't get to report the final scores of the World Men's Curling Championship in Vegas.

Sweden beat Canada 7-3. for Gold and Silver, and Scotland earned the Bronze over Korea 11-4.

All great times on the ice in Vegas.


Here is Skip Niklas Edin going backwards.