Archive for February, 2008

So yesterday was called “Super Tuesday” by the MSM outlets due to the large number of states which held primaries that day. It was also called Mardi Gras which means “Fat Tuesday” by French Catholics due to the day after being Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. And I’m sure, in many parts of the Southeastern US it will be called by a different name, due to the largest outbreak of tornadoes in February in decades.

Update: Click Here to view the storm reports and Here for a good overview story from Bloomberg.

Conditions were ripe for heavy weather last night, as temperatures in the south-east climbed into the 80s during the day, and dewpoints followed upwards, almost into the 70s. A strong winter cyclone moved off the rockies and deepened as it blew across the plains. By the time the strong circulation hit the warm moist air of the southeast, deadly weather was almost inevitable.

There are reports now coming in of the warnings given to the areas hardest hit. The death toll would have been much higher, no doubt, without the diligent work of meteorologists throughout the country, and the warning networks we have installed. It was unfortunate that the bad weather hit on such a critical day, when people were out voting and caucusing, and perhaps not able to seek shelter as quickly as they needed to. It is also a little weird, but not unprecedented, to see tornadoes this early in the year. Severe weather like this comes from high temperature gradients, and the more warmer surface temperatures clash with cold polar air, the more we’ll see storm outbreaks like these.

How you frustrate me. Our webhost has decided to move all of their clients to a new server, with a new hosting framework and evidently all new databases. The transition process has been causing all kinds of fun outages on our site here, and now that it’s complete, some aspects of the site aren’t working. The most notable of which is that the old photo gallery is no longer showing images. And I don’t know why. I apologize for the inconvenience. Hopefully I will be able to get it all working soon.

On Saturday, Mark and I met Doug, Liz, Mike and Adam in Fort Collins and headed south for a ski day at Eldora Ski Area. We met Kevin in Boulder, but missed Weeks in the morning due to some missing emails. I took a camera with me, but I didn’t take any pictures, unfortunately. Here is a map of the trails in the resort, and little labels that show where we all skied during the day.

Kevin took a full day ski lesson for his first day out. He had a great time. Liz helped me remember all the basics and gave me great encouragement during the day. We skied every single green run, and even went through “Fun Gulley”: a tiny little terrain park though the trees between two green runs. It was a great day for both of us, we both spent time working on our turns and building up confidence and feeling more comfortable on skis.

Mark started the morning with the “Elite Performance Package” for the first time ever. They gave him racing skis that were stiff, heavy, and huge, and he hated them after his first run. After lunch, he turned them in for a pair that turned a little better and had a great time exploring the mountain with Weeks. They covered a lot of terrain over the course of the day.

At the end of the day, the others headed home and Mark, Kev, Weeks and I hit Boulder for dinner. It was really nice to catch up with Weeks, especially since he’s heading to the South Pole to work as a facilities engineer at the research station down there. It’s going to be a tough eight months, with no daylight and temperatures around -100F, but it will be the experience of a lifetime, and Weeks really thrives in extreme environments.

In the end, it was a great day. Kevin learned to ski, I carved up all green runs (and didn’t cry at the end of the day!), we got to see Weeks before he leaves, and Mark didn’t hurt himself. What more could you ask for?

“It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.”

Happy February everybody!