Windy

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This…is a post about wind. Don’t forget your hair brush!  :)))))))))

As we’re enjoying the somewhat spring like weather around here these days, an idea for a Friday blog hit me, literally!   I had stepped out for a walk around the  KHT campus, and had my hat blown off my head by a gust of wind.  Don’t worry I didn’t lose my trusty KHT hat!  I noticed how the wind changes throughout the day.  Often when I arrive at work in the wee hours of the morning, everything is calm, especially the lake.  Then as the day progresses, things pick up – it’s visible from my office, how the clouds then move west to east, or sometimes east to west. It is absolutely amazing how the wind reacts here in beautiful Cleveland, Ohio, especially when it follows the lakeshore!   One of the most basic atmospheric forces on Earth, wind powers farms, carves landscapes, carries ships, and holds up kites. I loved taking the girls to the park or beach and launching a kite, letting it rise until there was no line left then watching it dive and dart across the sky . Biking with the wind is wonderful, against the wind not so much!  Here’s some fun info on wind, and surprising info on the windiest cities (Wellington New Zealand wins on the world front).  So, hang on to your hat, be sure to click the music links, and enjoy!  Special thanks to google.com, scifi.com. scientificamerica.com and YouTube for the info and tunes.

Some Wind Music to listen to as you read:
HERE
HERE
and HERE

Wind Is Caused by Uneven Heating on the Earth
Ever wonder where the breeze on the beach comes from? It happens because during the day, the water warms up more slowly than the land next to it. This uneven heating causes changes in atmospheric pressure; warm air expands and rises, and the cool air from the water blows in to take its place. This is a smaller-scale example of how wind works throughout the world — on a grander scale, the difference in temperature between the equator and the North and South poles cause large, powerfully windy areas banding across the Earth. For my “scientific” friends reading, visit HERE for the specific explanation – all about colliding molecules.

Some Winds Reverse Course at Night
When wind rushes between water and land, the pattern is different depending on what time it is. During the day, the wind rushes inland — but at night, the land cools faster than the water, causing the wind to head back in the direction of the water. Pay attention to this phenomenon on your next long walk on the beach.

Can You Guess the Windiest US Cities?
Most would guess Chicago – and some Cleveland … but here’s the top 10 from top to bottom.  Boston, Oklahoma City, Buffalo, Milwaukee, Dallas, Kansas City, San Fran, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Virginia Beach…(Chicago is #12!)

There Are Five Major Wind Zones on Earth
Prevailing winds, such as trade winds, blow in one direction without stopping. There are five major wind zones on the planet, each with their own behaviors of prevailing winds: Polar easterlies are winds that blow from the east around the North and South poles. Westerlies blow in the other directions at midlatitudes, around the middle points between the poles and the equator — strongest at around 40 to 50 degrees latitude in the Southern Hemisphere, blowing past New Zealand and the lower edges of Australia and South America. Horse latitudes, at about 30 degrees on either side of the equator, are warm areas with calm winds. Trade winds are incredibly predictable, powerful, easterly winds that run through the tropics, named because of how vital they’ve been to seafaring, including trading ships, throughout history.  The doldrums, also known as the intertropical convergence zone, is a calm area where two bands of trade winds meet. The winds here are weak, and ships have been known to get stuck there.  (MAP of the zones)

Wind Energy Is Ancient Tech
Wind energy doesn’t just refer to turbine-generated wind power — it also refers to the sails of ships and the windmills that pump water or mill grain. Thousands of years ago, wind energy was propelling boats along the Nile River; ancient Egyptian art shows images of sailboats as early as 3300  BC. Before that, sails made from animal hide still probably powered single-log rafts.

The First Windmills Were in Asia
Windmills may conjure images of rural European areas, but the earliest windmills were water pumps in ancient China and grain mills in ancient Persia around 200 BC. Windmills were in heavy use in the Middle East in the 11th century AD, when traders brought the technology up north to Europe The iconic windmills in the Netherlands started cropping up around 1200 AD.   – Video of Windmills working in the Netherlands.

The Fastest Recorded Wind Was 253 MPH
In 1996, during Hurricane Olivia, an Australian wind meter recorded a wind speed of a whopping 253 miles per hour.. The previous record-holder was a 231-mile-per-hour gust in New Hampshire.

Wind Carries Dust From the Sahara Desert All Over the World
The Sahara Desert is unfathomably massive, covering 3.3 million square miles in northern Africa — but its impact spreads even farther. Pushed by powerful trade winds, dust from the desert can hit halfway around the world in Texas and Florida (among other states), usually in the summertime. It arrives in quantities large enough to cause health problems, especially in people with asthma or other respiratory conditions. (remember last summer’s air quality from the Canadian forest fires??).

Wind-Created Geographical Features Are Called Aeolian Landforms
The best-known landscape features caused by wind are dunes, mounds of sand that are critical to the ecosystems in coastal areas. But dunes are only one example of aeolian landforms (named for the Greek god of wind, Aeolus). Some are soft, like loess, collections of yellow or tan sediment usually deposited by wind, such as the notable loess deposits along the Missouri River in Iowa. Others are more dramatic, like ventifacts, which are rocks that are shaped by the wind and can form amazing shapes and structures.

And for your viewing Pleasure:
Wind VS Pedestrian Video 1
Wind VS Pedestrian Video 2
Man with Balloons vs Wind
Man & Hot Air Balloon vs Wind
Home Trampolines vs Wind
How One Man Flies Hundreds of Miles Using Balloons

 

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good.  :-))))
Have fun!!

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Stormy

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Thunderstorms are an awe inspiring force of nature. Fun to play in, but not much fun to drive in.

Now that we’re “officially” in summer, I get to enjoy watching one of my favorite pastimes – watching thunderstorms.  From my office, I have a panoramic view of beautiful Lake Erie, enjoying sunrises, sunsets, sailboats and lake freighters, and of course rain and thunderstorms. Many times the storms form out over the water and then make their way to land. Darker clouds form, higher winds kick in and fishing boats start making their way to port are just some of the telltale signs a storm is on its way.  One of the best parts is I can watch the storms follow the boulevard going west to east right in front of my office! When the storms roll in, you can feel the cold front just before the rain hits, (love the smell too!) and afterwards a kind of steamy peace with everything soaked as sunshine peaks through the clouds.  And of course, the best part is the lightening shows. I love how they strike, and then scatter across the sky as the thunder hits. Since we are on the lake our local news stations’  have to do a really good job of tracking storms across the region, often alerting us to potential high winds and possible tornadoes.  It makes me appreciate the power of the storms – praying that they don’t knock out the electricity here at KHT (Truly a PIA!).  I did some digging to learn a bit more – enjoy and thanks to YouTube, Facebook and Google for the info.

Storm rolling in

Thunderstorms typically form in environments with high humidity, instability, and an upward motion of air. As the sun heats the Earth’s surface, the warm air rises and cools, leading to the formation of cumulus clouds. If the atmosphere is unstable enough, these clouds continue to grow vertically, eventually developing into cumulonimbus clouds.

A mature thunderstorm consists of multiple regions or layers. The updraft region is where warm air rises rapidly, creating the towering cloud. Within the cloud, water droplets and ice crystals collide, generating electrical charges. The top of the cloud often spreads out in the shape of an anvil, known as the anvil cloud. The downdraft region consists of cool air descending from the cloud, often associated with heavy rain, gusty winds, and occasionally, hail or tornadoes. West of Ohio, in the more open states, superstorms / supercells are a site to see

Lightning is one of the most captivating aspects of thunderstorms. It is caused by the buildup and discharge of electrical energy within a thundercloud. The exact mechanism of lightning generation is not fully understood, but it involves the separation of positive and negative charges within the cloud. When the voltage difference becomes large enough, a channel of ionized air called a stepped leader extends from the cloud toward the ground. This is followed by a return stroke, which is the bright, visible flash of lightning moving back up the stepped leader’s path. Video

A lightning strike begins with a stepped leader. It is an invisible channel of ionized air that extends downward from the cloud toward the ground in a series of steps or stages. The stepped leader propagates in quick, successive bursts, creating a path for the main lightning bolt to follow.  When the stepped leader approaches the ground or a conducting object such as a tree or building, a powerful electrical surge called the return stroke is initiated. The return stroke moves upward along the stepped leader’s path, creating the bright and visible lightning bolt that we see. It is the most luminous part of the lightning strike and travels at a speed of about one-third the speed of light.

Following the initial return stroke, subsequent discharges called dart leaders may occur. Dart leaders are smaller branches of lightning that travel from the ground or a conducting object back up towards the cloud. They often follow the path established by the initial return stroke.

In some cases, particularly with positive lightning strikes, upward leaders may be observed. These leaders initiate from tall structures, such as tall buildings or transmission towers, and extend upward toward the thundercloud. When they connect with the downward stepped leader or main lightning channel, a complete circuit is formed, resulting in a powerful return stroke.

Thunder is the sound produced by the rapid expansion and contraction of air surrounding a lightning bolt. The intense heat from the lightning (up to 30,000 Kelvin) causes the surrounding air to expand explosively, creating a shock wave. The shock wave travels through the atmosphere as sound waves, resulting in the rumbling or cracking noise we hear as thunder.

Thunder is usually heard after the lightning due to the difference in speed between light and sound. The speed of sound in air in thunder is approximately 343 meters per second (1,125 feet per second), so you can estimate the distance to a lightning strike by counting the seconds between seeing the flash and hearing the thunder – every 5 seconds corresponds to roughly 1 mile or 1.6 kilometers. (I love counting to guess how far a strike is).

Thunderstorms although beautiful can be dangerous, so it’s important to stay informed and take precautions. Seek shelter indoors when thunderstorms are in the area and avoid open spaces, tall objects, and bodies of water. Lightning can travel through the ground and metal objects, so it’s essential to avoid contact with them during a storm. If caught outdoors and unable to reach shelter, avoid open fields, hilltops, isolated trees, and bodies of water. Instead, crouch down in a low-lying area.

Remember, thunderstorms are awe-inspiring displays of nature’s power, but they should be observed from a safe distance to ensure personal safety. Hailstorm Footage

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good.  :-))))
Have fun!!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Wellies

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Got your Wellies?? Hope so!!! With the snow out there today I’ve got mine. Who’d have thought that The Duke of Wellington (second row right, above) would have started a fashion revolution. While they are definitely practical, They’re now a super fashion statement. Just look at that Vogue cover on the next row. At the bottom is the design I thought my wife would like. I’ll let you know. 

 

With this crazy snow dump going on around us, I like most of you, was out in the driveway with my trusty shovel.  Part of growing up and living in Cleveland is the annual snow ritual – sometimes with the snowblower, and sometimes just by hand. I’m not sure if you are aware, but there is an interesting history about the rubber snow boot.  Perfect in design, excellent in repelling water, and “sometimes” fashionable, rubber boots simply rock. From the little yellow and pink ones my girls used on rainy and snowy days, to the more industrial (just keep my feet dry) designs, we can thank a Duke and some engineers at the BF Goodrich (Ohio -yea!) company (today marks the patent anniversary).  Here’s some history, and some cool production videos on “wellington” style boots.  Enjoy, and thanks to Wikipedia, Scientific American and YouTube for the info.

Manufacturing Video  (I like the melt boot index!)

  1. Wellington boots in contemporary usage are waterproof and are most often made from rubber or polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a halogenated polymer. They are usually worn when walking on wet or muddy ground, or to protect the wearer from heavy showers and puddles. They are generally just below knee-high although shorter boots are available.
  2. The “Wellington” is a common and necessary safety or hygiene shoe in diverse industrial settings: for heavy industry with an integrated reinforced toe; protection from mud and grime in mines, from chemical spills in chemical plants and from water, dirt, and mud in horticultural and agricultural work; and serving the high standard of hygiene required in food processing plants, operating theatres, and dust-free clean rooms for electronics manufacture.
  3. Sailing wear includes short and tall sailing wellingtons with non-marking, slip-resistant soles to avoid damage to a boat’s deck. These boots require thermal socks to be worn underneath as the rubber does not provide enough warmth.
  4. The Duke of Wellington instructed his shoemaker, Hoby of St. James’s Street, London, to modify the 18th-century Hessian boot. The resulting new boot was fabricated in soft calfskin leather, had the trim removed and was cut to fit more closely around the leg. The heels were low cut, stacked around an inch, and the boot stopped at mid-calf. It was suitably hard-wearing for riding, yet smart enough for informal evening wear. The boot was dubbed the Wellington and the name has stuck in English ever since. In the 1815 portrait by James Lonsdale, the Duke can be seen wearing the more formal Hessian style boots, which are tasselled.
  5. Wellington’s utilitarian new boots quickly caught on with patriotic British gentlemen eager to emulate their war hero.  Considered fashionable and foppish in the best circles.
  6. From the Amazonian Indians’ pain of roasting rubber over fire, modern society may have gained the rubber boot. That’s the best guess, anyway, of experts who know their latex. “When the New World was discovered by Columbus and his followers, one of the first things they found was rubber,” says Joe Jackson, author of The Thief at the End of the World: Rubber, Power, and the Seeds of Empire. “There were two things reported back: bouncing balls and boots.”
  7. Indians would go out and slice into the bark of a rubber tree, collecting the white latex sap in a process similar to tapping maple syrup, Jackson explains. Then they would turn to the fire. “And, for hours, they would just sit there turning this stick over a smoky fire,” he says. “Then they would take a cup from a bigger basin of latex and pour more on the stick until they had a black ball of rubber,” to be sold for or used in games.
  8. Whether or not this boredom was the inspiration, historians do believe that Indians created makeshift boots by hanging their rubber-coated feet over fires. “It may have taken an awful lot of will power,” Jackson guesses. “Maybe they dipped them in until they couldn’t stand it anymore. Took a break. Then dipped them back in.”
  9. The result was a crude form of what would later evolve into high men’s fashion, a farmer’s standard, and a kid’s rainy-day footwear. None of them would come until centuries later, however, after Charles Goodyear improved on the Amazonian technology.
  10. “Goodyear was obsessed with rubber,” says Chris Laursen, the science and technology librarian for the Rubber Division at the University of Akron, a professional organization for the rubber industry within the American Chemical Society. “He foresaw a world in which everything was made out of rubber.”
  11. Before he could make that world a reality, Goodyear first needed to find a way to keep rubber from cracking in the cold and melting in the heat. The solution came to him by accident in 1839, according to his own book, Gum-Elastic and Its Varieties. Goodyear spilled a concoction of rubber, sulfur and white lead onto a hot stove and witnessed the mixture charring around the edges but, surprisingly, not melting.
  12. In this eureka moment, Goodyear managed to cross-link rubber molecules via sulfur bridges into one large macromolecule—creating a stronger, more thermal-resistant material. “Under a powerful microscope,” Laursen says, “it would look like a cooked plate of spaghetti all intertwined.” Goodyear would later fine-tune the process and coin it “vulcanization,” after the Roman god of fire.
  13. Wellington boots were at first made of leather. However, in 1852 Hiram Hutchinson met Charles Goodyear, who had just invented the sulfur vulcanisation process for natural rubber. Hutchinson bought the patent to manufacture footwear and moved to France to establish À l’Aigle (“to the Eagle”) in 1853, to honor his home country. Today the company is simply called Aigle. In a country where 95% of the population were working on fields with wooden clogs as they had been for generations, the introduction of the wholly waterproof, Wellington-type rubber boot became an instant success: farmers would be able to come back home with clean, dry feet.
  14. Production of the Wellington boot was dramatically boosted with the advent of World War I and a requirement for footwear suitable for the conditions in Europe’s flooded and muddy trenches. The North British Rubber Company (now Hunter Boot Ltd) was asked by the War Office to construct a boot suitable for such conditions. The mills ran day and night to produce immense quantities of these trench boots. In total, 1,185,036 pairs were made to meet the British Army’s demands.
  15. In World War II, Hunter Boot was again requested to supply vast quantities of Wellington and thigh boots. 80% of production was of war materials – from (rubber) ground sheets to life belts and gas masks. In the Netherlands, the British forces were working in flooded conditions which demanded Wellingtons and thigh boots in vast supplies.
  16. By the end of the war in 1945, the Wellington had become popular among men, women and children for wet weather wear. The boot had developed to become far roomier with a thick sole and rounded toe. Also, with the rationing of that time, labourers began to use them for daily work.
  17. The lower cost and ease of rubber “Wellington” boot manufacture, and being entirely waterproof, lent itself immediately to being the preferred protective material to leather in all forms of industry. Increased attention to occupational health and safety requirements led to the steel toe or steel-capped Wellington: a protective (commonly internal) toe-capping to protect the foot from crush and puncture injuries.
  18. Green Wellington boots, introduced by Hunter Boot Ltd in 1955, gradually became a shorthand for “country life” in the UK.  In 1980, sales of their boots skyrocketed after Lady Diana Spencer (future Princess Diana) was pictured wearing a pair on the Balmoral estate during her courtship with Prince Charles.
  19. While usually called rubber boots, but sometimes galoshes, mud boots, rain boots, mucking boots, or billy boots, in the United States, the terms “gumboots”, “wellies”, “wellingtons”, and “rainboots” are preferred in Canada. Gumboots are popular in Canada during spring, when melting snows leave wet and muddy ground. Young people can be seen wearing them to school or university and taking them to summer camps. They are an essential item for farmers, and many fishermen, often being accompanied by hip waders.
  20. While green is popular in Britain, red-soled black rubber boots are often seen in the United States, in addition to Canadian styles. Rubber boots specifically made for cold weather, lined with warm insulating material, are especially popular practical footwear for Canadian winters. This same style of lined boot is also popular among those who work in or near the ocean as one can wade in and out of shallow, but cold, ocean water, while staying dry and warm.  In the US white mid-calf rubber boots are worn by workers on shrimp boats and yellow boots for construction workers pouring concrete.
  21. Boots, including rubber boots, are an $8 billion-dollar worldwide industry.  Emerging markets in China, India, and Africa account for the largest growth estimates through 2025.

 

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good.  :-))))
Have fun!!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Partly Sunny

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From air, thin air, and no air in space to land and sea. Huge amounts of weather data is collected then algorithms and humans make sense of it. And BAM!!!!!! It’s on TV (or an App) in a form we mortals can understand so we know whether to wear a coat or sunscreen when we go out or to bring an umbrella. Amazing stuff!!!!  :)))))  Please…read on.

If you know me, I’m an optimist.  I prefer “partly sunny” to “partly cloudy” and wake up every day looking on “the bright side”, anxiously tackling your PIA (pain in the @%$) Jobs!  Today’s no different, enjoying a gorgeous morning sunrise as I look out over the lake from my office. I’m also intrigued by something that impacts us every day – the weather.  What we do, what we wear, what we talk about.  As we move into Fall, the weather around here is changing – cooler in the mornings and evenings, great cloud clusters, a different “blue” sky, and sometimes a bit unpredictable during the day.  Throughout the Midwest, farmers are harvesting crops, boaters are bringing in their boats, fishermen are targeting streams as fish head home to spawn, games are won and lost in the wind and rain, and most of us are moving our summer wear to the back of the closet.  Through technology, we can just ask our smartphone – “what’s the weather today”, and we get instant, detailed hour by hour response.  I looked up some history and found out the Nation Weather Service formally began today, over 150 years ago.  Through each decade, with the steady advancement of technology, our ability to track and better predict weather grows stronger each year.  Here’s some fun facts and trivia to expand your knowledge, along with a couple nice tunes for the day.  Enjoy, and thanks to noaa.gov, Wikipedia and You Tube for the info and videos.

John Denver – Sunshine On My Shoulders
Aquarius (Let the Sunshine in)
Good Day Sunshine (Remastered 2009)

  • On February 2, 1870, the United States Congress passed a resolution requiring the Secretary of War “to provide for taking meteorological observations at the military stations in the interior of the continent and at other points in the States and Territories…and for giving notice on the northern (Great) lakes and on the seacoast by magnetic telegraph and marine signals, of the approach and force of storms.” The Resolution was signed into law on February 9, 1870 by President Ulysses S. Grant, and the precursor to the Weather Bureau and National Weather Service was born.
  • The new agency, called the Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce, was formed under the U.S. Army Signal Service. The new weather agency was placed under the War Department because “military discipline would probably secure the greatest promptness, regularity, and accuracy in the required observations.” Because of the long name, the agency frequently referred to it as the national weather service or general weather service of the United States.
  • The new weather agency operated under the Signal Service from 1870 to 1891. During that time, the main office was located in Washington, D.C., with field offices concentrated mainly east of the Rockies. Most forecasts originated in the main office in Washington with observations provided by field offices.
  • During the Signal Service years, little meteorological science was used to make weather forecasts. Instead, weather which occurred at one location was assumed to move into the next area downstream. The weather forecasts were simple and general in content — usually containing basic weather parameters such as cloud and precipitation.
  • The Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of Commerce remained under the Signal Service until 1891. On October 1, 1890, Congress voted to transfer it to the Department of Agriculture and renamed the Weather Bureau.
  • Weather forecasters in the Signal Service and early Weather Bureau years primarily used information from surface weather observations. The early meteorologists were aware that conditions in the upper-atmosphere controlled surface weather conditions, but technology had not advanced to the point of taking upper atmospheric observations.
  • Around 1900, the Weather Bureau began to experiment with kites to measure temperature, relative humidity, and winds in the upper atmosphere. Kite observations were taken intermittently from about 1900 to about 1920 with a kite network of stations established during the 1920s and early 1930s. These pioneers (yes, Ben Franklin) were the first to observe classical meteorological features which significantly impacted weather over the United States. By the early 1930s, kites were becoming a hazard to airplanes in flight, causing kite observations to give way to airplane observations.
  • In 1931, the Weather Bureau began to replace kite stations with airplane stations. The use of the airplane as an upper-air observational tool continued to expand during the 1930s. Airplanes were an expensive and dangerous way to obtain upper-air data. Also, it frequently was impossible to use airplanes during bad weather; the time when observations were most important.
  • The development of the radiosonde was a benchmark to operational meteorology. With the relatively inexpensive instrument, the upper atmosphere could be sampled routinely and simultaneously in both bad and good weather. The radiosonde was one catalyst which increased meteorologists’ understanding of the weather. Following the implementation of the radiosonde, the science of weather forecasting began to improve substantially and steadily. How it Works
  • One of the more important advances for the Weather Bureau was the advent of the teletype system. The forerunner of the teletype, the telegraph, served the early needs of the agency, but it was readily apparent that this system was labor intensive and not reliable. The system contained many vulnerable areas, any of which could result in an important warning not being received or a critical observation not transmitted.
  • The teletype was introduced in the Weather Bureau in 1928 and its use spread rapidly. Within two years, teletype circuits covered 8,000 miles, mainly in the eastern part of the country, and by the mid-1930s, teletype circuits covered over 32,000 miles.
  • While under the Department of Agriculture, aviation weather services of the Weather Bureau expanded rapidly. Initiation of air mail flights and the increase of aviation activity following World War I placed a large demand on the Weather Bureau for forecasts of flying weather. In 1919, daily flying weather forecasts were started primarily for the Post Office and military aviation, but the most significant advances occurred with the passage of the Air Commerce Act of 1926 which made the Weather Bureau responsible for weather services to civilian aviation, establishing a network of stations across the United States to take surface and upper-air weather observations.
  • As the Weather Bureau became more associated with the aviation community, it became apparent that the agency belonged in the Department of Commerce. On June 30, 1940, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt transferred the Weather Bureau to the Department of Commerce where it remains today.
  • During the late 1940s and 1950s, the main contribution to Weather Bureau operations was in the area of radar meteorology and computer models of the atmosphere. The military gave the Weather Bureau 25 surplus radars which subsequently were renovated to detect weather echoes. Information gained from the operation of these radars eventually led to the formation of a network of weather surveillance radars still in use today.
  • With the development of computer technology during the 1950s the way was paved for the formulation of complex mathematical weather models to aid meteorologists in forecasting. The first operational use of these computer models during the 1950s resulted in a significant increase in forecast accuracy.
  • The Weather Bureau entered the satellite age in the 1960s. The first weather photographs from space in the 1950s actually were by-products of films made to record the attitude of rocket nose cones. However, following the launch of Explorer in 1958, the importance of satellites to observing the world’s weather soon became apparent.
  • Most early weather satellites were low orbit versions which viewed small and different sections of the earth’s surface. In the 1970s, geostationary weather satellites were launched which provided meteorologists with continuous observations over much of the western hemisphere.
  • In July 1970, the name of the Weather Bureau was changed to the National Weather Service. At the same time, the National Weather Service was placed under the National
  • Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) within the Department of Commerce where it remains.
  • The 1970s saw considerable expansion of technology and automation throughout the agency, led by the development of the Automated Field Operations and Services system, or AFOS. AFOS was designed to bring the NWS into the modern era, using alphanumeric and digital displays to view weather maps and compose forecasts and warnings.
  • In addition, radar technology and capability continued to expand. The NWS deployed new WSR-74S/C radar across the nation, while the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, Oklahoma, experimented with Doppler radar technology. The Next Generation Radar Program, commonly known as NEXRAD, would revolutionize the NWS’ ability to forecast several weather.
  • A super-outbreak of tornadoes in April 1974 was a turning point for the agency, spurring what became the most ambitious and successful transformation in the agency’s history: the Modernization and Associated Restructuring, or MAR. Planned in the 1980s and implemented in the 90s, the MAR modernized the agency’s observational infrastructure. NEXRAD, a new generation of environmental satellites, the Automated Surface Observation System (ASOS), and a new Advance Weather Information Processing System (AWIPS) to replace ASOS, were centerpiece technologies.
  • The MAR was completed in 2000, and forecast capabilities continued to improve through the beginning of the 21s Century. However, another super outbreak of tornadoes in 2011 — eerily similar to the 1974 outbreak in both scope and lives lost — was a stark reminder that even timely warnings are only as good as the action people take in response to them.
  • From the “Critical Conversations” that followed between NWS and its partners in government, the private sector and academia, the concept of Building a Weather-Ready Nation was born and a refocusing of forecasting efforts toward “the Last Mile” with Impact-based Decision Support Services. The key to creating a prepared, resilient nation is connecting forecasts to the life-saving decisions that allow communities to withstand them. IDSS is all about delivering forecasts to emergency managers and public safety officials to ensure these decision-makers make informed decisions and understand the impending situation based on expected impacts.
  • The Weather Research and Forecasting and Innovation Act of 2017 codified the IDSS approach into law, authorizing the NWS to provide IDSS across federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels of government for the purposes of public safety and disaster management. As the NWS begins its next 150 years, the agency and its employees remain focused on one enduring mission that has remained consistent throughout its history: protecting lives and property and enhancing the national economy.

Additional Reading:

  • In addition to the hotlinks incorporated throughout this story, we invite you to learn more about NWS’ storied history by exploring the entirety of the NWS Heritage website.
  • Also, visit HERE for detailed history by decades.
  • Latest satellite imagery around the globe.

 

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DO YOU LIKE CONTESTS?
Me, too.
As you may know the Kowalski Heat Treating logo finds its way
into the visuals of my Friday posts.
I.  Love.  My.  Logo.
One week there could be three logos.
The next week there could be 15 logos.
And sometimes the logo is very small or just a partial logo showing.
But there are always logos in some of the pictures.
So, I challenge you, my beloved readers, to count them and send me a
quick email with the total number of logos in the Friday post.
On the following Tuesday I’ll pick a winner from the correct answers
and send that lucky person some great KHT swag.
So, start counting and good luck!  
Oh, and the logos at the very top header don’t count.
Got it? Good.  :-))))
Have fun!!

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