As I recently reminsced about the arrival of Weatheradio in Birmingham some 31 years ago, it made me think about what are the top weather advances in my lifetime. Here is my list. Please post your comments.
10. Skycams – Skycams give us the ability to see the weather at remote locations. Comes in handy when storms are near the location, as it gives us a chance to see strom structure and even occasionally see actual tornadoes!
9. Color Radar on Television – The digitization of radar data in the late 1970s allowed for color display of VIP levels.
8. Wireless Home Weather Stations – Inexpensive (well, relatively) wireless and wired home weather stations allowed for fairly accurate monitoring of weather data at numerous locations giving us lots of new data sources.
7. The Weather Channel – Can you imagine a television channel dedicated to 24 hour coverage of the weather? With an innovative display called Weather STAR that displayed local forecasts, conditions and warnings. We didn’t have cable when it came out, so I spent hours at my friend’s house watching the channel.
6. Advances in modelling – We now have a landslide of model information available to us in real time.
5. Real Time Storm Chasing – video from storm chasers in the field is proving invaluable, as evidenced by Brett Adair and his team on Friday.
4. James Spann – The arrival of James on Channel 13 in September 1979 signaled the biggest change in local television weather in Birmingham history.
3. NOAA Weatheradio – The arrival of KIH-54 in November 1976 changed everything for weather enthusiasts and the casual weather person. It gave 24 hour access to forecasts, warnings and when J.B. was working, the best weather insight available.
2. The Internet – The World Wide Web has given us access to nearly every kind of weather information available in the world.
1. Doppler Radar – The arrival of Doppler Radar with the WSR-88D weather radar network meant that nearly every tornado is detected. Of course, it has the drawback of producing too many false alarms, since 80% of tornado warnings don’t verify, but countless lives have been saved as a result of this scientific advance.
Now it is your turn to agree, or disagree. Give me your thoughts…
