A New Past Time

I'm tired of the blog always being about weather. I'm going back to the roots of this blog, which talked more about life. Here's a new past time for my boys and I, model cars. When I was a kid, I loved doing model cars. I can vividly remember that they were not constructed very well and I frequently left out the little parts that were hard to glue on. Therefore, my cars had no alternators, oil filters, side mirrors, etc. As I start this new adventure with the boys, we're going to try to be a little more meticulous.

Side note: As a kid, I would take a lighter, heat the plastic suspension, and lower cars. I was a pro at making a car have "three-wheel motion". Some of you will know what that is...

The most challenging part has been the painting. A few streaks, a few bubbles, blemish here and there, but I think we're getting the hang of it. I think the key is primer, which we failed to use a time or two. As I mentioned, I did not like the small parts that gave the cars detail as a kid, but adding those pieces really give it a nice touch. My oldest son is a little more "into" the model cars than the youngest and I've been teaching him the parts of a car as we construct them.

Yes... that's an oil filter on the Challenger we are constructing.

I think we will tackle a NASCAR next. If you have ever done a NASCAR model car, then you know that the painting and decals are a challenge. I'll keep you posted.

Ryan

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Irene Looks Mean

The SE islands of the Bahamas are getting hit pretty good by Irene today. My wife and I met a meteorologist and his family in Nassau a couple of years ago. I'm going to try to call him today to see what it is like in Nassau, Bahamas today as they prepare for Irene. It should come very close to their city. I'm going to assume that he may be a little busy, but if I can get a phone interview... I'll air it on Region 8 News. It clearly looks like this is an East Coast storm now, but the overall weather pattern WILL be impacted and in an indirect way, it will affect us in Region 8. Take a look at the WRF model and what it does with Irene:

This shows a North Carolina landfall. This is bad for North Carolina and my cousin (an ER Doc) in Salisbury, Maryland. However, my Dad in West Palm Beach, FL and friends that are heading to Disney World are quite happy with the forecast path (I'm guessing).

With the counter-clockwise rotation of the hurricane, this will help draw down some drier and cooler air for us in the wake of the cold front. It may get a little breezy as well, since we will be between the strong ridge and the low (Irene) to the East. Here's a graph of the dewpoint to show the break from the Mugginess:

In summary... I am ready to lose this muggy air.

Ryan

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Hello! The Tropics Are Heating Up!

I haven't blogged in awhile and I can blame that on two things. First, the weather gets pretty boring in the Summer. Second, my personal life has been really, really busy. I'm not willing to share details at this point, but our family adopted 2 little girls shortly after we returned from Alaska several weeks back. With 4 kids, I spend more time being Dad than the blogging weather guy! God has really blessed our family, but the transition takes up lots of time.

Let's talk weather though right now...

This first map is for next Thursday and this bowling ball in the Tropics could be a big news story by NEXT weekend! Click images to enlarge.

Models are still going back and forth between a FL hit or a North-Central GOM hit. GOM stands for Gulf of Mexico....Even each individual model varies from each run. For example, the data coming in this evening shows this storm coming into the GOM and heading back over FL and then hitting the East Coast! I think that's kind of what Charley did a few years back. Here's the map valid for next Saturday:

As I said though... the models have shifted some. The earlier run of the GFS showed a large hurricane in the center of the GOM next weekend. See map:

Regardless of which track it takes, it should be a big news story by next week. Stay tuned and I'l keep you posted. If the storm tracks west... we could get some rain and wind. If the naming goes as expected.... this sould be Irene.

We'll watch it!
Ryan

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