Christmas 2011

Christmas 2011 was much different in our house this year. So different that we did not have enough room for the stockings. If you notice, we have some sitting on the bottom! Now that we have 4 kids, there was more wrapping paper, more noise, more fun, and more "untieing" of the the twisty grey straps for me. Fun times.

In addition to the larger immediate family, my sister came to town. It was great to have my sister here. I'm not sure how long it has been since I spent Christmas Eve in the same house as my sister, but it has had to be a LONG time.

Let's bring on 2012! I'm already pumped about the new year. I've already started my New Year's weight loss and toning and already booking the Summer vacation. I hate to admit this, but I'm already sick of winter. I'm more a hot weather kind of person! 

I hope all of you had a blessed Christmas and that you are looking forward to 2012!

Ryan

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Dual Pol Radar

Radar has come a LONG way since the 60s. The above image is from NOAA and shows some tornadic storms from 1965. Since then, we now have color radar, Doppler capabilities, and many more products that help us track flooding, tornadoes, and severe storms.

All of us are familiar with the "reflectivity" product on radar. We use this product the most.

The above image is reflectivity or what we use to show where it is raining and how hard. This is the most popular radar product and for years has been very helpful. In recent times, the resolution has become MUCH better! That means it is more precise. Another radar product you see often during tornado coverage is "Velocity" data.

Velocity data shows us which direction the wind is moving and it's magnitude. Click image to enlarge. The green is the wind coming "toward" the radar site and the red is the wind going "away" from the radar site. Many times we show "Reflectivity" with the "Velocity" data in our scope. Now let's talk about some new products as of this month!

The NWS radar in Memphis has been upgraded to be a Dual Polarization radar! This is a project that is upgrading every NWS radar in the country by the end of 2013. Memphis is one of the first batch of radars to be upgraded. This is VERY good for us. Dual Pol radar not only sends out horizontal pulses, but vertical pulses. This helps to measure "WHAT" is falling from the sky and the size.

The new data will help determine precipitation types, rainfall rates, and hail detection. At KAIT, we have upgraded our radar display systems to have access to this data and to be able to show it to you on air! With that said, I'm not sure how often we will show it yet, but it is available. Here's what some of the data looks like using the same rain in the above images from last night.

The above image is "Differential Reflectivity" or "ZDR" and essentially can tell us the precipitation type and how large the raindrops are, and hail detection. I plan on making a radar legend for this product for typical values and what can be associated with those values. With StormTRACK Doppler 8, we can click the radar data to obtain the values and make some determination of what is falling from the sky.

The above image is "Correlation Coefficient": or CC data. I plan on using this to track ducks! LOL CC shows the behavior of of the pulses horizontally and vertically between each volume. Birds are not uniform and will change often and will be easily detected. Plain ole rain wills show up in shades of pink as seen above. If there was hail or snow with big snowflakes, it would react differently and you would see some shades of blues and greens, reds and oranges.

The above image here is Differential Phase or "KDP". I believe this is going to come in handy for Flash Flood events, but we need some real time events to see exactly how this will be used. It will show where the higher concentration of particles is located.

There's still a lot of studying to be done, but I'm excited about this new data we have to use at KAIT! To my knowledge, we may be the only television station with Dual Pol data for on-air use in Arkansas at this time. I'm still checking on that.

Have a great day!
Ryan

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Great Arctic Blast of 1983

Back in 1983, there was BIG blast of cold air in Region 8! The above image is the climate log from KAIT that month. Click the image to enlarge and look at the coooold weather! While we are going into the 50s and 60s today, they were in the 40s and 30s and about to enter a streak of sub freezing temperatures! Some of the numbers to highlight in the image above are:

• December 19, 1983: High 15, Low: 8
• Christmas Eve, 1983: High: 6, Low: -1
• Christmas Day. 1983: High: 13, Low: -5 on Christmas morning!!!

Here are some more climate logs from December of 1983. Click on them and check them out. This next one is from Paragould:

And finally, here's one from Pocahontas. Brrrr, -8 is COLD:

I hope you enjoyed looking back at the VERY cold December of 1983! It's neat to look back at the old climate logs.

Have a great day!
Ryan

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Oh Christmas Tree!

I can remember when I was a kid, I would want to sleep on the couch to stare at the lights! While I still love the tree, sleeping on the couch is not as comfortable anymore! The above picture is this year's tree, or at least one of them. My wife also has a tree at the back of the house that the kid's put ornaments on each year!

Let's go through some of my favorite ornaments! First, my Krispy Kreme donuts "Hot" sign. If you have ever lived near a Krispy Kreme bakery, you know the HOT sign well and know you must stop if you see it!

The next ornament is the pickle ornament. I'm not sure why it has become one of the favorites, but it has.

The next ornament was given to me by Lisa Patton at WKRN. It's a "Our First Christmas" ornament that was given to my wife and I when we were married. Of course, it will always be an important one.

This is our newest ornament and is great! That's a lot of reindeer! As Sarah mentioned in the Storm Center just now, we almost have enough to pull Santa's sleigh!

The next one was given to me by Weather Watcher, Jason Hampton. It's a beloved WKU football helmet!

And as many of you know, I'm a big Titans fan and we must have a Titans ornament...

That's a quick look at our tree! I hope you guys have a very Merry Christmas!

Ryan

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Top Buttons Are Important!

I typically go to work with no tie one, but put one on right before the news.. I'm not a huge fan of ties. I like wearing suits and actually find them more comfortable than jeans, but ties are a little stuffy. Today, I go to put on my tie about 45 minutes before news time and the top button on my shirt is MISSING! I considered not wearing a tie on air, but I don't feel right doing that unless I have a blue shirt on. So, I go searching for a solutions. Back when Brandi Hodges worked at KAIT, she would take care of problems like this, but she left us for the library. So... I go searching for a sewing kit.

Craig, nope. Diana says maybe and searches her car... nope. Other employees in the newsroom.... nope, nope, and nope. So, I head to the other end of the building and stop by our Network Administrators's office. To my surprise, he has a sewing kit!!! Problem solved, right? Wrong... I'm not a seamstress!

I have 20 minutes to sew on a button, get dressed, tie a tie, mic up and be on the news. Somehow, some way... I got it done. I was a little worried all night that the button would pop off and my tie would look crazy, but it held together.

In the future, I'm going to have a sewing kit in the storm center, OR I'm going to buy one of these cool things:
Automatic Button Sewer- Click here

That would be a cool stocking stuffer! Anywho, I'm heading to bed soon. Tomorrow is my Friday!

Ryan

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Nine Years Ago

Nine years ago, my wife and I were sitting at the Jonesboro Christmas parade. It was COLD and we were walking the streets of downtown. My wife was 9 months pregnant and due at any moment. This would be the last day for us to go out alone without a babysitter for many years! After a day of errands and an evening at the Christmas Parade, we went home to sleep... a few hours later, she went into labor.

I was scared when I first became a father. I felt too young, too irresponsible, too broke, too weak, and too unprepared. I have come to realize that you are never 100% prepared and that you have to depend on God for guidance and preparation. I'm sure if you ask anyone if they felt prepared for their first kid and they would say no... I didn't feel prepared for #2 either... or #3 and #4. The road that my wife and I have taken is one that can only be supported by the strength of Jesus. It's been a blast, but not easy.

As I reflect on my oldest son's birthday, I can honestly say that I KNOW he is going to make me proud. In fact, he is already making me proud! He is a Christ-filled child. He makes straight A's. He's athletic. He's polite..... and he says yes sir and no mam! God has truly blessed us. He's not perfect and he can have his off days, but I am very proud to call him my son!

Happy Birthday Big Guy!
Ryan

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Snake!

While doing my normal routine of sitting at the bar, drinking my coffee, and catching up on the morning news I hear my youngest daughter say, "SNAKE"! I turn around and find this...

The joy of daughters.... It's a short blog, but just a reminder that kids are funny people. I decided today that I need to start recording their audio. Listening to what they say now in 10 years will be priceless.

By the way, the snake was a piece of bark.

Have a blessed day!
Ryan

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Um... There are Two Decks

I have thought this before, I realized for sure tonight that there are people out there that think the trailer we pull behind the StormTRACKER in parades and events is the same "Weather Deck" we occasionally do weather on during the newscasts. That makes me laugh!

The weather deck that is permanent at KAIT is a multi-level deck that is perched several feet above the ground. It's VERY nice and if I did not mention it already... is permanent! There is a large deck on top, which has a rain gauge and several weather instruments, stairs that go down to another part of the deck, and landscaping all around it. There's also a Christmas tree that we need to decorate!

At 5:00, I showed the leftover snow on the weather deck (which is seen above) and when we rode in the parade tonight, 4-5 people asked why there was no snow on the deck! So, as I walked into the studio tonight, I took this picture to prove it.

I hope this clears it up,
Ryan

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