The most amazing female meteorologist

Awestruck….I’m still in awe from an opportunity I had last Friday.

Last week, I my radar class visited the radar site for Denver (KFTG). That giant tower you see above…yeah that montrosity is it.

It sits on 12 feet of concrete underground and puts out so much power (750 kW), if you put a hot dog close to the transmitter, it would get nice and krispy.

But that’s not why I am in awe. I mean that thing is awesome but it wasn’t the thing that inspired me.

That would be the woman who led the field trip. Her name is Nezette Rydell, and she’s the Meteorologist in Charge at the Boulder National Weather Service. Yep, I had to Google her name because it’s not a name you come by often.

Nezette looks like a sweet Texan grandmother. She doesn’t give off a standoffish vibes I noticed from other meteorologists and had a real interested to talk to my fellow students and I. But when she opens her mouth, that’s when your jaw drops.

“What we are looking at today,” she said excitingly, “Is a WSR-88D radar. The transmitter puts out 750 kW of power and does a full volume scan in 6 minutes.”

Well, I wasn’t expecting that! Not to say women don’t know their stuff. It is just since I started my meteorological scholastic career I’ve only heard from men. I mean, every single conference I’ve been to or class I’ve had, a man is the one spouting out the technical jargon. And if I can say quite frankly, the way she was able to explain something so technologically advanced, it made me so happy!

As a female budding meteorologist, I feel like I’ve had a little bit to prove within myself. Coming from a journalistic background, it has been a struggle to train my brain to do the math and physics. And, for the most part I’ve been in a lot of male dominated classes, where usually the people who are able to answer things out-loud (even though a lot of my female friends also knew the answers) in class are all…men. And I am not ashamed to say, I’ve also heard sporadically throughout my life that men are better at the sciences then women.

So just to see a woman, who is the big boss at I would say one of the hardest Forecasting Offices to get in to (seriously, you need a PhD or at least a master’s degree to even be considered) be able to spout of all this technical jargon and to just show how smart she is….I can’t even begin to describe how inspired I am.

It makes me realize, as a woman, that I can go and do well in this field to. I can know all this jargon and that either I or any of my female counterparts could be the MIC (Meteorologist in Charge) of their County Warning Area. We can be chief meteorologists. And because we are also learning how to code and work in fields of instrumentation, there is no telling what the future holds.

Needless to say, I have hope for the future. And that, makes it all worth it.

Until then,

-M

 

Active Weather Week Around the Country

Hi everyone!

Hope you all have had a wonderful week!

Every once in awhile, I get scientist-y (is that a word?) here on Weather Wanderings. Especially when big weather events are happening. It also doesn’t hurt to talk about these things when I am doing discussion in class.

So let’s get right down to it. Starting with the most pressing matter: another Hurricane.

Hello, Matthew!

As you can see from the photo above, there’s a new Hurricane in town and this one’s name is Matthew. This storm was upgraded to a hurricane as of 2 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time.

At this moment, models predict the hurricane will move northward, pass Florida and possibly continue into the Atlantic Ocean, away from the US. Be forewarned, there’s still a lot that could go on in the next couple of days that would affect the storm’s path.

For more information about the Hurricane, click here

Now onto other severe storms:

Severe Storm Activity in Virginia:

One of the scary things about weather, it can go crazy at night!

Take a look at the discussion below. A thunderstorm with some rotation popped up around 7pm Eastern near Charlottesville, VA on 9/28/16. (Note: no tornado confirmed). However, I did look and some warnings were issued for this storm.

So, want to see what goes in to evaluating if a storm is severe? Here’s the very short discussion I wrote for my radar and satellite class. Enjoy!

 

1) Using Base Reflectivity 0.5 degrees (Figure 1), the first intense radar echo was observed at 2357 UTC on 9/28/16. The echo was located south of the Charlottesville, VA METAR. This is Northwest of the KAKQ Radar Station.

(Figure 1)

2)The wind according to the Base Velocity 0.5 degree product as shown in Figure 2 indicated a southwesterly flow. The Charlottesville METAR verified this observation.

(Figure 2)
3) The EET product in Figure 3 indicated an echo top of 40,000 ft during the most intense precipitation period which is indicative of possible hail.

(Figure 3)

4)Using the NOH product to locate other hydrometers (Figure 4), the product shows that hail and graupel were present in the echo.

(Figure 4)
5) From the Storm Relative Velocity product in Figure 5, there was a storm with rotation located south of the Charlottesville METAR at 2357 UTC.

(Figure 5)

Welcome Back to The World!

Hi guys!

I missed you all so much. Now that I have fully been on vacation and have figured out how I am going to attack this semester. I can happily announce that I am back to blogging.

So let’s start with this weekend. The picture above is from, I kid you not, the view from our porch of our cabin for the weekend. I seriously love Colorado.

Although I can’t tell you exactly where this picture was taken because the place where I was is particular about media coverage I can tell you it is somewhere in between Estes Park and Nederland on Peak to Peak Highway in Colorado.

The nice thing is even though things are starting to cool down here, it is still warm enough to get around and hike a bit. It is also still warm enough for wildlife to be out.

I was lucky enough to see some deer over the weekend too. I literally just shut the door after taking the dogs out for a hike when a herd of deer swarmed my cabin. There were 4 in total (One buck and 3 does) and they seemed happy enough to graze around while I frantically search for my phone to take a picture. The pic above is of the one straggling doe that stuck around just so I could get her picture.

But my weekend was not just all fun and games.

I also got in a lot of reading too. If you are geeky about meteorology and want to learn about radar, I highly recommend this book. I am currently reading this because I am taking a course in radar and satellite at school however, the professor who wrote this book sells these on his website for about $40.

Just thought I would write a little update for you. Hope to have more interesting blog posts soon.

Until then,

-M

Here’s to another new beginning

(The Weather Lab at my school)

Hey guys,

It is the start to a school semester. I could go on and on….blah blah blah…. about starting school again in the fall and how nervous I am and excited to see friends, but this start is a little different for me.

A lot of things have happened in the span of the spring semester to the fall semester. (Yes, I got highlights. Thanks for noticing 😉 ) At the end of the spring semester, I got sick. Like really sick. Like so sick my family and I were questioning whether I would return to school. The good news is I made it through and was able to take one class during the summer. I even passed Calculus 2!!!!!! (That’s a miracle in itself)

But you can’t blame me for being a little nervous to get back in the saddle in the weather lab (pictured above). I love weather with everything in me. I wish I would have studied it sooner. But that lab, there’s just something about it where I feel like I need to attack the tasks in there and prove to myself that my illness didn’t own me.

I didn’t mean to get all deep. Just thought I would share amongst friends.

Wish me luck! And oh, if you are starting school tomorrow too, best wishes and go get ’em!

-M

Several Fires Still Not Out in Colorado

Hello folks!

It has been quite the sad weekend here in Colorado. We’ve had several wildfires here and unfortunately, many of them are not contained.

For this video blog, I decided to do a recap of all the fires currently burning and what I knew as of Sunday night. Please watch the video, give it a like and subscribe to my youtube channel to stay up to date when we post these videos.

I will be back on Wednesday to let you know the most up to date information about each of these fires. I will also be talking about how weather can contribute to wildfires spreading.

See you on Wednesday,

-M

Cooler Temps and Thunderstorm Activity | Forecast 6/27-7/1

Hi fellow wanderers,

While last week was hot hot hot, it is relatively cooler this week. AND! There are more possible thunderstorms in several places around the country. I tell you when it will happen in the video above.

Next Wednesday, I have another outdoors product video for you! We are calling it wandering Wednesday where I discuss the outdoors and nature. You won’t want to miss it.

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel to be the first to know when I post. The link is at the end of the video.

Thanks so much and I will see you on Wednesday!

-M

Why Does It Get Hot Before Summer?

Hello one and all!

It’s officially summer. So why in the world does it get so hot before summer officially starts? In the video above, I explain why. As always, I hope you enjoy it.

Please subscribe to my youtube channel. The link is at the end of the video. Thanks so much and I will see you on Friday for your weekend forecast.

Until then,

-M

More Heat for the Week and A Scorcher for the Southwest

Hi everyone!

It was hot hot hot this weekend in both the Denver area and around the country. For most, expect temps in the 80s and 90s for Monday. But that is not the case for the Southwest.

There is a Heat Advisory for Southern Nevada and Arizona. Vegas and Phoenix will see temps of 115 for Vegas and 111 for Phoenix. Although it is not unusual to see those temperatures in both of those places (trust me, I am from Vegas) it could potentially break the record for hottest temperature on June 20th. That being said, stay cool out there, stay hydrated and be safe.

And from bad to good! We have a new set!!!! This is our very first forecast in front of a green screen. I hope you enjoy it and please give us a subscribe by clicking the button at the end of this video.

Enjoy your week! I will be back Wednesday with a video about why in the world is is hot before summer officially starts.

Until then,

-M

Hottest Day of The Year for Father’s Day

Wow! It is going to be a hot one for this Father’s Day weekend.

Yep, Denver is going to experience the hottest day of the year to date this weekend. I give you more info in this weekend’s forecast.

Chance of Severe Weather? Work Week Forecast June 13-17

For the first time in my meteorological career, there is a chance for severe weather all over the country. One of those places just so happens to be the Denver-Metro area.

As always be weather aware for today and take precautions. I have the details of what will happen in this week’s work week forecast.