Concord broke an all-time record for this date by an enormous margin of 5°F:
Hot enuf for ya?
Weather Radio Outage, Gray Maine Office, 26-28 Oct 2024
The Weather Radio transmissions for Gray Maine were off the air from sometime early in the morning on 27 October 2024 until around 5 PM on the 28th. I reported the outage, and was told it was due to a telcom problem, and it was resolved quickly.
A weather radio is an inexpensive item every household should have. It will alert you to urgent weather situations.
Does Anyone Really Know How Hot It Is?
(with apologies to the band Chicago)
Last summer, I was watching temperatures rise in the wicked heat, and I noticed the “feels like” temperature displayed on the weather station web site was sky-high, 108°F on a mid-90 degree day. I checked the reported “feels like” on the local sensor gateway G!100 and on the WeeWx data page, and it was only a few degrees above the plain temperature. What the heck was going on?
Well, it seems like we can’t agree on what “feels like” means. Everyone knows a 90°F day with low humidity and a little breeze is tolerable, if a little hot for us northerners. But the same 90°F with 90 humidity and still winds has everyone reaching for the A/C, a fan, and some ice water.
With the increasing frequency and intensity of the heat, vigorous occupations and sports have focused on the danger of serious heat-related injuries and fatalities. Surely, there must be some standards to apply to the situation.
Well, we like standards so much we’ve made dozens!
“Feels Like” or “Apparent Temperature” is a calculation of temperature and humidity and wind speed created in 1984. While relatively easy to calculate, this really only applies to indoor situations where solar heating is not a factor.
“Humidex” is a similar calculation more common in Canada (and was also the standard on the weather software I was using, hence the difference in values).
Wet-bulb temperature deserves a mention here, although it’s not a measure of “feels like,” but is often confused with the next one. A thermometer is wrapped in a wet cloth sock, and the temperature will differ from dry air temperature by the cooling effect of the water evaporating (absorbing its “latent heat of vaporization” if that rings bells from science classes) and can be used to calculate relative humidity with a simple mechanical device called a “sling psychrometer” and a simple lookup table. This is popular where complex or delicate instrumentation isn’t a good choice, such as the logging industry or grade-school science classes.
Wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) is currently the most popular for calculating heat stress, the combined effects of temperature, wind, humidity and heat (solar radiation or other heat sources). It uses a dry-air temperature, a wet-bulb temperature for humidity, the temperature inside a black globe exposed to the sun or heat source, and factors in the wind for evaporative effects to create an estimate of how hot it really feels. This estimate is rapidly becoming an important guideline in sports, industry and governmental regulations.
A great article on WGBT can be found here.
Finally, we can’t forget the “RealFeel™” a trademarked and patented proprietary calculation by Accuweather.com. Using similar calculations and factors above, as well as combining special factors of their own, Accu
So, keep in mind when you hear the day is going to “feel like” that there’s a bit of disagreement on what exactly that means, and how it is measured. But, hey, be careful out there.
Misadventure, repaired
Alert weather watchers (do you guys ever take a day off??!!!??) noted that the site went a little sideways yesterday. The main thermometer thought the high and low for the day was 32°F, the winds and other basic parameters were not right, and some of the supplementary pages failed to load or generated a pageful of errors. Hopefully, it’s working better today.
A junior web operator who shall remain nameless attempted to check the web sites’ configuration files into Git and instead loaded in the entire site, including dynamically updated data files and cached files. This means Git will pretty much always report the repository is out of date, and make cloning amd redeployment a serious hazard. In fixing the issue, the problem compounded: it turns out the “git rm” command does not remove the file from git as one might suspect, but instead OBLITERATES THE WORKING FOLDER OF PRODUCTION DATA and marks the file retained in (for historical purposes), but no longer active in the repository. Removing live data and cached files while the website is running had predictably disastrous results. Management has been notified and stern lectures delivered about diddling with the live production site without making three backups while clicking your heels together.
The management wishes to apologize to anyone who just wanted to know what the weather was outside. Yesterday, you would have had to go out IRL and look for yourselves; today, you can check on your phone again.
Updates to the website
Alert readers (I know you’re out there!) have noted that the Wunderground forecasts stopped updating recently. I had updated the API key provided to me by WU in exchange for posting my station’s data on their site. but I missed a portion of the update. The website continued onward, requesting updates from WU, logging the failed access, and republishing the out-of-date forecasts, I had no clue this was stuck, and I’ll look at finding a better way to monitor this. Currently, the script just logs errors into comments in the resulting web page, rather than writing out a log visible on the separate status /results page. I’ll see if I can patch this in.
While debugging this, I noted a couple of scripts were recently updated:
The Sun/Moon astronomy page has been updated with slicker graphics and a pretty neat graph showing moon and sun factoids (azimuths, elevation, zenith, etc.).
“It’s Another Yankee Forecast” – wazzatmean?
“It’s Another Yankee Forecast” was a handy and memorable name for a site I’ve owned for many years, and adapted to my latest hobby of weather observation. It refers to the old chestnut, “if you don’t like New England weather, just wait a minute” which was coined by … Mark Twain? Unlikely. Will Rogers? Nyah-uh. Like Yogi Berra, who may or may not have said, “I never said half the things I said,” the quote is attributed to many places and authors, but most likely should be credited to “Anon.” The great site, Quote Investigator has an indepth article here: “If You Don’t Like Our Weather, Just Wait a Few Minutes.”
I enjoyed the article’s citation of a Mark Twain speech he actually did make, which included a couple of great quotes, like:
There is a sumptuous variety about the New England weather that compels the stranger’s admiration—and regret.
and:
Yes, one of the brightest gems in the New England weather is the dazzling uncertainty of it.
The fun of New England weather is to grab a light jacket and sunglasses to walk the dog, only to be hit with a blizzard whiteout halfway home, or bundling up on a blustery fall day only to be ripping off layers in the tropical heat minutes later.
New WX page
Today, I added the World Weather Extremes page. A reminder to be grateful you’re not THERE!
ChatGPT can imitate that weather person you can’t stand
64.2°F, 99% RH, overcast and raining, no wind, barometer 29.824 inHg
Prompted with the data and the request to report it like a friendly weather report, Chat GPT responded with this:
“Well, hello there, folks! It’s your friendly weather reporter here, bringing you the latest scoop on what’s happening outside. So, grab your umbrellas and raincoats because it’s a bit damp out there!
Currently, the temperature is a comfortable 64.2 degrees Fahrenheit, making it just right for those who enjoy a mild climate. But don’t forget, it’s feeling quite humid with a relative humidity of 99%. That’s a whole lot of moisture in the air, so you might want to keep a cool drink handy to stay refreshed.
Now, as you glance out your windows, you’ll notice that the skies are dressed in a cozy overcast blanket. Those clouds are working hard to keep that sunshine at bay, so you might want to postpone any sunbathing plans for now.
But wait, there’s more! The heavens have opened up, and we’ve got some gentle rain making its way down. It’s the kind of rain that’s perfect for a cozy day indoors with a good book or a hot cup of cocoa. No need to worry about strong winds today – the air is still and calm, giving you a peaceful and serene atmosphere.
And for those of you who like to keep an eye on the pressure, the barometer is reading a steady 29.824 inches of mercury. So, it looks like our weather pattern is holding steady for the moment.
Remember, folks, a little rain never hurt anyone! So, grab your rain gear, find a cozy spot, and enjoy the soothing sounds of nature’s orchestra. That’s all from me, your friendly weather reporter. Stay dry and have a wonderful day!”
I think I’ll stick with just the facts. Or, I might just find a cozy spot, grab my umbrella, a cool drink, a good book and a hot cup of coffee and enjoy my day!
Technical Difficulties
Due to operator error (that’s me!), the weather page was wrong from around 730 pm EST last night until 6:20 am EST this morning. The site generator was inadvertently set to “Simulator” mode. We regret the error.
Cleaned WH41 PM 2.5 sensor
When reviewing my annual logs, I noticed the PM 2.5 detector, an Ecowitt WH41 model, dropped off in readings in August, and was pretty consistently low for the rest of the year. I visited the WxForum and found an article suggesting that the air chamber could be clogged and needed regular clearing. Sure enough, I took the device apart and found debris in side, and what might have been a thin leaf stem stuck in the fan. Cleaned and blown out, the device returned to service, readings immediately started to show more interesting behavior. Hope that fixes it!
