Sunday, January 27, 2008

Postcasting

I'm going to a have a little more time on my hands here for the foreseeable future, so I thought I'd branch out a bit--take up a new hobby.

I've always been fascinated by meteorology--you know, those guys who come on the radio and say things like, "A high pressure system is passing through within the next forty-eight hours, creating a low pressure, cold front, with lows in the low-highs, and highs in the high lows, and a 30% chance of precipitation, with possible early morning fog."

I have no idea what that means. I think that it means it's likely to be cold, unless it's hot; and there's a possibility of rain, unless it's dry; and there could be fog; or it might be clear.

The amazing thing is the amount of money these guys get paid to do this. They're in high demand. So, I hopped online tonight to try to see what it takes to be a meteorologist. A four year degree in meteorology or atmospheric sciences is what it takes to get an entry level spot; a high level position requires a Ph. D.

A little disappointing, in that I'm kinda wanting to embrace it as a hobby now.

The thing is, though, is that these guys aren't really all that accurate. They go through all that training, and their forecasts are still so vague that you can't really pin them down.

I'm interested in accuracy.

So, on Dad's advice, I'm going to forego the education and forget forecasting. Instead, I'm going to do weather Postcasting. It's where I'll tell you, on a periodic basis, what the weather was like yesterday.

I'll always be accurate--100%, guaranteed. And I don't have to have nearly as much education.

Let me take a crack at it now:

"Yesterday was cold, but not too cold. The high was 52 degrees; the overnight low was 37 degrees. The wind blew moderately, and there was light rainfall on and off throughout the day, but for most of the day, the sun was shining. It was a great day for a picnic! There was no fog."

What do you think?

3 comments:

Mrs. Willman said...

And to think, at reading the beginning of your post I was going to advise you to invest in a beetle. Postcasting would be much more efficient.

Anonymous said...

I actually read this as PODcasting... and I thought this was a serious post, in which you were describing how you were going to become an amateur weatherman, until I got to the last paragraph. Then I was just confused.

haha... Great post... I highly encourage you to also get into Stock postcasting. You could've been rich.

Anonymous said...

Nowcasting

You hang a small stone where it can easily be seen.

When you want to know the weather you just look out at the stone.

Condition – Stone is wet;
Nowcast – Rain

Condition – Stone is dry;
Nowcast – Not Raining

Condition – Shadow on the ground;
Nowcast – Sunny

Condition – White on top
Nowcast – Snowing

Condition – Can’t see stone;
Nowcast – Foggy

Condition – Swinging stone;
Nowcast – Windy

Condition – Stone jumping up and down;
Nowcast – Earthquake

Condition – Stone Gone;
Nowcast - Tornado or Hurricane (It won't matter which)