BobRingReflections

I’ve written about clouds, weather, and the wind.  I decided that it was about time to write about weather forecasting.     After a short introduction, I’ll cover the early history of weather forecasting, the transition to modern methods, upper-air balloon observations, the beginning of numerical weather prediction, weather forecasting organizations, today’s tools and techniques for weather forecasting, computer models, weather broadcasts to the public, applications and benefits of weather forecasting, and finally, a snapshot of the future of weather forecasting. My principal sources include “Weather Forecasting,” Wikipedia.com; “Weather Forecasting,” britannica.com; “Weather forecasting Through the Ages,” earthobservatory.nasa.gov; “6 tools our meteorologists use to forecast the weather,” noaa.gov; “National Weather Service History,” zippia.com; “How AI is Improving Weather Forecasting,” aiplusinfo.com; plus, numerous other online sources. Introduction Weather ...

Recently, most people in United States moved their clocks an hour forward, observing Daylight Savings Time (DST).  I live in Arizona, which does not observe DST (even though my “smart a_ _” bedside clock moved the time one hour forward anyway).  While resetting that clock, I decided that the history of time zones and DST would be a good topic for a blog.     After a short introduction, I will cover the need for standard time, America’s first time zones, the idea of DST, U.S. Congressional actions defining time zones and DST observance, U.S. time zones today, DST controversies, and will finish with worldwide time zones and DST observance. My principal resources include “Time Zone,” “Daylight Savings Time,” and “International Date Line,” Wikipedia.com; “A Brief History of Time Zones,” geojango.com; “History of Time Zones,” bts.gov; “Daylight Savings Time,” crsreports.congress.gov; “U.S. Time Zones in 1918,” papershake.blogspot.com; “The History of and Use of Time...