Daily weather stats from Monday, 8/31

Well, here we are, through another month, and we had a "non-dull" round of storms to close out August.

Both Colorado Springs and Pueblo warmed up nicely from Sunday.
Colorado Springs reported a high of 78 (up from 66 on Sunday)
Pueblo edged up to 87 degrees (after 75 on Sunday)

Statwide, the hot spot was Grand Junction, with a high of 93.
The coldest "official" reported tempreature was 35 overnight in Leadville.

The Farmer's Almanac predictions are in for the upcoming Winter, and suggest it will be bitterly cold. This will be fun to watch, as the long-term models from NOAA suggest warmer-than-average.

Interesting sidelight about the Almanac, it's predictions are based on a number of factors, but reduced to the simplest terms, it's conditional climatology. When it has an "on" year, it's pretty good. It's "off" years, can be pretty dramatically bad, though.

In any case, it will be fun to watch which system more accurately predicts the upcoming Winter.

My prediction....there's no science involved in this one at all. It's just that based on our summer pattern, this feels a LOT like 1997 to me, so I'd plan on a thrill-ride or two before the winter is over.

Cool, but not a record-setter

Sunday (8/30) was an interesting August day (compared to what you might expect). Clouds, fog, showers, thunderstorms, hail and breezy winds all combined to make it feel more like October.

Colorado Springs ended up with a high of 66. For Pueblo, the final number was 75..both far below the "averages" for the day.

I had me wondering if maybe we had another record low maximum in the bag, but a quick check of the record books showed that we've been colder on this date.

Colorado Springs only made it to 56 on this day in 1967, and Pueblo had a high of 63 that same year.

While I have the word-processor fired up, here's a quick update on how we're doing for water to this point in the year....
Through this afternoon, we have 13.03" since January 1. That's 1.26" below average.
Pueblo reports 11.92"...2.03" ABOVE average.

Interesting year overall, don't you think?

Alternative College Criteria

With the Fall semester upon us, I see lots of television ads promoting various Colleges and Universities promising quick, painless "get me a job now" programs.

As I'm in the business of teaching at the college level, I've learned a few things along the way, and have some suggestions for you as you make your decisions.

1) Consider community colleges. Here in Colorado, most are in partnerships with major universities, and the "GT" (guaranteed transfer) courses transfer nicely to 4-year (and up) institutions, allowing you to get your basics (and not-so-basics) out of the way for MUCH less money, and move on to the larger institution for your upper-division courses.
2) If those catchy ads for other institutions catch your attention, there are a few things to check before plunking your hard-earned tuition dollars.
a) Is the institution accredited? and by whom? It's a big deal, because some employers check the credentials of the school you got your degree from (to make sure it wasn't a "diploma mill", and you actually learned something.
b) See if other colleges (or schools) you're considering will accept credits from classes from the school you're looking at. You'd be surprised how many well-known "off brand" schools' credits either aren't accepted by anybody else, or for far fewer credit hours than you paid for.
c) Ask to see actual job-placement statistics from the school you're considering, and ask to talk to a graduate who got a job as a result of the training. See how realistic your goals are based on what happens in real life.
d) My old rule-of-thumb for selecting a reputable institution used to be "do they have a football team?". It doesn't work any more, because some well-thought-of colleges (University of Phoenix comes to mind) focus on education, not the extra-curricular activities. In a pinch though, it can still serve as a filter.

You should absolutely, positively get more education! Just be sure the education dollars you spend move you toward your goal.

Drought or Deluge?

Sunday the 23rd was an interesting day in southern Colorado. Pueblo set a new record high, with a reading of 101, replacing the old record of 98 set in 1949, and Colorado Springs tied its record of 91 (also set in 1949....and NO, it's not "global warming", it was just a summery day).

It got me thinking, though, we've had days like today...hot and dry (not many), and "water coming from the skies by the tubfull" days (more of these), so how do we compare to our 30-year "average" to this point in the year?

Through Sunday afternoon, here are the numbers...

Since 1 January "Normal" Difference Last Year
Colorado Springs: 12.49" 13.61" -1.12" 7.21"
Pueblo: 10.94" 9.46" +1.48" 8.17"

A quick summary of the statistics...Colorado Springs is slightly behind the 30-year "average" precipitation we usually have to this point, but WAY ahead of last year...Pueblo is slightly ahead of the 30-year figure, and ahead of last year's measurement, but not as dramatically.

Southern Colorado Precipitation Update

I continue to get lots of letters asking "is this one of the wettest years on record in southern Colorado?".

The simple answer is "NO", but here are the latest numbers..

Colorado Springs:
August 2009 (so far) .63"; Normal 1.2" (so this month, we're below average)
Since June 1 7.22"; Normal 4.57" (which puts us ahead on the Summer)
Since January 1 10.63"; Normal 8.87" (So we're slightly ahead to this point).

Pueblo:
August 2009 (so far) .21"; Normal 1.8" (definitely on the dry side)
Since June 1 6.92"; Normal 6.99" (slightly ahead for the Summer)
Since January 1 11.41"; Normal 12.69" (slightly behind to this point)

The bottom line is that Colorado Springs is slightly ahead of the 30-year "average" precipitation, which is good, but not a reason to plan on a long-term surplus, or foolishly waste water.

Pueblo is slightly behind, as far as the year-to-date is concerned...so keep those water conservation practices going.

Car service at a dealer or independent business?

We're roaming from the "weather" topic again today, but it's one of those practical discoveries that's worth sharing.

I notice that one regional business is running TV commercials that say something along the lines of "don't spend too much money at your car dealership, let us do the work cheaper and better".

I had some experience with that over the past few days.

My wife is getting ready to make a 600 mile trip in her SUV, so we've been getting this and that tweaked in preparation. New battery? check, tires topped up with nitrogen? check, oil change?....well, now we get to the heart of the matter.

When I bought her car, I added on an extended warranty that included oil changes, so for the past 5 years, we've been going to the dealership to get them taken care of. Initially they were great, in fact it's an American company that has been famous for its' service...but over the past year or so, it's really been slipping. Initially, we thought it was just the Chapel Hills service department, so we took it to the one in Motor City, which turned out to be slow, inefficient, and semi-hostile as well.

Usually, my wife takes the car in (while I teach, broadcast, write blogs, etc.), but this time, it was my turn...after all, it was only an oil change...how intense could it be?

Arrived at 3 PM, as per appointment...check...got right in...check...sat down in the waiting room and waited....and waited....and waited....and waited...got hustled by a new car sales person, watched a hostile client fight with a service rep, and waited some more. Over an hour later, the service rep told me most things looked good, but I needed an air filter (it took them an hour to figure that out?), and should also have a fuel injector service....which wasn't out of the question, because the car had over 50, 000 miles on it...and they'd be willing to do it for just a little over $100.

Now, keep in mind that I'd been sitting there for over an hour while these folks changed the oil (which my local Grease Monkey franchise can do in 10 minutes), so first of all, I wasn't going to spend my whole day there while they hooked up the injector cleaning machine (possibly becoming eligible for Social Security and Medicare before it was over), so I asked them to finish up and I'd be on my way.

I did, though, think that the "get the fuel injectors cleaned" idea was a good one though, because the love of my life was about to take the car far from civilization...so I did just what the commercial said...I called the "we do it faster and better" guys.

Yes, they do injector cleanings (using the same machine and products as the dealership), no problem getting me in the next morning, and for about 1/2 the price I'd been quoted.

This morning, I showed up at 8 AM, got it right in, sat down and fired up my ipod Touch in their wifi equipped waiting room, and was just getting into seriously surfing the Web when they came to tell me it was done....about 30 minutes.

Good job...too. So the moral to the story is...
1) I will NEVER buy a service contract that obligates me to go to a dealer again
2) I will NEVER allow a dealer to perform any service that isn't already paid for on any car I own.
3) I'm sticking with the independent specialty shops from this point on. They're more efficient, less expensive and make it a MUCH more pleasant experience.

Just for the record, I've had very good experiences with both Grease Monkey and Brakes Plus to this point.

More severe storms for southern Colorado

Storms with damaging winds and hail hit southern Colorado hard on Monday afternoon (8/10). Hail from the size of quarters to ping-pong balls blasted northern Colorado Springs during the dinner hour, while upwards of half an inch of rain fell in 15 minutes (.53" Briargage and .66" in Stetson Hills).

Then severe storms moved southeastward into northeastern Pueblo and northwestern Crowley counties during the 9 o'clock hour.

Other severe storms were reported in central Las Animas county.

It's a combination of lots of water in the air, and the tail end of a cold front up against the mountains to act as a trigger. Fortunately no tornadoes reported.

On the virtues of driving a Porsche

I warned you that this column would drift away from exclusively weather topics from time-to-time, and this is one of those times.

I was reminded on a long (650 mile) road trip last week (see my previous blog) how much I enjoy driving...when I'm in my Porsche 944.

Like most, I've owned a number of different marks over the years, from a Renault LeCar (boy, was THAT a mistake), to Oldsmobiles, Plymouths, Subarus, Toyota's, Saturns and Nissans. They were just cars. They got you from one place to another, usually not usually very comfortably, and were interchangeable pieces of transportation.

That changed a few years ago when I picked up my 1985 (late) Porsche 944. A German mechanic/friend put me on to it, I took a test drive, and was hooked. $3500 later, I had my very own piece German driving technology.

On the down side, they're not cheap to maintain. Something or other always needs repair, and as you might expect with a car that's over 20 years old, I've been through clutches, seals, various electrical relays, injectors, the shift boot is held on by Gorilla tape, and it leaks like a sieve. ("When a Porsche stops leaking....it's out of fluid").

So why do I still drive it? Let's look at the positive side of the ledger.
It was built with that precision the Germans are famous for out of real metal. When you close the doors, it feels right (and sounds right). The seats are the most comfortable of any car I've ever driven. (After my 9 hour trip home from Utah the other day, I was tired, but not crippled, like I usually feel after a long journey in other cars). The handling is phenomenal, and you can really feel the road (not uncomfortably, but you're not disconnected from it as you are in so many newer cars). It turns in a VERY small circle, and the visibility is good. The heater is outstanding (because, I suppose, it gets cold in Germany in the winter). The air conditioner...not so much.

I averaged 33 mpg on the highway....not bad for a semi-performance car, huh?

So while I'd like the gas mileage of my son's 1997 Saturn sedan (38 mpg on the highway), or the fewer visits to the mechanic that come with a Honda or Toyota, thanks just the same, I'm sticking with the Porsche. I'm currently at 198,000 miles, and when the time comes, I'll have the engine rebuilt and keep going because this isn't a "throwaway" car, it's a driving experience.

El Nino and your interesting summer

I've had a number of "Ask Mike's" recently about the El Nino conditions strengthening off the coast of South America, and specifically "is this why we've had such a wet summer?"

Let's start with the easy one first..."is El Nino responsible for the buckets of rainfall we've had over the past month or so?" and the answer is a resounding NO. It's just one of those years (kind of like 1997).

Even though an El Nino is building (more about that in just a bit), its effects are minimal in North America during the Summer and Fall.

Now then, just what is El Nino? It's an ocean an atmospheric condition diagnosed by warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures off the coast of Peru. It may be measured locally, but the effects are global.

As an El Nino strengthens, the trade winds that usually flow from South America to Indonesia either die away or reverse. Indonesia (and Australia) often go into long-term drought as a result, often followed by wildfires.

The entire global wind flow is affected, and as a result, during El Nino years (which occur every 7 to 14 years), the southeast usually gets more rainfall, the northeast more snow, and here at home in Colorado, we can do almost anything. That seems like sidestepping the question, but during strong El Nino years, we've been wetter-than-average, drier-than-average and average.

There are usually fewer Atlantic hurricanes when El Nino is strong, which may explain why the hurricane forecast for the season has just been downgraded to a lower number.

Want to know more? Here's a good place to start http://www.elnino.noaa.gov/.

The virtues of spontaneous travel

Just got back from a 2 day quick trip to northern Utah where my son, Mike Jr. is finishing up his undergraduate degrees and headed off to graduate school (same state, just further north).

It was an unusual experience for me in that I usually plan trips down to the last detail and follow the plan...This time, I just got up Wednesday morning and said, "I've got 2 days off...I'm going to see Mike Jr.", so I threw a couple of shirts, a few socks (not necessarily matching) and a case of Pepsi in the car, called Mike to tell him I was coming and headed north.

Things were smooth through the Denver Metro area, but WOW, was there a lot of construction from just north of Denver almost to Wyoming...and most of I-80 westbound seemed to be under construction too. Still, I covered 638 miles in 9 hours, and the restaurants were still open.

There are many things I don't miss about Utah...the heat in the summer, the humidity, the winters, but I DO miss some of the restaurants, and some of my favorites are still here.

I picked up my son, and we immediate headed for Kim Long's in Layton. It's Vietnamese quisine and outstanding. We both ended up with dishes featuring peanuts, so after the entree was gone, we ended up in a "who can pick up the smallest particle with chopsticks?" competition. Mike Jr. spent two years in Hong Kong, and, needless to say, he smoked me.

I found a nice hotel near the restaurant, and the phrase "considering that I'm not going to pay what you're asking, what's your next best offer?" served me quite well, and it was off to dreams of more restaurants.

Next day (with the combination of heat and humidity making me feel as though I were in Africa), it was off to complete some essentials that needed to be out of the way before he heads off to grad school...tires rotated, oil level checked, determining an alternative to holding on the front bumper with duct tape...you know, the usual.

All tasks completed, it was off to favorite eatery#2, El Matador in Ogden. I've been going to el Matador for at least 35 years that I can document, and it's been uniformly outstanding. This time was no exception.

Got Mike Jr. back in time for a 1:30 class, and hit the road back to Colorado at 1 PM.

Going eastward, there was much less construction in Wyoming, and northern Colorado was smooth, but the Denver Metro area....Holy Smoke! I hit downtown just as Invesco field at mile high disgorged approximately 13,000 fans who had been watching a Bronco's practice onto part of the freeway narrowed down to minimal lanes by construction, and from there to Baptist Road in northern Colorado Springs, well..let's just say it was fortunate that I had a good book on CD, I didn't walk through the front door until nearly 2 hours later.

Lessons learned:
1) Spontaneous travel can be wonderful, if you choose the right company and destination.
2) Your favorite restaurants are probably still just as good as you remember them.
3) Never pay the first rate quoted by any hotel on the planet
4) A Porsche is far superior to any Korean or Japanese rental car for long road trips (I arrived home feeling tired but not crippled).
5) Sometimes, your children can make you VERY proud to be a parent. (Hope he remembers me when he gets his Nobel prize!)

Rainbows

From time to time here in southern Colorado, we see some spectacular rainbows. Tonight in Pueblo was one example, with a nice double-bow behind the storm.

Phsically, here's what's happening..
When sunlight enters a water droplet (a rain drop, let's say), it bends (refracts) as it enters, bounces (reflects) at the far end of the drop and bends (refracts) again as it leaves.

Each color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet) bends through a slightly different angle, and the projection gives us that spectacular light show in the sky.

When you see a double rainbow (as many did tonight), the light bounces (reflects) twice inside the drop..so in this case, the sequence would be to bend (refract) as the light enters the drop, to bounce (reflect) twice inside the drop, and to bend (refract) as it leaves, producing a secondary (dimmer) rainbow above the primary rainbow.

This secondary bow has the colors in reverse order from the way you'll see them in the main (primary) rainbow.

Tech Notes Updated.

Since we cover multiple topics in this blog, and we've had a couple of days without wall-to-wall severe storms, let's slide back into the "tech" arena today. (But since I have/will talk about the definition for severe storms on the 10 PM news, for more information, pull up my July 31st and July 27th postings on those topics).

Tech update...I'm still REALLY glad that I chose the ipod Touch for my portable tech toy. Wifi lets me keep up on everything from my e-mail to satellite and radar images, current weather conditions, and the position of planets in the sky.

On the gaming side, the Touch version of "Doom" is outstanding, and uses the device's accelerometer.

Favorite apps so far include "Planets" (free, and shows you the positions of the planets in the sky...and more), "Google Earth" (also free...and stunning), and "Flight Control" (paid just a bit for this one), where you use the touch screen to land (hopefully safely) a collection of jets, propeller planes and helicopters. It's seriously addictive.

Allrighty then...here's my big discovery in the past year...Open Office, a free office suite that performs many of the functions of Microsoft Office (and even looks quite similar).

I've been using it exclusively on my laptops for the past year or so, and have only had isolated instances where I missed the Microsoft version.

It allows you to save your documents in a "Word" compatible format (and many others), reads files with the .docx extension, and the package has an "Excel" compatible spreadsheet, a much simplified "PowerPoint" module and more. I've been VERY impressed, and for the money (free), it's worth a try.

Just point your browser to www.openoffice.org, and you can download a copy for yourself.

Summer is coming back

For most in southern Colorado, it was a better looking day, with plenty of blue sky (and some haze caused by the amount of water still in the air).

A few thunderstorms formed near the mountains and moved across Fountain, the Wet Mountains and Wet Mountain Valley and severe thunderstorms developed in western Las Animas county.

The town of Boncarbo (northwest of Trinidad) had torrential rain and hail to the size of quarters.

Now the weather picture changes as high pressure builds over the top of us and highs climb at least 10 degrees from Saturday into Sunday, Stay warm on Monday (in fact, even go up a little bit), cool slightly on Tuesday, and go back into the warming pan on Wednesday and Thursday.

As you make your outdoor plans, never write off an isolated thunderstorm this time of the year in Colorado, but we'll see some of the best weather for outdoor activities we've had in awhile.