Results tagged “weather” from Hawk Talk - Christian

New England is well known for its crazy weather, from its weekly snow storms to dramatic temperature changes.  Bottom line, the weather here is pretty unpredictable.  But for the passed few weeks, we have experienced what the weathermen (and weather women) call "unseasonably weather."  Let's just say that spring went right on, jumped over the summer, and transformed into fall.  The temperatures during that stretch stayed in the 50-70s range, which is actually comfortable, thanks to the low humidity.  But here is the bummer:  It rained most of the time.  I think June was the most rainiest June in history.  We had a good two week stretch that consisted of... well, rain. 

The rain definitely bothered a lot of New Englanders during that week.  No one went to the beach or went out for a picnic.  No one had any baseball games because of field conditions.  No one went out at all.   That gray stretch was torture.  I'm a very outdoorsy person.  I like to go to the park to play catch, walk, take pictures, or just sit out there and just take everything in.  When it rained "forever,"  I didn't do anything productive.  Sure, it got me to sit down and do paperwork, but that got boring QUICK.  I tried to amuse myself with video games, board games with the family, watching T.V., cleaning my room, and other indoorsy stuff, but that didn't work.  It is amazing how one big ball of fire (also known as the Sun) can make a difference in everyone's life. 

While writing this blog post, I jumped on to wbztv.com and hit the weather link.  It looks like summer finally wants to poke its head into the New England area.  "Oppressive humidity" and high temperatures are FINALLY going to take over.  That means the beaches will be crowed, ice cream parlors will be busy, and air conditions will be in full blast...

... oh Summer, you finally returned :-)


- Christian  

 

Imagine yourself sitting in your screened porch reading your favorite summer book.  In the distance you can see clouds building up.  The first thought is that it might be a passing shower, since its hot and humid outside.  Your parent comes into the porch and says there's a thunderstorm warning and tells you to get inside.  Lazily, you sluggishly hop off your chair saying, "Not another thunderstorm again."  The wind picks up, the cloud gets closer and closer. You start hearing raindrops pounding your window.  The frequency of the raindrops increases, and next thing you know you hear a noisy sound of a downpour.  The winds start picking up even more, and from your T.V, a red banner runs on the bottom of your screen, repeatedly saying "TORNADO WARNING - FIND A SHELTER NOW!"   Next thing you know, you see branches flying everywhere and the sky getting darker and darker.  You finally say to yourself, "I don't think this is no regular thunderstorm..."

When I was younger, tornadoes (mostly weather in general) fascinated me.  When I was around 7 years old, I understood what a F5 tornado meant, and what channel I should click on to check if there was any type of weather warning if the sky turned "black"  in a hot, humid day.  Still to this day, I get excited when the sky turns gray, rain falls hard, and lightning races the sky.  I guess I had the weather-man instinct in me, I don't know. 

Most of you probably know what happened in southeastern New Hampshire a few days ago.  A tornado, most possibly a EF1 or EF2 (which generally means that its a weak tornado, but can produce damage like downed power lines, trees, and damage to houses - the "E" on the code is part of the new tornado scale).  Like what I said above, I was fascinated with the weather, so I basically stuck my eye on the T.V. to find out what happened.  After reading a few articles in the Internet and keeping my eye on the T.V., the tornado was a big surprise for the citizens of New Hampshire.  As far as I know, I never heard of a tornado that created this much chaos in New England in my life.  Usually, I would hear about a tornado touchdown in the south or around "Tornado Alley," which is the area of the U.S. where many tornadoes have been recorded.  I've looked through the pictures and maps of the damage from wbztv.com, and overall I was shocked about the damage.  Probably the worse thing I got from all of this is that 1 person died trying to save her grandson. 

Tornadoes are generally rare in the New England area especially near Boston.  But imagine if something like that happened around here?  Do you think we're prepared for such a disaster?  Ironically we almost had that tornado funnel touchdown near the UMass-Lowell area.  I saw how the storm moved; it was heading straight up north, with probably a little northeast movement.  I think that even its such a rarity to have a disastrous phenomenon hit us, I think we're due for one - we have to know what to do when something like that happens.  Not even a tornado, but a hurricane, an earthquake, a major major blizzard, or anything that is listed with that group.  I feel that MA is not prepared for any summer storms at all. 

Wow... ironically the sky is dark right now and there's a few loud rumbles of thunder... time to watch the sky.  (Sorry I'm a nerd!   Hahaha.)

- Christian

Hello everyone,

Right now, I'm in one of Weed Hall's computer labs, of course checking my email, going to wbztv.com to catch up on the news and weather, and looking up stuff for class.  I'm surprised about today's weather, which is nice, partly cloudy, and warm.  This type of weather just reminds me that warmer weather is on the way.  Of course, since this is New England, the weather man predicts some wintery unsettled weather for the weekend.  All I can say is that I'm pretty sick of cold, wet, and "grey" weather.  Driving to and from UML can be a pain especially when a storm is on its way.  I've been stuck in weather-related traffic a hand full of times already.  I believe that present and future commuters should have a back-up plan if bad weather prevents any type of travel.  It is almost required to find a buddy from the dorms who will allow you to spend the night with, or find any other places of shelter.  Having an emergency kit in your car, with some can goods, extra clothing, toothbrushes, and other important things is essential for any weather related emergency or alterations.  Come to think of it, I have to check on my emergency equipment and check if they are adequate.  It's a good thing to prepare for anything while driving to and from campus.  Most importantly, there is a school-closure number that all UML students, professors, and staff should know:  978-934-2121.  Obviously, if school closes, you can also check your local television station for updates.

Wow, time flies when you are blogging.  Time to head to Abnormal Psychology. 

Christian