Today, my photograph was selected to appear at the top of the weloveweather.tv Reader Q&A web page.
Unsocial Media
I have come to the bitter realization that “Social Media” is a misnomer. It should be called “Unsocial Media.” Over the past few months, I have encountered some extremely arrogant, nasty, snide, and definitely unsocial, people on Facebook, and to a lessor extent, Twitter. Comments and posts have become increasingly derogatory, and normally would never be said in person. The constant barrage of negativity has also made me guilty of posting angry comments, out of frustration, from time-to-time.
Facebook has become an echo chamber, using algorithms designed to mainly display posts reflecting your point of view. The posts are all too often re-shared to create an unfriendly atmosphere for people to calmly discuss opposing, informed opinions. It has become petty, juvenile, and a fount of logical fallacies and poor arguments. Eventually, you increasingly end up not seeing opposing, informed points of view, and then, not knowing that they even exist. Instead, your circle of Facebook Friends becomes a group of sycophants.
Therefore, I have deactivated (not deleted) my Facebook account, and deleted the apps on my devices. Facebook is not worth the anger, frustration, time, and the loss of friends and relatives. I have kept Facebook Messenger open for my true friends.
Reconsidered and set up another account focused on Scotties, Drones and Weather. No politics or users will be blocked, not unfriended. Noticed I have more features and options now.
PSU Model Railroad Club Web Page
In December 2016, I entered a contest to redo the web page for The Penn State University Model Railroad Club. Yesterday, I learned that I won first place!
The club liked many of the elements I used. They may not use my submitted web site “as is,” but they will definitely incorporate most of what I submitted, and will give me credit.
Pyranometer Data Online
As of this evening, the pyranometer data is now online. Here is the link to The Weather Underground site. The site ID is KPAPORTM11.
First Day of Pyranometer Operation
In a previous post, I talked about installing a new pyranometer to my weather station. Below is a graph of today’s solar radiation flux in W/m^2.
The graph clearly shows when the instrument was in shade (7:30 – 9:30 AM EST). Maximum value was after noon due to the fact that the longitude is about 3 deg west of the 75th meridian and because the equation of time for today is 3 minutes. The maximum solar elevation angle was about 28 deg. The optical depth of the atmosphere is significantly higher at such a low angle than if the sun was at zenith.
2016 Climatological Summary
2016 ANNUAL CLIMATOLOGICAL SUMMARY
CITY: Stormstown STATE: PA
ELEV: 1385 ft LAT: 40.8 LONG: 77.87
TEMPERATURE (°F), HEAT BASE 65.0, COOL BASE 65.0
DEP. HEAT COOL
MEAN MEAN FROM DEG DEG MAX MAX MIN
YR MO MAX MIN MEAN NORM DAYS DAYS HI DATE LOW DATE >=90 <=32 <=32
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
16 1 34.3 17.3 25.9 1.3 1211 0 59.4 31 5.0 5 0 12 30
16 2 40.0 23.1 31.9 5.1 960 0 65.9 28 0.5 12 0 7 22
16 3 56.6 33.6 45.3 8.8 618 8 76.2 9 16.0 3 0 0 14
16 4 59.6 35.7 48.4 0.7 522 23 80.9 18 19.3 6 0 0 10
16 5 68.8 48.4 58.5 -0.1 273 71 88.6 28 36.6 19 0 0 0
16 6 79.1 56.5 68.2 0.9 70 166 87.7 11 43.2 10 0 0 0
16 7 86.2 62.0 73.6 2.4 28 295 95.7 25 49.6 3 9 0 0
16 8 85.3 62.7 73.2 3.6 24 278 92.7 12 50.8 23 3 0 0
16 9 76.9 53.9 65.1 2.9 127 131 89.0 10 39.8 25 0 0 0
16 10 63.9 43.4 53.2 2.1 388 22 79.6 18 28.4 26 0 0 3
16 11 54.1 34.3 43.9 3.1 636 2 73.6 2 23.2 23 0 0 13
16 12 37.6 24.6 31.2 1.4 1047 0 52.1 27 5.9 16 0 7 24
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
61.9 41.4 51.6 2.7 5905 997 95.7 JUL 0.5 FEB 12 26 116
PRECIPITATION (in)
DEP. MAX DAYS OF RAIN
FROM OBS. OVER
YR MO TOTAL NORM DAY DATE .01 .1 1
---------------------------------------------
16 1 1.58 -0.92 1.12 10 7 2 1
16 2 2.99 0.29 1.23 3 9 3 1
16 3 1.92 -1.38 0.55 13 10 6 0
16 4 1.85 -1.15 0.50 28 12 5 0
16 5 3.52 -0.28 0.73 21 17 10 0
16 6 2.12 -2.08 0.60 5 11 8 0
16 7 1.16 -2.64 0.26 30 8 7 0
16 8 5.61 2.31 3.47 10 11 8 1
16 9 3.49 0.09 1.41 29 10 7 1
16 10 6.95 4.05 3.62 20 13 7 2
16 11 1.22 -2.18 0.62 30 5 3 0
16 12 2.07 -0.73 0.76 18 12 4 0
---------------------------------------------
34.48 -4.62 3.62 OCT 125 70 6
WIND SPEED (mph)
DOM
YR MO AVG. HI DATE DIR
---------------------------------
16 1 4.7 42.0 10 W
16 2 4.5 38.0 25 SW
16 3 4.1 54.0 28 SE
16 4 4.0 43.0 3 NW
16 5 2.7 34.0 8 SW
16 6 2.9 34.0 12 SW
16 7 2.5 26.0 15 SW
16 8 2.2 35.0 16 S
16 9 2.1 24.0 8 NE
16 10 2.9 49.0 20 WNW
16 11 3.9 41.0 20 W
16 12 5.4 34.0 12 W
---------------------------------
3.5 54.0 MAR W
Pyranometer
Today, I installed a new weather instrument, for 2017 and beyond, to my personal weather station (PWS). I installed a pyranometer to measure the solar radiation flux density (W/m**2). The data from the instrument will be sampled every 30 minutes, along with the other parameters that are already being logged.
I have been told that the State College region is cloudier than most. Now I can measure just how “gray” the environment is here.
What, Me Worry?
It took a little over two months to not worry about what day of the week it is each day. It’s now necessary for me to consult a calendar of some sort to learn the date and day of the week. My only requirement is to remember to put out the trash and recyclables on Friday morning.
Scotty Alarm Clock
Since I retired, and except for mornings when I have an early appointment, I have rarely used my alarm clock. Instead, one of our Scottish Terriers, Tillie, provides me with a wakeup bark. Usually, between 6:30 and 7:00 AM, she’ll let me know it’s time to get up. She’ll also get more insistent if I ignore her, or if she feels that I am taking too long. Then she’ll whimper in a classic appeal to emotion. Then it’s time for our morning walk and breakfast.
Scotty Cramp
Until yesterday afternoon, my wife and I had not heard of a genetic condition specific to Scottish Terriers. Our Scotties, Toby Two and Tillie, normally very active, became listless after prolonged exercise in our backyard. We immediately took them to the vet and learned about their ailment.
“Scotty Cramp” is a hereditary neuromuscular disorder characterized by periodic cramps. It is seen in Scottish Terriers, especially those less than one year of age. As we observed, the condition’s appearance was quite startling, an its onset was rapid. However, it does not usually represent a serious health problem or cause pain.
Episodes of Scottie Cramp typically first manifest in young dogs or puppies. Our Scotties are now 15 months old. Symptoms occur during or shortly after periods of intense excitement, stress, or exercise and may include any of the following:
- Stiff hind limbs that appear cramped
- Awkward, marching movements
- Shortness of breath
- Sudden collapse
- Facial muscle contractions
- Contraction of facial muscles
- Arching of lumbar spine
An episode of Scottie Cramp can last up to thirty minutes, with varying levels of severity. As we observed, its onset occurred after the stress of moving to a new home and after increased activity. Although it is inherited, some experts believe Scotty Cramp to be the result of a disorder in serotonin metabolism within the dog’s central nervous system.
Unfortunately, there is no specific treatment available at this time. However, behavioral modification and/or environmental changes have been shown and are recommended to eliminate triggers which may cause the onset of symptoms.
Mild sedatives, such as diazepam, may be useful if behaviors are difficult to modify or in advance of a planned event that may be stressful. Also, Vitamin E is thought to be beneficial in reducing the likelihood of an attack, although it does not appear to impact the severity of the cramping.
After 24 hours of resting and reduced activity, our dogs have returned to their normal active selves.
Stormstown Dispatch 