He’s out in front of thing
Instructor in atmospheric science at Ualbany admits to chasing storms — carefu
Q: Spring started either on March 1 or earlier this week, on Wednesday. For those of us who have forgotten high school science, can you sort this out? Why are there two?
a: The spring that starts this week is astronomical spring, which is when the sun’s rays align with the equator — the spring equinox. Meteorologists often use March 1, because it marks the beginning of the transition — the long transition — between winter and summer.
pop quiz: “Wintertime,” “springtime” and “summertime” are English words, but there is no “autumntime” or “falltime.” Why?
a: Hmmm. I have no idea what the answer to the question is. It’s something I’ve never thought of.
Q: There’s not a concise answer, but it starts with the fact that the Anglosaxon calendar had only two seasons, summer and winter, each six months long. Early examples in Middle English start to mention “spring time,” as two words, and, for the pre-winter season, “fall of the leaf” and “harvest time,” with the latter becoming one word. The appearance of “autumn” didn’t start until the 16th century, when it was borrowed from French, long after the other three seasons had their “-time” suffixes.
a: That’s really interesting. I’ll have to bring it into my classes.
Q: The old saying is that March “comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.” Does meteorological data support that?
a: Absolutely. In just the past few years we’ve had a really wide variety of Marches. A few years ago it was 81 degrees on March 9, and two years ago there was the Pi Day storm — on March
14 — that brought about 20 inches of snow to the Capital Region.
It can be really exciting from a weather enthusiast’s perspective.
Q: Was the active weather of the Northeast one of the reasons you came to Ualbany? Or was it more a case of, “Well, I’ve got a graduate degree and they’ve got a job, and at least it’s not the University of San Diego, where the weather is always the same”?
a: I was thrilled to come to Ualbany primarily because the department is so worldrenowned in atmospheric sciences. When a job opening appeared, I jumped at it. The icing on the cake was coming to a place where we have four distinct seasons, though I do miss the huge thunderstorms that I would get as a kid growing up in the Midwest.
Q: Among your research interests is severe weather. What’s the most extreme weather you’ve ever experi-
enced?
A: I’ve been part of a number of extreme weather events across multiple seasons. I actually experienced Hurricane Katrina on the Mississippi coast, and since I’ve been a storm chaser for a long time, I’ve been involved in some pretty memorable tornado events.
Q: Did you ever hide in a culvert as a tornado passed overhead, like Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton in the movie “Twister”?
A: Definitely not. I consider myself a really careful and nervous storm chaser. I aim to avoid anything like that.
Q: Ioncesawatvmeteorologist literally jump for joy when an enormous thunderclap sounded during his live shot while out in a snowstorm. Have you ever reacted in a similar manner to a weather event?
A: Many, many, many times. That clip you’re referring to is Jim Cantore, of the Weather Channel. At the university, our department has gotten a reputation because, before a storm, many of us will go out in front of the university and run around excitedly taking pictures and acting a little crazy. I thought that excitement for weather would diminish over time, but it has remained the same. Triple pop quiz, part
1: What was the most powerful hurricane/cyclone/ typhoon in terms of lowest barometric pressure?
A: That would be Supertyphoon Tip in the Philippines in 1979.
Q: Exactly right. Do you know the pressure in millibars?
A: Yes, 870.
Triple pop quiz, part
2: Right again. So much for a stumper. What was the most powerful hurricane/cyclone/typhoon in terms of highest wind speed?
A: Off the top of my head, was that Hurricane Patricia?
Q: You’re unstoppable! On
Oct. 23, 2015, Hurricane Patricia, which formed south of Mexico, attained the strongest 1-minute sustained winds on record, at 215 mph.
A: That was just an educated guess.
Triple pop quiz, part
3: I’ll say. What was the highest wind speed ever recorded on Earth, and where was it recorded?
A: This is an interesting question, because Mount Washington in New Hampshire had always claimed the record. Q: Right, 231 mph, in 1934. A: But there was a stronger gust reported more recently during a tropical cyclone off of Australia.
Q: Man, you are good at this. A weather station on Barrow Island, Australia, recorded a gust of 253 mph in 1996. Tornadoes go even higher. The 1999 Bridge Creek–moore tornado in Oklahoma is estimated to have had winds between 302 and 318 mph.
A: But those are radar estimates, right?
Q: Yes. Do you need a reading from a little spinny thing before you’ll believe it?
A: No, because a little spinny thing would probably be destroyed by 300 mph winds. Radar is good.
Q: Fact or fiction: Global warming is real.
A: Fact.
Q: Fact or fiction: Global warming is largely attributable to human activity. A: Fact.
Q: Is there even the tiniest bit of doubt in your mind about any of those facts? A: No.
Q: Could you share a dinner table or adjacent bar seats with someone who insisted on arguing that climate change is a hoax, a myth or is otherwise promulgated as part of an agenda?
A: I would be happy to talk to them about the science behind the issue. I think it’s important that we’re open-minded, rather than put our hands up and refuse to listen. If we don’t ■ have an open dialogue, people will more firmly ■ plant their heels in the ■ ground.
Pop quiz: Who wrote, “In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love”?
A: I think you’ve stumped me again.
Q: That’s OK. You teach science, not literature. A: True.
Q: It’s a line in the poem “Locksley Hall,” by Lord Alfred Tennyson.
A: I did not know that. Q: Have you seen signs of it on campus, and not just among young men?
A: Well. (Pause.) People are certainly more out and about.
Q: Is that your very careful way of not answering the central part of my question?
A: (Laughs.) I might be avoiding the central part of the question.
Q: Because I have magical powers, I can arrange for you to change jobs with anyone in the Capital Region, and give you the skills necessary to do the job. With whom would you trade?
A: Can I have two answers?
Q: My magical powers can accommodate that.
A: My first answer would be Karen Hosmer, principal oboist of the Albany Symphony, because I grew up playing oboe and I’m still a big fan.
Q: Do you know her, or are you just such a big oboe nerd that you know the name of the principal oboist of the ASO?
A: I’m such an oboe nerd. I’ve never met her. Q: Your second answer? A: Manager of the Tri-city Valleycats. I’m a huge baseball fan — the Minnesota Twins, specifically — and I love going to Valleycats games. I would love to have the experience of managing the team.
Q: Would you know before anyone else if a game was going to be rained out?
A: Yes, I suppose I would have some insider information on that issue.