The focus of this blog will be on things that interest me such as meteorology, hydrology, water and other earth sciences as well as fitness items such as running, weight lifting and mountain biking among others.
I was born and raised in Sharon, Pennsylvania. It is a small steel mill town stuck between Pittsburgh and Cleveland along the Ohio/Pennsylvania border just outside of Youngstown, OH. I was always interested in the weather and knew one day I wanted to study meteorology in college. I learned about the 31 May 1985 outbreak that occurred in Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania so I decided to focus my senior project on this event. At this time I knew making my choice to attend California University of Pennsylvania to study meteorology was the right decision.
California University of Pennsylvania (Cal U) is a small, but growing University along the Monongahela River approximately 50 miles south of Pittsburgh, PA. The Meteorology program there may be small, but has great operational and broadcast facilities as well as some great professors within the Earth Sciences Department. During my time at Cal U, I served as the President of the Meteorology Club which is also the Three Rivers Chapter of the NWA and the Southwest PA Chapter of the AMS. During my term, we won chapter of the year for NWA and were recognized as Honorable Mention for AMS chapter of the year. I also presented at many conferences such as the National Weather Association (Reno, NV), Pennsylvania Geographical Society (Salisbury, MD, Somerset, PA) and performed morning weather briefings during the NWA conference in Cleveland, OH.
Currently I am at the West Texas Weather Modification Association in San Angelo, Texas. I am the Project Meteorologist who is in charge of weather modification operations including rain enhancement and hail suppression. I am required to issue a daily forecast, monitor the weather, manage pilot schedules and conduct operations sunrise to sunset. This is a rare job where you get experience forecasting the weather, "playing" with the weather while also having the opportunity to conduct research. In my three plus years I have presented at two national conferences already. I made two presentations at the Weather Modification Association (Las Vegas, NV) and another at the American Meteorologist Society (Austin, TX). I have presented or sat on a panel at several other events such as the Water is Life (Sonora, TX) conference and the West Texas Legislature Water Summit. I also put together a one day symposium on Weather Modification at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. I was published in the 2014 Journal of Weather Modification for my research with the Southwest Research Institute looking at Aquifer Recharge Enhancement from Weather Modification operations. Most recently, I have been involved with government relations where I get to work with state political leaders on water issues in Texas.
As a meteorologist, my main areas of interests are on severe weather, synoptic meteorology, weather modification and climatology. I also really enjoy conducting research projects that deal with climate data or the reanalysis of storms.
We purchased two bikes from Academy Sports, the Texas version of Dicks Sporting Goods, but a bit lower end. Our bikes, combined, cost under $200. We rode around town a bit here and there but then we finally decided to try our luck on the trails at the San Angelo State Park. The first trail we decided to try was Winding Snake. This trail, from the Isabelle Harte Recreational Area, begins with a very rocky descend followed by a rocky climb and another rocky descend. So, 100 yards into our adventure we almost gave up. However, we pushed through and although my bike (an Ozone) fell apart, we did have a good time. If we were going to ride these trials, it was obvious my bike needed to be upgraded. So I upgraded, again, from Academy (oops). Sara's bike, meanwhile, had a rigid fork and was a Huffy. She also needed an upgrade, especially after the dozen or so flats she experienced. Finally, we went to a local bike shop and ran into a brand called Specialized. We purchased her a Myka in which I became very jealous. A week later, I purchased my Camber. Since then, I have become somewhat addicted, or competitive.