Wednesday, October 29, 2008

White October

Wind and snow galore yesterday! Which weather station is the most reliable? NOAA and the National Weather Service give the best official-sounding info. Weatherbug is nice and local, although I hated the toolbar hog that I once had and deleted it. Not sure if they've improved it or not. Accuweather seems reliable. I like their hourly and 15-day forecasts, especially for travel planning. The Weather Channel feels cozy and familiar because it is like their cable TV channel.

Back in the RAGBRAI planning days, I poured over tornado archives for Iowa before the trip out to the mid-west. Tornados were the most terrifying weather events that might occur during the bicycling trip that never happened. Before going, I religiously monitored the storm spotters on SKYWARN who religiously monitored every little pressure system whizzing by. Every night seemed ominous, and the bulletin boards were full of potential twist and shout warnings. Historically, for RAGBRAI, the last week of July seems to work out OK for avoiding twisters. I made it a habit at each overnight town to look for the signs identifying the temporary tornado shelters (as though I would have enough time and presence of mind to skedaddle. Not!).

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