What's the Difference? Happy Whatever to Everyone!

There are those for whom this time of year brings conflict. Should we not say "Merry Christmas" to others, for fear we might offend if they do not celebrate that holiday? Have we become so paranoid that we avoid anything more generic than "Happy Holidays," or "Season's Greetings?"

We are all children of the same planet. We should celebrate our differences, because when we bring them all together, they make us stronger. Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Baha'is, and any others I surely have forgotten are all human beings. That makes us all ONE family.

In that vein, I wish you all a very happy holiday season. It's much easier to say that, than to conspicuously leave anyone out. Try to stay safe, don't drink and drive, fasten that safety belt, and we'll all survive the winter break and start all over again in 2010.

Happy New Year! Let's hope that the year 2010 will bring Peace on Earth, and goodwill to all humankind.

Summer in December--Then Winter Again

Just when you thought that winter was around the corner, summer popped in for a brief farewell visit. Today on the CCSU campus, the mercury topped out at 66.6 degrees (isn't that the "devil" number, by the way?). After last night's rain and wind, the balmy temperatures this afternoon were a very pleasant change, allowing a quick cleanup of any downed tree branches. Things would have been much worse had their still been leaves on those branches. As it is, there aren't too many branches down as far as I can tell.

Now the clouds have returned and temperatures are poised to start dropping back to winter-like levels over the next 48 hours. As I write this, it's still 60 degrees on campus, but another storm is moving up the coast, and it might brush us with a few flurries on Saturday. By then the mercury will have a hard time reaching the 35-39 degree mark. One thing you can say about New England weather--it's never boring!

Just Me and the Dog

In a little while, I'll be driving my BW to the airport. She is off to attend the annual convention of the American Speech, Language and Hearing Association (ASHA) in New Orleans. She'll be presenting three papers at the convention.

The ASHA convention is huge, bringing together more than 10,000 speech-language pathologists, audiologists, researchers and professors under one roof. As a comparison, my own American Meteorological Society annual meeting (which will be in Atlanta in January) usually only attracts around 2500 attendees. The "speechies," as I like to call them, will literally be taking over The Big Easy for the next four days.

In years past, I have often followed my wife to the convention city for the weekend, giving us a little bit of a short pre-Thanksgiving getaway. Not this year, however. Airfares from Hartford to New Orleans have been nothing short of outrageous, averaging around $750-800 round trip. Only a lunatic (or someone on a full expense account) would spend that kind of money for a couple of days away.

So it's basically Sammy (our dog) and I who will be holding down the fort here in Connecticut until my wife gets back. I hope she likes jambalya and crawfish!!

In the House for #27

I'm still recovering from being in Yankee Stadium Wednesday night when the Yankees secured their 27th World Series title. The experience of watching your team win a championship, while surrounded by strangers who, at once, became good friends is something very special.

I didn't allow myself to really believe that they were going to win until the 8th inning. When Mariano Rivera, the greatest relief pitcher in the history of baseball, secured the final out of that inning, leaving the Yankees just three outs away, I finally felt that victory was at hand. But nothing I've ever done could have prepared me for the raw outpouring of shared exuberance that accompanied the final out (which I dutifully recorded on my iPhone). There were hugs, high-fives, cheers and even a few tears at the conclusion of the game. The fans around me had become brothers (and sisters)-in-arms. The feeling of joy and excitement at that moment is one that still, even three days later, is very difficult to describe.

The man sitting in front of me had come to the game with his nine-year old son. As the young boy soaked in the celebration going on all around him, I leaned down to him and said, "this is a moment you'll remember for the rest of your life." I envied him somewhat. After all, it took me 57 years to be "in the house" when the Yankees won the World Series.

Going to Game 6

Right after my classes end today, I'll be heading down to Yankee Stadium to watch my beloved N.Y. Yankees try to close out the 2009 World Series. I have never been to a potential World Series clincher (I've been to two World Series games before, but not clinchers) so I'm hoping the boys can put an end to it tonight.

Weather should not be a factor for the game tonight. Showers in western and central Pennsylvania are slowly moving east, and should not arrive in the New York area until at least 11 PM or midnight at the earliest. Depending on how quickly they move out tomorrow, they could threaten the start of a potential Game 7, but I don't think that game, if needed, would be postponed.

I'll be dressed for the chilly weather. It should be in the mid-40s at game time, but dropping into the upper 30's by the time the game is over. However, with no real windy conditions to speak of, it won't be nearly as uncomfortable as it was at ALCS Game 2. Here's hoping the Yankees send all their fans home happy tonight.

Bad Forecast Turns Out Good for Yankees

As someone who had a ticket to last night's ALCS Game 2 at Yankee Stadium, naturally, I was following the weather all day long before leaving for New York at 5 PM. Needless to say, making the trip to New York (by car and train) was a leap of faith, in light of the gloom and doom weather forecasts issued by the National Weather Service all day long.

The NWS insisted that it was going to rain all afternoon and deep into the night in New York. The early morning forecast called for rain developing after noon (80% probability). For Saturday night, the forecast called for a 100% probability of rain. Didn't sound too good for getting the game played, considering the 7:57 PM start time.

But, looking at radar through the afternoon, it seemed fairly obvious that the storm system moving up the coast was a) not developing quite as expected, and b) was having a hard time dislodging the high pressure system that had moved over the northeast early in the day. It was mostly sunny through the morning hours in Connecticut, which should have been the first sign that the computer models were not handling the storm system particularly well. In fact, by 4 PM, the "forecast radar" map from The Weather Channel indicated that rain would not arrive in the Bronx until at least midnight. Nevertheless, the NWS never updated that unfortunate late morning forecast. Judging by the number of empty seats at the Stadium last night, a lot of people decided to stay home, rather than risk spending a lot of money to get to the Stadium and risking a long rain delay or a rainout.

There's a reason why "nowcasting" is often a good thing. The NWS policy of only updating their forecast products in the late morning and early evening certainly did the public a disservice yesterday. By the way, the rain did not actually begin until 11:06 PM, and it was never hard enough to stop play.

Summer is Almost Over

As we approach the beginning of Autumn (Sept. 22nd at 5:18 PM EDT) we can look back on this past summer as one of extremes. The summer began on a cool and rainy note. There seemed to be a lot of rainy days, and the months of June and July did not feature a single day at Bradley International Airport where the mercury reached the 90 degree mark.

August saw a turnaround that featured more in the way of summer-like weather. Here on campus, we recorded eight days of temperatures 90 degrees or hotter, with a bona fide heat wave from August 15th to August 21st (seven days in a row of 90 or hotter). And, of course, as the days got hotter, so did the New York Yankees, owners of the best record in Major League Baseball since the All-Star break in mid-July.

The last week has seen a string of nice days interspersed with a day of rain here and there. Today will see increasing clouds, and rain will be moving into the area for Wednesday and into the latter part of the week. It's almost as if the weather gods are crying that summer is finally coming to an end.