Tis the Season

Oh December. The time of year with holiday music, lights and shopping. This seems to be a busy and stressful time of year for many. For many college students, this is a very tough month. Last weeks of classes. The last ditch effort of final exams. For many work this time of year can be difficult. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Christmas means something more than classes, shopping, exams, and lights. It means we get to see our families again. For some of my friends and myself, we haven't been home in four months. This is huge for us. Stress will be relieved and it will be a time to relax. Families come together as one and that is the best gift of all.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Luck

On the night of November 10, 2010, an event occurred that I would never forget. Riding down to an OU basketball game, a car stopped at an intersection the driver believed that is was clear. He accelerated out but the problem was it wasn't clear. I was there on my bike. All I remember is watching the bumber getting closer and closer. There was no avoiding it. The sound of metal and plastic slamming into each other is molded into my mind. The next thing I remember is looking up into the sky. I rolled over to see the car that hit me stop and the driver get out. The driver got out and he felt awful. Another car who witnessed the accident check on me as well. About 30 seconds my friends who were also going to the basketball game saw me on the ground. I eventually got up with no injuries, only starches and bruises. I lifted up my hand and saw it shaking. MY friends were scared because it is hard to see a friend on the ground in the middle of the road. The intersection were I was hit will haunt me for some time. I am very lucky to walk away.

Mother Nature, A Cruel Mistress

Over the week, the weather set a new record for a non-topical low pressure system. A low pressure in the upper Midwest and northern Plains had a pressure of 28.24" (956 mb) breaking the previous record of 28.28 (958 mb) of the Blizzard of 1978 (the Cleveland Superbomb). It was also larger of the March 1993 Superstorm (Storm of the Century) and the "Witch of November", the storm that sank the Edmund Fitzgerald. This is the kind of storm that we may not see for another 100 years. This storm had hurricane force winds, a blizzard and severe weather. We cant stop the weather. There were numerous injuries from this storm.

On May 10, 2010, Oklahoma saw one of the worst tornado outbreaks since the May3, 1999 outbreak. An EF-4 tornado missed an University of Oklahoma building by 500 yards. The weather service issued a warning when the funnel was already forming. If that storm had not weakened slightly before it hit Norman, the university would have had coffins to fill. Five people died as a the result of the tornado.

Im a meteorologist. I serve my friends with forecast to keep them up to date with the weather. When the weather turns south. I keep my friends up to date with information to keep them safe. On May 10th, I sent out 217 messages keeping them ahead of the storms. When it comes down to it, there is the reality that they may die from the weather. It is there job to protect their lives and I may fail. I will not except failure. I am not in control of the weather but I will stay ahead of it.