Weather Channel To Interview Presidential Candidates On Climate

The Weather Channel will interview nine presidential candidates
on the subject of climate change. 

The Weather Channel is wading into the politics of climate change.

The popular weather network will interview nine presidential candidates on the topic of climate change, according to the Associated Press.

Rather than  have a town hall style thing or a debate, which just usually devolves into "I'm better! I'm better!" the Weather Channel will conduct individual interviews.

However, Donald Trump declined to be interview.  He doesn't believe climate change is anything to worry about. Probably a Chinese hoax or something, he says.

Arguably the Democratic front runner, Joe Biden, wasn't interviewed. His campaign said the problem was scheduling conflicts, reports the AP.

Candidates will be interviewed at specific sites that highlight climate change.  For instance, Sen. Bernie Sanders will discuss the issue in a California town wrecked by wildfires. Sen. Kamala Harris will talk at a flood-prone spot along the Mississippi River.

The AP says all three Republican challengers to Trump agreed to interviews. They are Joe Walsh, Bill  Weld and Mark Sanford.

Besides Sanders and Harris, other Democratic candidates to be interveiwed are Sen Cory Booker, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Rep. Beto O'Rourke and Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

The Weather Channel admits that some people find the network a refuge from politics and might be dismayed by this series. But the network says a lot of viewers are interested in the subject.

I agree. I hope these are thoughtful interviews and I hope the journalists questioning the candidates don't let the politicians slide by with platitudes. The candidates  need to back up their statements and  reveal, as thoroughly as possible, their plans.

Climate change is finally becoming a big concern to voters and not a moment to soon.  It will be a major issue in the 2020 campaign, so kudos to the Weather Channel for doing this.

Leave It To A Vermonter To (Try) To Get Southern Snow Motorist Unstuck

Jim Cantore, in blue coast crouched in front of car, tries to get a Boone,
North Carolina car unstuck from deep snow this weekend. 

As you might have seen recently on the news, the Southeast has been hit with an unusually severe snowstorm.

Some areas in North Carolina were hit by a foot and a half of snow. Of course, the Weather Channel's Jim Cantore was there, because he's always there for any big storm.

There's one video circulating that's just typical. In hard-hit Boone, North Carolina a car got stuck in deep snow. Southerners aren't used to snow, so you can tell they were a bit flummoxed.

Cantore, though, is originally from snowy Vermont, orchestrated a rescue of the stuck car. Talk about taking charge!  You do this, you do that, he's instructing people on camera.

By the end of the video, the car is not quite yet unstuck, but all I could think of while watching the video is an old curmudgeon but secretly kind Vermont farmer trying to get some skier flatlander's SUV unstuck from a snowy rural road on the way to Killington.

You just can't take the Vermonter out a Vermonter, no matter where they end up, can you? Here's the oddly entertaining video:

Believe It Or Not, A Dust Storm In Greenland

Satellite view of a dust storm in Greenland of all places. Yep, they
can happen there and it's NOT global warming

We all think of Greenland as an incredible cold, forbidding place. It's basically an enormous pile of ice.

But as the Weather Channel points out, you can actually get dust storms up there. A satellite passing overhead recently took a photo of one.

These dust storms aren't anything huge like you see in the Desert Southwest or near the Sahara Desert or something like that. But they do get cranking up in Greenland.

They get going close to the coast, where snow and ice usually melt away during the summer.

Here's how it all happens:

Water from melting glaciers flows into a flood plain, then either recedes or evaporates. The sediment left behind consists of a very fine powder called glacial flour, which is created by the grinding of glaciers and pulverizing rock.

When the glacial flour dries out, strong winds can send it airborne, creating these far northern dust storms.

Unlike seemingly everything else that goes on in Greenland, which seems to be the go-to bellwether for climate change, the dust storms have nothing to do with global warming.

These little Greenland dust storms have been reported over many decades. Satellite photos rarely capture them because it's usually too cloudy to see them. This time, the skies cleared and the satellite got a nice shot of this dust storm.

Ugh. Weather Channel Names Winter Storms Again. It's All About SEO

A snowstorm strikes Burlington, Vermont in
March, 2013. I honestly don't remember if
The Weather Channel named this winter storm.  

I totally agree with Mashable's assessment this morning that the Weather Channel's second go at naming winter storms is totally stupid.    

And the names are lousy, too.

Yes, I like the Weather Channel, too, and they do a lot of great things. (See: The show "Weather Geeks" for an example)

But as Mashable points out, this naming of winter storms is all about dominating social media with hashtags on Twitter to steer people toward The Weather Channel.

Many people in the general public used the hashtags when talking about last year's many winter storms, so the strategy to market The Weather Channel using lousy winter weather works for them, but I don't like it for other reasons.

Here's Mashable's take:

"Tom Niziol, the network's winter storm expert, has said the naming practice was started to help people focus on the threats these storms pose, given evidence showing that when they have names, people prepare for them more.

Niziol is a pro at forecasting winter weather, having honed his skills at the Buffalo office of the National Weather Service, where he became a world renowned authority on lake effect snow. However, he and his colleagues have stumbled when it's come to winter storm names, causing unnecessary friction between The Weather Channel and the National Weather Service."

Until The Weather Channel started naming winter storms, the only type of tempest that was named were tropical storms and hurricanes. At least with tropical storms, the criteria for naming them is firm. If it's a warm core storm that originates over the tropical ocean and has a sustained wind speed of 39 mph or more, it gets a name.

But how do you define a winter storm? Some people in the south might call a snow flurry a full fledged winter storm. (See: Atlanta, January, 2014. )

Meanwhile, some of us polar bears here in Vermont and other northern climes don't think it's a winter storm until the snow entirely buries our cars.   And what's the criteria for winter storms if you throw in wind, ice, subzero cold, or other factors?

My understanding is part of The Weather Channel's criteria for naming winter storms is whether they'll hit a populated area, but again, what's the criteria for populated area? My guess is it's partly wherever the media market will drive eyeballs to The Weather Channel.

Look, I appreciate The Weather Channel informing us when a winter storm looms, but let's leave the marketing out of it, and just tell us how much snow we're going to get, OK?

And some of those names! A lot of them are named for Greek or Roman gods, but us modern types think of these names differently.

The first of The Weather Channel's storms will be called Astro. I think of the dog on "The Jetsons" when I see that name. 

Then there's Bozeman, named for a high school Latin class in Bozeman, Montana. But what if this storm doesn't come near Montana, and hits someplace like Erie, Pennsylvania instead?

There's Linus, which is from Greek mythology, but everybody thinks of that Peanuts character with a blanket. Then again, if Linus turns out to be a particularly cold storm, the blanket might come in handy.

Toward the end of winter we'll get Winter Storm Venus, named for the goddess of love.  But if winter storm Venus strikes in the spring, when we're all sick of winter, I don't think there will be much love to go around.

What is the Weather Channel going to start naming next?  Up here in Vermont, we just finished off with several days of beautiful Indian Summer weather. Will bouts of pleasant conditions get names?

Did we just get through a weather system called, I don't know, Pleasant Weather Glorious?

This naming of weather conditions can really get out of hand. I think it already has.