Weather Nerd: The Next Generation
If I can be permitted a brief personal aside… today was a momentous day in the Loy household. Our eldest daughter (of 3), age 4 1/2, started kindergarten. Then, because she’s taken an interest in Isaac — she’s a huge Daddy’s Girl; she pretty much takes an interest in everything I do — I asked if she wanted to make a hurricane tracking chart. She was thrilled with the idea. So, without further ado, I give you the new kindergartner’s first ever tracking chart:
I wrote the dots; she drew the lines. You’ll note she decided to spare Haiti a direct hit. I don’t think she realized that the hurricane’s track actually is allowed to go over land. Too bad it doesn’t work that way in real life!
She was also curious about how storm surge works, so I gave her & her little sisters (ages 3 and 1) a demonstration using a hose, their back-yard water table, and some grapes (playing the role of houses on the waterfront):
Hopefully the folks in the lowest grape got the Hell out!
As I wrote on Twitter, “Out: SLOSH model. In: LFSSWT (Loy Family Storm Surge Water Table). The latest in grape-based surge modeling technology.”
So, there you go. I don’t mean to make light of Isaac; I just wanted to give y’all a little window into my world. 
Many of my Isaac updates and tweets have been written amid the chaos of the under-5 set. Good times.
I’ll have more on the storm shortly. Reader’s Digest version: it’s still not quite a hurricane; almost, maybe in an hour, but not yet. Those prayers to the Patron Saint of Dry Air are working, NOLA. Keep it up.
Brendan,
Welcome to the 3-girl club (mine are 7.5, 4.5 and 1.5). Enjoy the chaos! Although I think I might build a bunker for when they are all teenagers…
And, of course, Go Dry Air! Hang in there!
-John
Four daughters, three are teenagers right now (crew, rugby,and basketball: no bunker needed). Also four sons; God gives you girls to teach you patience, and boys to teach you a sense of humor, and how to spackle. It gets even more fun than it is now! It’s hilarious when you’re typing intelligent thoughts while yelling “When was the last time you changed your underwear, young man??! I just finished laundry and there wasn’t a single pair of yours.”
I appreciate your balancing act between the need for worst case scenarios and the decent regard for truth as a storm sometimes fades to a lesser threat. The overhype trolls are the result of the media’s need to seek and HOLD viewers by manipulating emotion. They wont report a diminishing threat so long as they can compel eyeballs with whatever they can gin up – like some flapping roof shingles looped like it was proof of armageddon. Manipulation is a relationship killer – and people increasingly reject the media precisely because it is so blatantly manipulative all the while hypocritically pretending they are serving the public interest. Because you are not a professional meteorologist you weather blogging fits nicely into a niche for people who want a knowledgeable layman’s interpretation of the dry meteorological data without having to endure the hype of the MSM. You quickly emerged during Katrina as an outstanding source of good and accessible information and interpretation and I am glad you have kept it up.
Brendan, if she maintains her interest in weather, MS State has an excellent meteorology school, just sayin’…I have 4 kids from 6-18. Enjoy every moment. (And I hope the lowest grape got the heck out too. I have never understood the concept of building a city where you couldn’t dig a grave without hitting water. Seems like a dumb thing to do, no matter what other advantages there might be.)
Jeanette, I thought that underwear thing only happened to me. LOL! Boys are great, aren’t they?