Armchair meteorologists become the go-to weather guys
- The Weather Dork usually gets it right
- Check out hudsonvalleyweather.com
It used to be that every family or neighborhood had at least one total weather nut, someone you could count on to always have their TV tuned to the Weather Channel, to periodically dial through every radio station to get the latest updates, or even perhaps to turn on their short-wave radio to get the latest in a 100-mile radius.
And whenever foul weather was due, you went right to these weather nuts for the most accurate forecast, as in "Go call Uncle Bob and find out when the nor'easter will actually start," or "Go knock on Mrs. Stephens' door and ask her about snowfall totals."
Now social media has created a new, almost professional class of armchair meteorologists. Do you follow the Weather Dork on Facebook (facebook.com/TheWeatherDork)? You should — he's terrific! And he seems to always be working whenever a storm is headed toward the Hudson Valley. He's a good photographer, too.
Look at how his most recent post starts:
"I watched many models come in overnight (I didn't sleep much) and I'm basically going to give you the average of everything. Models that came out before midnight indicated everything was shifting east. Models that came out after midnight indicated it was shifting back west. Models don't really matter anymore but their lack of consensus and extreme waffling is concerning."
Alex Marra and Bill Potter, the guys at hudsonvalleyweather.com are great, too — and just as obsessive and hard working. (Find them on Facebook at facebook.com/HudsonValleyWeather.) Once you start following them, you'll start to notice posting times like 2:37 a.m. or 11:48 p.m. They've divided the Hudson Valley into nine distinct weather zones, and they often have a specific forecast and map — and snowfall totals — for each zone.
Some local high school students have gotten in on the action, too. Check out Weather in the Hud, the excellent weather-forecasting blog by Remy Mermelstein and Dillon Palmieri. Both are sophomores at Irvington High School, I'm told. The full name of hte blog is weatherinthehud.blogspot.com. Nice work, guys.
So as this storm roars at us, take a minute to check out what these excellent armchair meteorologists have to say about it.
Who is your favorite armchair meteorologist?