On 7 Jan 2007 10:40:36 -0800, dpb wrote:
Yes, good and valid point and we have that, too. Is of most use for
spring/summer weather (the tornado threat), of course.
Same here, although it was going off this past Friday and yesterday afternoon
and evening. Got kinda rough - particularly for this time of year - just to
the south and southeast of us. Severe T-storms and tornados are our major
threat also, but not nearly as bad as I understand your area is - tropical
systems sometimes cause some grief with flooding, winds and severe T-storms.
Rarely get much snow, 3" is a lot generally, but did get 16" locally back in
the early '90s, most I've ever seen up close and personal. Been lucky for
quite a few years now and haven't had any serious ice. Certainly hope yall
get thawed out soon - been there and done that so I can relate to the
situation out there.
As for storm protection, the house has full basement w/ poured concrete
walls and heavy flooring that serves the purpose.
Our cellar was an accident. We had to move the house foundation, when digging
the basement, to avoid blasting a rock formation we ran into. That forced us
to pour a full-height wall to support the front porch since it supports part
of the roof and we'd already dug full depth there. Underneath the porch is a
room about 5X20 with poured walls and ceiling (porch floor is 4" of concrete
with tile on it), soil on 3 sides (poured wall on the 4th) and only a couple
of inches that isn't the floor of the porch above ground.
We keep it supplied
and retreat to it occasionally -- typically two-three times per year
for a short period, maybe; most generally when it's after dark and so
getting "snuck up on" unawares is more likely.
The radio I have won't let you get snuck up on - have the volume set pretty
low and it'll still wake the soundest sleepers around here. I really like not
having to have the radio turned on (listening to the broadcast) in order to
get the alerts - beats any other method I know of in that respect.
Not sure what you're trying to get from the TV weather that isn't available
via NWS or The Weather Channel online or the weather radio in emergencies.
Here the TV weather long-range forecast is pretty much whether or not it's
gonna rain and the hi/lo for each day. They do show fronts and High/Low
pressure areas, but that info is readily available from other sources - a
trip to the NWS or Weather Channel website can provide that info and more.
Never been to your part of the country, so I have no idea of what's available
locally, but other places I've been are very similar to here, with some minor
variations like adding tide info near the coast. Nothing to justify the cost
of a rotator. I'd just point the antenna to the station that provides the
most useful information and leave it be, depending on a weather radio for
emergency information and checking online if I wanted an immediate longer
range forecast than what I could get from punching the button on the weather
radio.
Mind you, I don't advocate dropping TV altogether, just don't see a need for
it when obtaining weather information. I'm not referring to any agricultural
programming available from the TV when I'm talking about weather - we have
(or at least had, not in the ag business so I haven't looked in quite a few
years) some of that here too with crop/animal prices and general long-term (2
months IIRC) weather projections along with other ag info on the local PBS
stations. Regular advertizing stations dropped that stuff when I was a kid -
north GA is just too "citified", probably still carry some of it in the more
agricultural, southern part of the state.
FYI, In case you're not aware of them. There are a couple of browser add-ons
that you might find useful in monitoring the weather. One can be obtained
from the Weather Channel website and (I think) works on all browsers, the
other is called ForecastFox and works on Mozilla browsers. Both put icons at
a location you choose in your browser and are highly configurable as to how
many days out they show and what information is shown. You can have NWS
alerts automatically pop up a clickable link that will take you to the text
of the alert if you like. Mine shows quite a few alerts and statements that I
wouldn't want to have the radio sound an alarm for - but it is possible to
have the radio do it if you like...
Also, at least locally here (may not be true of your area), the NWS supports
satellite reporting stations all around the state which can provide things
like soil temp at several depths, rainfall, UV levels, wind, and such. These
are automated readings and were limited to within the last 24 hours last I
looked, but I believe that they were planning on adding archival info. You
can set a link directly to the site(s) once you find them - go to NWS site
and shop around for locations.
Later, Mike
(substitute strickland in the obvious location to reply directly)
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