Four TV Meteorologists, Four Cool Stories

 The meteorologists on your local television station are really a marvel. 

They tend not to get paid much, which is travesty, but day after day, night after night, they go above and beyond, letting you know what weather danger lurks in plain, easy to understand language.

Meteorologists are also human, with different interests, different life circumstances and creativity which brings us some cool stories about just four the many of them out there. If you like babies, two of these stories involve those little ones.

SIGNING THE WARNING

Meteorologist Mikayla Smith delivers on air forecasts
using sign language to make sure the deaf community
can also understand upcoming weather hazards. 

A week or so ago, a winter storm was threatening northern Texas and Oklahoma. Like most meteorologists, Mikayla Smith sounded the alarm.  She also signed it. 

Smith uses American Sign Language on air to make sure the deaf community also knows what's coming. 

According to Fox Weather: 

"The freelance weekend meteorologist at KXII, a CBS an FOX affiliate in Sherman, Texas, said she has always had a soft spot in her heart for the hard-of-hearing and deaf community. And with social media often lacking closed captions or accurate captions, she felt the need to start talking about the weather in ASL and incorporate it into her meteorology."

This is a terrific idea that would work wonders in any part of the nation. But north Texas and Oklahoma, prone to rapidly changing, dangerous weather like tornadoes, large hail, flash floods and abrupt winter storms, this is a tremendous public service. 

Click on this hyperlink to watch an Inside Edition report on Smith that really highlights her on-air sign language skills. 

NEW ENGLAND WEATHER HISTORIAN

Meteorologist Eric Fisher of WBZ in Boston had a lot of 
material to work with when he wrote 
"Mighty Storms of New England"

Eric Fisher is one of those incredibly photogenic TV meteorologists with great cheek bones, and and affable smile and relatable personality, but he is so much more.  

The native New Englander is the chief meteorologist at television station WBZ in Boston and is easily among the region's most skilled meteorologists. 

Turns out he's also a great historian.  He recently released a book called "Mighty Storms of New England," which I'm chomping at the bit to read. (I've got it on order).  

As far as I know, there hasn't been a huge amount written about New England's incredibly varied weather and history lately.  The late David Ludlum handled that masterfully with his "New England Weather Book" and "Vermont Weather Book" back in the 1970s and 1980s. 

The Washington Post describes the book as such:

"Fisher's regional knowledge mingles with his meteorological experience to tell each story in a vivid and informed way, whether it's a tale of a storm in the 1600s or in the present day. In addition to compelling stories, Fisher also highlights the role that many tragic weather disasters of New England's past played in bringing about improvements in infrastructure and forecasting."

It's exceptionally rare that I would recommend a book before reading it, but as a native New Englander myself, this sounds like a must-read for all of us who live around here. I'll review it in this blog thingy once I do finish reading it.  

BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE BUT BABY'S FORECAST HELPS

Meteorologist Rebecca Schuld gets an assist from her 13-week
old daughter Fiona during a recent cold snap
around Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Oops! Her TV
station spelled her name wrong here. 

A couple weeks ago, meteorologist Rebecca Schuld at television station WDJT in Milwaukee had to deliver this bad news: It was wicked cold out, and it would stay that way for awhile. 

Like many television meteorologists, Schuld was working from home because of the pandemic, making do with a makeshift green screen and technology from the television station. 

As if that wasn't complicated enough, Schuld had another complication. She was just back from maternity leave, and her 13-week old daughter, Fiona, wanted to help with the on-air forecast. 

What was a mom/meteorologist to do? Let Fiona do the forecasting job, of course! The result was what is probably the warmest, cutest frigid weather forecast in television history. As Huffington Post described it: 

"'She's prepared. She's got one of her good thick blankies here for the cold weather that's coming up tonight," Schuld said, holding Fiona. 'I thought she could help me with tonight's first weather that's going to be plenty unpleasant, right?'" 

Schuld said she had to offer Fiona the cameo because the kid woke up right before the meteorologist had to go on air with the latest cold snap update.  It was a hit, and demonstrated the balancing act that parents need to go through with the pandemic, family and everything else going on. Click on this hyperlink, as Inside Edition was, again, all over this. 

WPTZ meteorologist Caitlin Napoleoni
enjoying the Vermont winter outdoors
 a few days before giving birth to
daughter Astrid. 

AN OLYMPIC METEOROLOGICAL BABY

I saved the local story for last. Many of us Vermont television viewers are familiar with WPTZ-TV meteorologist Caitlin Napoleoni, who forecasts Vermont and northern New York weather with her trademark calm, knowledgable demeanor.  

It's actually a little surprising she stayed so calm in recent weeks. She was pregnant with her first child, and on Sunday night gave birth to a lovely little girl named Astrid.

She went through the delivery without her husband, Leif Nordgren by her side.  He's no slacker though, and had a great excuse not to be at her wife's side for the big event Sunday night.

Nordgren was dealing with a big event of his own. He's busy in Beijing, representing Team USA in the biathlon.  

As WPTZ reports:

"With a dad who's competing at his third Olympics and a mom who's been skiing right up until her due date, there's no doubt this baby will be a force of nature. 'Probably by the age of 3 or 4 will b a better skier than me I imagine, if Leif has anything to do with it,' Napoleoni said.  

We don't yet know how Nordgren will do in the Olympics, but has this to say about what's going on now. "I've spent 12 years of my life going after this athletic dream but the whole family and baby thing really puts everything into perspective about the important things in life." 

Will Olympic Athletes Choke On Foul Beijing Air? Some Officials Worry

Officials are worried about air pollution in and near 
Beijing during the upcoming Winter Olympics next month.

On top of everything else to worry about with the upcoming star-crossed Winter Olympics - Covid, China's government, etc there's another potential problem: nasty air pollution.  

As the Washington Post notes:

"With less than two weeks to go  until the Opening Ceremonies of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the Chinese government said is battling 'extremely unfavorable' weather to clear the city's skies of hazardous smog."  

Air quality in Beijing has a reputation of being lousy, especially in the winter, when temperature inversions trap pollutants over the city.

An inversion is a layer of relatively warm air over a layer of colder air at the surface. The inversion acrs as a lid, preventing pollutants from blowing away and dispersing. 

The Chinese government has been working for months, even years, to find ways to minimize the winter pollution in time for the Olympics.

Agence France-Presse reports:

"In an attempt to clear the smoggy skies, steel plants around the city were ordered to cut production in half in August and coal stoves in 25 million households across northern China were replaced with gas or electric burners ahead of the Games."

Fine particulates which can cause problems ranging from heart attacks to lung cancer to premature babies, was at 33 micrograms per cubic meter of air last year.. That's down by a third from 2013 but still about six times higher than levels recommended by the World Health Organization, notes Agence France-Presse. 

Fossil fuels are of course a huge source of the problem in China.  Almost 60 percent of China's economy is powered by coal.  China has also seen surges in fossil fuel imports and mining to combat power shortages that have dampened factory output and the overall economy.  

The immediate weather forecast is not terribly encouraging. Conditions favoring a temperature inversion are expected to intensify as we approach the end of the month. Chinese celebrate Lunar New Year's Eve on January 31 with fireworks, which would certainly worsen the pollution in Beijing. 

The Olympics are scheduled to run from February 4 to 20. 

 

Japan Olympic Organizers Misled Athletes, World On Tokyo Heat, Humidity

What were they thinking?  Olympics in hot, humid 
Tokyo is proving dangerous for athletes 

 The Olympics in Tokyo, Japan are wilting in the heat.  

That should have been expected, giveen the location of the event. But it's even hotter and more humid than many people anticipated.  

Olympic organizers in Japan might have sold the athletes and the world, a bill of goods when it comes to describing the summer weather. 

Japan's proposal for the Olympics included this gem:  "Meteorological conditions during the proposed Games-time would be reasonable."

"With many days of mild and sunny weather, this period provides an ideal climate for athletes to perform their best," the proposal also noted.

The reality is some athletes have already really suffered. Russian archer Svetlana Gomboeva passed out from heat stroke. A number of triathletes collapsed as they completed their race, says Fox News. 

Norway's Kristian Blummenfelt vomited and collapsed as he finished the triathlon, winning the Gold Medal

Daytime highs in Tokyo this week have been in the low to mid 90s with dew points in the mid-70s. That translates to a heat index of at least 100 degrees.  

Tennis star Novak Djokovic wilting in the high heat
and humidity of this year's Tokyo Olympics.

Tokyo is a vast urban heat island.  The concrete, asphalt and steel collect heat, making the city hotter than green space in the hinterlands.  Emissions for cars and zillions of air conditioners make it even hotter. 

Then at night, all that concrete and pavement retains the heat, so temperatures don't drop at night, like they tend to do where I live, in leafy rural Vermont.

It's worth noting that the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo were delayed until October to avoid the worst of the summer heat. 

The 2004 Olympics in Athens had similar temperatures, but the humidity was lower. Higher humidity is more dangerous because sweat doesn't evaporate off the body easily.  When sweat evaporates quickly, it has a cooling effect on the body. 

The heat in Tokyo is up there, but not unprecedented. Other parts of Japan, however, are suffering through record smashing heat. Last week on the northern island of Hokkaido, it reached 97 degrees in Asahikawa, the hottest day on record there.