Annual Fund Drive

I am starting the annual fund drive today through Go Fund Me for this site to keep it advertisement free.  I have Mezzo as the only advertiser here and I am getting no funds from them with the exception of free coffee – I like their coffee and the idea that they are a local business which has a strong presence in Otsego, plus the fact that they fit in nicely with this site.

It costs several hundred dollars a year to keep this site and features online all of which comes out of my pocket.  This includes the Interactive radar and Planner which costs $300 a year, the site and domain name are $200 and the fees which keep this site secure from hackers.  This does not include the hours I spend on software updates and maintenance.  I am not seeking compensation for my work here. I would like to bring in more features from Aeris Weather which would be another $300 a year.  The goal of this site is to keep it ad free.

Unlike other weather sites I try to keep it simple to find information.  I am also trying to keep with the idea of having educational materials readily available for those who want to understand the weather which can be found in many of our blog postings and other areas on this site.

I would like to thank Slim who provides us with historic weather information and the Saturday blog posts.  I believe he is a great addition to this site and his wealth of knowledge is a value added feature here.

We are never to old to seek knowledge.  Slim and I are both retired.  He is a better meteorologist than I am though I am continuing my studies in atmospheric sciences.  Physics and mathematics figure strongly in these studies and I sometimes feel my brain is going to explode especially with calculus – nothing is impossible to learn if you keep at it.

Don’t scoff at Mets in their forecasting.  The currents of weather patterns and the physics of their movements can be hard to forecast more than a few days out, though the tools we have available now are getting better every year.  You have to look at the big picture of the ocean of our whole atmosphere.  This is why I am continuing to try to bring this material to you to have a better understanding and hope to expand this site to include more educational materials.

I have said many times this site is more than just a blog.  Check out all the menu items included here, there is a wealth of info.  We have about 60% of users using mobile devices and it can be hard to have a balance between mobile and computer users in site design – I am trying to make this site appealing to all…

In summation please help support this site, it would be greatly appreciated and help make it better with your support.

---

I really enjoyed the Skywarn session in Shelbyville this year.  I felt that more info was provided than in previous years.  You can find the book and other info on Skywarn on this site.  It is hard to believe we have gone over 40 years without an ef5 tornado outbreak.  We are long over due and it is my prediction we may see a more active spring storm season this year.

---

With the exception of a few snow flurries and showers we are entering a quiet period this week to dry things out.  Temps will slowly be on the rise.  Warming will continue throughout the month with temps in the 50s and 60s more often towards the end of March.  The CPC maps are here on site.  I am not saying we can’t have more snow, anything can happen in March, however with the transition into spring I am looking at a more stormy pattern to develop when we get into April which is the time we can have severe storms…

---