As the Planting Begins, the Weather Warms. (?)

“…And the forecast for tonight is for a low of 38 degrees

Who in the world is this weather guy? Come on, it’s May 10th.  Yesterday was 80 degrees and tonight it’s 38!  We planted lettuce, beets, peas, onion, broccoli with spinach and arugala and green beans to follow in the coming weeks.

Our trusty Vermont outdoor window thermometer keeps going down and down as Spring progresses. (to be continued)

——————————————————————————————————————–It is now May 23, 2013 and the forecast for tonight (www.weather.com) is for a low temperature of 40 degrees tonight. Two days ago the low was 70 and the high was 89. Fortunately, we have not planted any more of the veggies yet, so at least they will be spared the cold weather.

Even the cat has decided to move back into the garage after spending much of the past week outside. I guess he needs a thermometer to figure out whether or not to go outside again.

What kind of thermometer do you get a cat? He’s pretty smart but still can’t read or even recognize letters and numbers. How about a Galileo Floating Ball thermometer? The balls go up when it is warm or hot and down when it is cold. It’s got colored balls for each temperature rating so he would be able to tell if it is warm out or cold out.

Cat predictions aside, we are looking at a fantastic summer season coming up and what better ways to present your lakeside friends with a completely unique indoor/outdoor lythermometer for their porch, patio or pool side walls.

Just click on Best Outdoor Thermometers website and enjoy searching for your dream thermometer.

Still looking for the constant weather.

The Weather Wizard.

Went to a Garden Party – It snowed!

I went to visit some locally spectacular gardens last weekend, hoping to get some insight as to how theses professional maintained gardens are cleaned up and prepared for the soon-to-be-coming warm spring weather. Although bundled well in coats, hats and gloves (warm weather not gardening), I was at least expecting sun, crocus poking up, buds looking like the time to flower was nearly at hand.

When we arrived, the snow was coming down so heavily that we never even got out the  shelter of our car. The wind had picked up to a not pleasant 15 MPH with gusts to 25 every few minutes, making it impossible to see anything possibly happening in the garden. After accumulating 2 more inches, we met with the rest of the party and the gentleman who   was our host at the nearby coffee shop and discussed how all the cold and snow was setting back our planting and growing season. (Last year I was in shorts picking lettuce out of the garden at this time).

Going back to my previous post about Puxatawny Phil and having admonished him for the blatantly lousy spring forecast (going on 8 weeks of winter).  It appears the local prosecutor was considering filing a law suit against Phil for his malfesensed forecast. After more speculation and reflection it was determined to drop the charges because weather forecasting is not considered enough of a science for a groundhog to be making these types of prediction with any real degree of accuracy.( If the TV forecasters can’t get it right, we  put our faith in a big toothed, furry rodent for accuracy?)

Ok Phil, I take it back – now please bring us our spring weather so we can cut and chop and plant and water and fertilizer our latest efforts to attempt to grow our own food,

The best way to get the temperature is with a decorative thermometer from www. and-the-temperature-is.com .

Still trying to plant lettuce with mittens,

Weather Wizard.

Hey Phil, What Happened to 6 Weeks?

The Thermometer Don’t Lie!

The very attractive thermometer (Vermont Window Thermometer ) outside my window is telling me it is 34 degrees F (1 degree C) .  lt’s the middle of March and you my predictive rodent, did indeed not see your shadow so spring was to be on its way.  It now has been 6 weeks since your big pronouncement and still, no spring.  Worse, we got 3 inches of snow last night to go with the less than acceptable temperatures.  What gives?

Sure you are going to tell me, well the first day of Spring is not until March 20th (today is the 16th). Secondly you are telling me that you in trying to predict the weather, an inexact science to say the least and third your forecasting instruments are rather primitive and that finally and fourth you just woke up and was forceably dragged out of your warm cozy bed and forced to make a decision on the spot.

Okay, Fine — You panicked under the pressure and took a SWAG.  You blew it, buddy, we are still stuck under this blanket of winter snow, cold weather, harsh wind, basically its still WINTER.  

I am going to send you a wireless, digital, weather station that will allow to look at all the  conditions that are occurring, in order to allow you to make a much more informed decision in your prognosticating every year. Pictures and information is available by clicking on the following link: Acu Rite Professional Weather Station

You will always be able to find the latest in Outdoor Thermometers at the web site, www.and-the-temperature-is.com.  Some examples are shown below.

Still Shivering looking for the Sun,

Weather Wizard

Betty Boop Classic Thermometer 

NOAA – mPING App for National Severe Storms Labratory with Outerdoor Thermometers

New smart phone app lets public report rain, hail, sleet and snow to NOAA.

What in the devil is Weather Wizard talking about now?

An app for our mobile phones so the average Joe can be a part of the National Severe Storm Advisory  and anonymously report precipitation from their Apple or Android mobile device. Don’t they have enough weather people now?

In conjunction with the University of Oklahoma and NOAA mPING Mobil Phone App is a downloadedable app for Iphones and Android mobile devices.  mPING stands for mobile Precipitation Identification Near the Ground. NSSL and OU researchers will use the mPING submissions to build a valuable database of tens of thousands of observations from across the United States.

With the mPING app, anyone can send a weather observation on the go. The user simply opens the app, selects the type of precipitation that is falling at his or her location, and presses submit. The user’s location and the time of the observation are automatically included in the report.

All submissions will become part of a research project called PING – Precipitation Identification Near the Ground. NSSL and OU researchers will use the mPING submissions to build a valuable database of tens of thousands of observations from across the United States.

All reports in the PING database, both past and real-time, can be viewed on the project’s web site. This allows anyone to see all observations in time and space to better identify the locations where hazardous forms of precipitation exist.

Many thanks for NOAA’s web site on the mPING reporting and allowing private citizens gain the brief rush of contributing to something important.  We have attached several websites for more information regarding the National Severe Storms Weather Advisory.

National Weather Service 

Storm Prediction Center

Weather Forecast for Your Locale

Citizens Weather Observation Program

To get instruments for measuring the weather in your backyard go to:

Best Outdoor Thermometers

Stay warm and dry, spring is a comin’,

Weather Wizard

PS check out this unique storm predictor

Storm Glass Weather Predictor – 

invented by the captain of Charles Darwin’s ship, Beagle.

Check out the Thermometer Guy!

I stumbled over his blog the other day.  This guy knows about all kinds of thermometers and writes about them in his periodic blog. He discusses which to use for what and why a meat thermometer works but why it doesn’t work as a rectal thermometer.  Although it has been used as a weapon according The Thermometer Guy’s posts. http://thethermometerguy.wordpress.com/. is his blog site, so take a peek. He seems fairly knowledgeable and far be it from me to argue.

How these crazy things work and why in the world anyone would want to know more about them he does.  I just try to sell thermometers for your enjoyment and display (www.and-the-temperature-is.com) and he is discussing the proper uses and relevance of them.

Remember the difference, he discusses thermometers in his blog while I am the Weather Wizard soooooo, just keep us both in mind.

Here to finding a rainbow out there somewhere in the low lying winter clouds,

The Weather Wizard (still seeking the sun)

Watching The Oscars – “The Temperature is Rising

Decorative Outdoor Thermometers presents:

The Oscars of Outdoor Thermometers

brought to you by “And-the-temperature-is.com“

 

The Oscars were presented tonight for the stars of the screen and all those that support them.  It is always an exciting event and we wait breathlessly with the nominee  to find out whose name will be announced “THE WINNER”. Well, with such pagentry elegance, and dressing to the ‘nines’ (maybe even ’10s’).  The Weather Wizard has decided to declare the winners of the “And-the-temperature-is.com” website annual Oscars.

Without further ado, are are the winners of the top 4 individual awards: Click on the name of the thermometer to find out its complete bio. Share your thoughts and comments regarding the best outdoor thermometers of the website..

Still stuck on the Red Carpet,

The Weather Wizard

Best Actor     The Rose Thermometer                       

Best Director      Vermont Window Thermometer   

Best Picture: The Sunny Day Thermometer  

Best Actresses:   Classic Coca-coca Metal Thermometer

When Does F = C?

Decorative Outdoor Thermometers

presents

Welcome to OnlineConversion.com

At what temperature are Celsius and Fahrenheit the same?

The formulas for converting between degree Celsius and degree Fahrenheit are:

°F = (°C * 9/5) + 32
°C = (°F – 32) * 5/9

To find the temperature when both are equal, we use an old algebra trick and just set       ºF = ºC and solve one of the equations.

°C = (°C * 9/5) + 32
°C – (°C * 9/5) = 32
-4/5 * °C = 32
°C = -32 * 5/4
°C = -°F = (°F * 9/5) + 32

°F – (°F * 9/5) = 32
-4/5 * °F = 32
°F = -32 * 5/4
°F = -40

So the temperature when both the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales are the same is -40 degrees. Figures it would be at some temperature we would never see? Or would we?

The Coldest Temperature ever recorded on Earth?

 -89.2 degrees Celsius (-128.5 degrees Fahrenheit) at Vostok, Antarctica on July 21, 1983. That all-time low broke the previous world-record minimum of -88.3 °C (-126.9 °F), set on August 24, 1960, also at Vostok.

The Coldest Temperature ever recorded in the United States?

Prospect Creek Camp, Alaska                -80 degrees F     -62.2 degrees C     Jan. 23, 1971

How about the Lower 48 States?

Rogers Pass, Montana                          -70 degrees F    – 56.7 degrees C     Jan. 20, 1954

It couldn’t get any cooler (could it?),

Scrambling for the parka,

Weather Wizard

Ground Hog Day – Go Phil

Decorative Outdoor Thermometers

Early Spring – Outside Early

        

February 2nd has come again. Unlike Bill Murray in the movie, “Groundhog Day”, Phil only has to go through this weather forecasting predicting once a year. Well he did it again today. Spring will be early this year, Phil did not see his shadow this morning, giving us the Groundhog proclamation for an early spring.

With the onset of an early spring, an outdoor thermometer seems to be the ideal addition to your yard and garden decor.  Despite the seemingly warm weather coming early, there may well be some cooler days or nights and you are going to need to know about it. How better a way to judge the temperature outdoors this spring, than adding an 18″ Outdoor thermometer to mount on a post or hang from a tree branch and/or rafter where you can see it . Knowing what the temperature is helps in determining what types of plantings or when the vegetables can be planted.  Too soon and the night time cold kills early seedlings, too late and our advantage of the spring is wasted.

Go to the Best Decorative Outside Thermometers for selections of a wide variety of analog or digital outdoor thermometers for your yard. Large diameter analog styles to solar powered digital models that can be seen at night.

Punxsutawney Phil has spoken and given his track record the Weather Wizard is going to follow his suggestions.  See you at the Best Decorative Outside Thermometers to start the early spring.

 

Lookin’ for the sunglasses,

Weather Wizard

Calling All Weather Wonks –

 

Citizens Weather Observer Program

We look out our windows and notice that the wind is blowing or not, there is rain (snow, sleet) or not, an open window tells you if its warm, or not. And for most of us that answers just about all of our questions for the day.  And if you are more interested a thermometer is mounted outside where you can see it or a sensor sending the info to your kitchen counter, desk top, or wall thermometer.But, if you like to collect the weather, measure the rain fall, graph the temperature, watch the clouds, calculate the wind speed and want to do something with it, take a look at the Citizens Weather Observer Program.

The Citizen Weather Observer Program (CWOP) is a public-private partnership with three main goals: 1) to collect weather data contributed by citizens; 2) to make these data available for weather services and homeland security; and 3) to provide feedback to the data contributors so that they have the tools to check and improve their data quality. In fact, the web address, wxqa.com, stands for weather quality assurance.Go look at its site for who, what, when, where, and how to participate or just read about on demand weather, go visit http://www.wxqa.com .

We have the link on the website at http://www.and-the-temperature-is.com/links.  If helping to predict or reporting the weather from your location is then the CWOP is for you.  Click on it and go nuts.

If you would like to watch the weather and report your findings, click HERE to be forwarded to the CWOP home page and information how YOU can be a member of the Citizens Weather Observation Program!

Wonking away from this one, Enjoy

Weather Wizard

Important Links for Weather Station Equipment:www.Wqxa.comwww.co.chelan.wa.us/pw/data/citizen_weather_observer.pdfwww.NOAA.gov

Galileo Floating Ball Thermometers

Decorative Outdoor Thermometers

Galileo’s Floating Ball Thermometers

What is it? How does it work? Who is Galileo? Can I build a floating ball thermometer?

The answers to life’s persistent questions about the great inventor, Galileo Galilei in 1593.Galileo from Italy

A Galileo thermometer is a special type of temperature indicator that was invented by the famous scientist Galileo Galilei in 1593. This type of thermometer uses several different containers or bulbs of varying mass, each with a temperature marking. Because the buoyancy of water changes with temperature, some of the containers sink while others float. A simple Galileo thermometer will not be extremely accurate, but can demonstrate the principle. The more containers used in the thermometer, the more effective it will be.

 These are exceptional cool sitting on a desk or coffee table.  Guaranteed to create conversation anytime company arrives and a lingering pause hovers over the assembled personage. Galileo’s thermometer can be purchased or built as a craft or exercise that can be completed with children.  Follow the link below to build your own floating ball thermometer and see how through the miracles of science the current temperature can be  viewed.

 How to Build a Galileo Thermometer | eHow.com 

Learn more about the Galileo thermometer at Wikipedia.

You can buy several different styles of the Galileo thermometer at http://www.and-the-temperature-is.com/scrollgardengalileo. Additional thermometers are available on the Best Decorative Outdoor Thermometers website for your review and purchase.

Thermometers are not only useful but are interesting and certainly can teach us a lot.

Still building mine,

Weather Wizard.