The “bomb cyclone” we had in November was a surreal experience. I had to go to a customer meeting that afternoon, and towards the end, kept checking my phone for the wind. The storm itself didn’t make landfall, but its pressure center was so low, it sucked wind from the east. The easterly wind caused more damage because it’s less common and trees hadn’t develop stress wood for that.. ...
In my trip planning document weeks ago, I had a note indicating today’s itinerary was likely going to be the wettest time here. Today, with the added benefit of the weather, that lived up to its promise and then some. The first stop of the morning was Seljalandsfoss, a waterfall located approximately 20km east of Hvolsvöllur. It is not the largest, most powerful, or voted most likely to become class president, but it is a spectacular site with a near-constant roar. As you might be able to tell from the photo, it kicks up a lot of mist. ...
I wrapped up another field day with my friend Paul (W7PEZ) in Eastern Washington. For the two days, I had 204 contacts, broken out roughly as: Yes, I worked SSB. It was kinda Frankfurt United Norway WT8P is sporting the 6-day salt and pepper look Paul worked 200 contacts, nearly all CW. Both are personal records. Neither of us were “running,” which would certainly have bumped up the totals, nor did we operate all the time, because most of the fun of Field Day is Everything Else. ...
During the last week of June, there was a crazy forecast. Sometimes the app, using Dark Sky, has an instability problem with far-future dates, but this wasn’t changing: For context, the normal high this time of year is 79. Low temperatures are typically 50s to low 60s, thus allowing us to use “Seattle Air Conditioning”, a box fan in the window. Typically, we put it in the window when: Daytime temperatures are above 75 and we anticipate cool evenings, such as the one below. The outside temperature is within 3 degrees of inside temperature. By the end of the day, the inside gets very humid and drier, albeit warmer air helps improve the comfort. ...
Last night’s ride home was a doozy because of the torrential downpour… easily the wettest I’ve been since RSVP 2004. The wind started kicking up around 5:30, knocking out power to the street lights. A tree had fallen across the road a mere 1/4 mile past the entrance to my subdivision. When I woke up, the yard is covered with a layer of pine needles. The back deck table and umbrella speared the grill. The sand box cover has blown off into the green belt behind us. The house across the street’s animatronic “Rudolph” festive lawn ornament was taken out by several stray branches. ...