photo by Faith Larson

Weather has fascinated me since I first discovered The Weather Channel on cable TV in my teens. The maps and charts with isobars and wind roses were a constant form of entertainment and education for my young mind. Eventually, I learned to predict the weather as well as the people on TV, sometimes better. That was over three decades ago. Had I thought of it at the time, I probably would have pursued meteorology as a career. But that didn’t happen, so here I am blogging about it as an amateur.

Why blog about the weather? I have tried blogging many times, trying to use it as some sort of online dairy for my thoughts and adventures. Thoughts I had. The adventure part was lacking in my life. I commute; I work; I commute home; I put my children to bed. Rinse and repeat. Sure, it’s noble and wonderful of me that I do the dishes for my wife and clean the table and read my children bedtime stories to instill a love of reading, still…not exactly what I would call blog-worthy. So I did some research on how to write a good blog. I read that you should dedicate the blog to a subject that interests me. I decided on the weather in southeastern Tennessee. The next question to ask myself was how often I should make a blog entry. I think that about once a week would be a good basis. I will write more if the weather conditions dictate, but seven to ten days of the same thing, fair or foul, can become monotonous.

I will include a chart of daily highs and lows off my back porch as recorded, currently, on my Taylor Digital Thermometer, purchased at the local big-box store. Perhaps next year I will invest in a more complete weather station if this goes well. The majority of other information will come from a wonderful program called WeatherBug.

I will also include at least one photo focused on the local weather. If/When I figure out how to post more than one, then I might just do that. Until then, I’m limited in my knowledge.

That’s the intro. This week’s picture (if it uploads properly) is of yours truly moving a hunk of fallen tree from the road on the way home from work. I have been looking for that tree to drop for at least the last six months. It’s been dead, the branches fell off and vines of English ivy and kudzu were crawling up the trunk. A small cluster of heavy winds and rain swept through the lower portion of McMinn County, TN that afternoon. Winds were gusting to about 30 mph. This was the first of two sets of debris that I had to move from the roadway before I made it home. Thanks to Faith, my wife, for taking the picture.

This week’s forecast. We’ll see how it measures up to actual.

Date     High      Low      Rain %

Sun       95         70         0
 Mon      93         72         25
Tue       88         72         40
Wed      88         72         50
Thu       88         68         35
Fri        89         68         20
Sat        92         68         20
Sun       89         ??         20