WolfStock1

With regards to AI - I guess one question I would have for those who work in the field - do you find that you're using AI some, and if so in what capacity? E.g. in software field I know sometimes an experienced person will ask ChatGPT "write me a program to do xxxx"; wondering if this kind of thing is being seen in meteorology; e.g. is AI doing some model analysis tasks that used to be done by a person?

Hi all, Posted this on the 101 forum, but figured I'd ask about it here since I'm sure there's more traffic here. I'm wondering about career prospects for meteorology, and in particular what people's thoughts are on the impacts of AI, and on the political churn going on right now. Any input is appreciated. (Son is looking into the program at VT)

Hi all, I wanted to ask about this general subject, since my son is looking into going into meteorology. What are your general thoughts on the prospect of the future of meteorology, in terms of demand for meteorologists vs the supply of people coming out of school? One thing I'm wondering about is the impact of AI. It seems to be hitting some careers hard right now, in particular software and in general engineering - lots of articles about people having a hard time finding work coming out of college, as a lot of junior-level tasks are shifting to AI. Also I know there's a lot of churn right now due to the political climate - NOAA/NWS cuts; though I imagine that will all be in the past 5 years from now when he's starting out; if anything that might be a good time to start as there may be a lot of holes being filled; at least that's my conjecture. In general seems like a great field and a great way to serve the public, so I'm encouraging him in that regard. Would hate it though if he ended up struggling if the field is going to be having a hard time career-wise though. Thoughts appreciated.

Are brining in Leesburg

I still have, and use, a link to the Wright Weather "radar forecast". Not sure where is the actual source but that's the only place I know of it existing. http://hp5-dev.wright-weather.com/nam-conus-radar-loop_1hour.gif

Herndon changed from mix to heavy snow now

Heavy mix in Herndon now - mostly rain

(Sigh) Here we go again. Hasn't rained for a couple of weeks now, and nothing in the forecast. Side note - why does NOAA keep moving the rainfall history map on their website? I bookmark it, and it's soon gone. Can't find it now. The bookmark I had: https://water.weather.gov/precip/ now brings up river gauges instead, even though the URL specifically contains "precip". You can add in some kind of precip info via checkbox, but it's pretty useless.

Very interesting. Would be curious to see the methodology behind it; what "societal conditions" means. Ideally it would account not only for inflation, but specifically inflation in housing and businesses (generally higher than headline inflation, which is just consumer goods), as well as not only the increasing crowded-ness of coastal areas but also the "luxury" factor of more luxury real estate construction on the coast. Overall the chart seems about right actually.

Blown WAY out of proportion. There were no militia "actively hunting" FEMA - it was one guy who made some verbal threats, and he's been arrested.

HIllsborough river NE of Tampa at record level:

Part of the problem is that all the buoys that were near they eye were all out of commission. :-( Closet one was Venice, which looked like this: Give that though - one would have thought that Venice would have registered a lot more than 62 mph sustained, given that it was pretty much at the eye wall. Only thing I can figure is that it's because these are so close to the water or land - the wind levels are lower due to surface friction.

Yeah I could see that. I noticed that the other gauges were still low, but just figured it was because the new surge hadn't reached them yet.

Fat lady hasn't sung yet on the surge in Tampa Bay.

Having lived in FL - heavy rain like that is always going to cause some flooding - the water just doesn't drain off that well since everything is so flat. It's especially exacerbated if there is damage to a storm drain, which there probably is in some areas right now.

NWS advisory is super-late - wonder why?

Port Manatee - south side of Tampa Bay - is actually seeing a *reverse* surge!

As bad as the inland tornado outbreak has been, I'm afraid the surge is still going to be the biggest disaster with Milton. Most of us knew the timing of landfall would coincide with a degraded core and transition, but the sea heights aren't just going to magically disappear. Sea height and fetch has already been acquired, and areas south of the circulation will be inundated. We don't need a thick/intense southern eyewall band either. Strong surface winds perpendicular to the peninsula shoreline will be aided by the low-level jet to push the fetch onshore south of Milton's circulation center. The surge threat is high for a reason regardless of landfall intensity and why evacuations were needed. I think the big saving grace is how early it's coming in. Highest tide isn't until 6am tomorrow. Right now the tides are fairly low, so the surge effects will be lessened quite a bit.

Surge starting at Port Manatee gauge:

I notice that a couple of important NOAA buoys went offline just now - sometime today. Maybe loss of comms due to the storm? Those two were online earlier. One of them was a good wave-level indicator, so it stinks to not have that data! Anyone know why? It seems like they're far away enough from the storm that they wouldn't be losing comms at this point.

Speaking as someone with a relative that won't evacuate - it's purely mental. When danger comes - people want security, and for many older people security means one and only one thing - home. It's not about losing possessions - it's about being home in a time of crisis - even if home is the most *dangerous* place to be. The logic cannot be reasoned with - but there it is.

I believe downtown was underwater even with just Helene - so it certainly will be with MIlton yes. The biggest heartbreak there is going to be that much of the "Old Florida" in the area is going to be gone after this storm. As you mentioned a lot will be due to lesser building codes of years past; in particular all the houses were closer to sea level, and also lots of them wood frame instead of cinder block.

Well, to be honest I didn't even realize there was a specific tropical thread! I usually just follow the regional boards, which lead me to this thread. Was wondering why it seemed so quiet here! Thanks for pointing that out. I got that tidbit about the eye size from an X post - I'm guessing it came indirectly from you. LOL.

Nice that it weakened some overnight. Latest report shows it being flat though and maybe starting to strength. 145 mph winds earlier; now 150 mph. Incredibly compact eye last night. Saw at one point the eye was only 3.5 miles wide. Mrs. J - hope your relatives made it to a good destination last night.