Welcome to my personal blog and web site.  I hope you find things of interest to you in these pages.  Over the years people have asked me if I had a blog.  Up to now I resisted the urge to write one because it seemed to me that there were lots of other people writing about things and I didn’t want to become another person adding to the plethora of information available online.  It also takes time to generate content and I didn’t want to start a blog that withered quickly because I didn’t have time to keep it current.  However, people continue to ask me about the weather and so I finally decided to take the plunge.

I became interested in hurricanes after my family moved to Northwest Florida when I was growing up.  I started tracking hurricanes and tropical storms and I read everything I could find on them.  My interest continued when I went to college, although I had no idea at the time how to turn my interest into a career.  Even though I know a lot more about hurricanes now, I am still fascinated by them and continue to try to learn more about them.  I have done research on hurricanes over both the Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific and I still track every tropical cyclone in both of those basins.  Other aspects of weather and climate captured my interest over the years, and you may find things about other topics in this blog as well.

My goal for this blog is to provide information that may be useful and to help people who are interested in learning more about the weather do so.  I am not attempting to replicate or replace other sources of weather information.  Although I may talk about weather watches and warnings in this blog, readers should remember that national weather entities, such as the National Weather Service in the U.S, are the organizations that issue official weather statements.  There are also many media and other outlets that provide that information to the public.

I also hope to develop a more complete web site that will help people to understand aspects of the weather better.  I have spent much of my adult life teaching students about the weather and answering questions about it.  I intend to take what I have learned over the years and to try to put together a site that I hope will let people learn more about the weather features that interest them.  I enjoy explaining things and helping others learn.  Having said all of that, readers may need to have patience at times.  I do have a full time job and there are periods when it fully consumes all of my available time.  During those periods I may not post any new content.

I enjoy interacting with people interested in the weather and constructive suggestions are always appreciated.  However, if you are interested in starting an argument or if you have a political or other agenda, I respectfully ask that you move along to other sites that are in greater agreement with your views.  I dislike arguing with people and I am not interested in trying to change anyone else’s mind.  I set up this blog so that I have to approve any comments before they are posted.  I understand that some people may view this as a form of censorship, which it is, but I feel responsible for what is posted on this site and I want to keep it appropriate for all readers including any children who may find it.  As I activate more of the site, I will set up a link so you can contact me if you have suggestions or questions that you don’t feel comfortable posting in a more public forum.

Finally, I feel obligated to offer the standard sort of disclaimer about the content of this blog and web site.  The content is solely a reflection of my views and opinions.  It should not be construed in any way to reflect the opinions and policies of my employer, The Ohio State University, nor those of the people who host it.

Once again, welcome, and I promise future posts will be about hurricanes and the weather.