Computer Bits October 2003 covers the weather

The October 2003 column for Computer Bits covers the weather. When we were up in SF talking with Chris Larsen, he asked about the column. I told him October was a weather-related column and he said to be sure to include iWindsurf.com . Great site. The miracles of modern science.

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The Weather Network is Canada’s only weather-devoted specialty channel. The French sister-station is MétéoMédia. The Web site offers

# detailed city forecast pages for more than 3,000 cities in Canada, the U.S. and internationally
# WeatherDirect - get daily local forecasts directly to your e-mbx (worldwide)
# Weather and radar maps (worldwide)
# Highway and road construction updates (Canadian)
# Traffic cameras (Canadian)
# Golf reports for more than 2,000 courses (Canadian)
# Monthly and seasonal forecasts (Canadian, US and international)
... and more.

International coverage is not deep: e.g. Italy consists of Rome, Milan, Venice and Naples, but not Florence. Interested in Palermo, Taormina or Mount Etna, anywhere on Sicily in fact? Tough luck.

The Weather Channel provides similar information for an American audience. The site provides current weather and forecasts for sixty-five Portland OR area golf courses!

NOAA (the national Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)'s National Weather Service provides local forecasts by ZIP, city or state as well as satellite images, hazardous weather warnings, radar imagery, surf forecasts, fire weather, river conditions, small craft advisories and more.

Pickup your local forecast. e.g. Portland, OR . Or go to the Website for the Portland region and get information about various hazards and storm reports. Check out the local satellite and radar scans. The site also links to the Oregon Department of Transportation cams: see what the weather's like at I-84 and Lloyd Blvd.

NOAA's Climate Prediction center offers expert assessments. Every Tuesday the CPC issues a hazard assessment for the United States for the upcoming three days to two weeks. The Center also offers drought assessments, heat assessments, climate assessments and more.

Useful information NOAA has on tap, and they also have pretty piccies!

The following restrictions apply to use of NOAA images. "Most NOAA photos and slides are in the public domain and CANNOT be copyrighted. Although at present no fee is charged for using the photos, credit MUST be given to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce unless otherwise instructed to give credit to the photographer or other source."


More weather links:
http://www.iwindsurf.com iWindsurf
http://www.wpotd.com Weather picture of the day
http://zebu.uoregon.edu/weather.html Portland OR current weather conditions
http://www.wunderground.com Weather Underground
http://www.wunderground.com/US/OR/Portland.html Weather Underground Portland OR forecast
http://www.ucar.edu/ucar University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
http://www.cnn.com/WEATHER/index.html CNN Weather
http://polar.gsfc.nasa.gov/VLM WWW Virtual Library - meteorology