As Seen on TV: BP Oil Spill Forecast Maps

Since tar balls have started showing up on the beaches in southeast Texas, we'll be adding oil spill forecast maps to some of our daily weathercasts. 

The data is updated once a day from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The maps outline the areas where oil is likely to be found based on ocean currents and weather patterns.

On the maps you'll see on ABC 13, the shades of black and dark brown indicate heavy and medium concentrations of oil. The light brown area indicates spotty or light coverage.  The outer grey line indicates the edge of the oil contamination where spotty oil and/or tar balls are possible.  "DWH" indicates the location of the Deep Water Horizon oil well.

As I explained here before, the oil spill is not expected to affect tropical weather development. But tropical development in the Gulf could affect the oil spill. Lately, the counter-clockwise winds blowing around Hurricane Alex and a tropical depression have turned the winds across the northern Gulf in from the east.  That seems to be moving more of the oil westward, toward Texas. 

Today is Earth Day. And so is tomorrow. And the day after...

This is the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. Let's celebrate how far we've come!

The Earth was a lot dirtier in 1970. People were using leaded gas in their cars. Industries were spewing copious amounts of pollution into the air. People freely littered the ground. Landfills were filling up. And no one seemed to care. So U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin came up with the idea for a "nationwide environmental protest."

And it worked!

Today, many homes and offices recycle paper, glass and plastic. Our cars exhaust less pollution. Some people drive electric cars and use electric or battery powered lawn tools which emit zero emissions.  Energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs are commonly used in many homes. Carpooling is popular.

Along the way we've discovered that old habits can be broken. It's easy to "be green" and in some cases it can save you money!

I challenge you to make an Earth Day Resolution today. Come up with one new way you and your family will reduce, reuse or recycle. Do something different. Then do it again tomorrow. And the day after...

EPA graphic.

New NOAA GOES-13 weather satellite ready for hurricane season

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officially commissioned a new weather satellite to help track developing storms across the eastern U.S. and throughout the tropics.  "Just in time for the 2010 hurricane season, NOAA will have one of its newest and most technologically advanced satellites closely tracking these storms," said Mary Kicza, an administrator with NOAA's Satellite and Information Service.

Officially called GOES-13, the geostationary satellite is positioned 22,300 miles above the equator.  This new eye in the sky replaces the older GOES-12 satellite which will be shifted to cover South America.  GOES-11 is already in position to monitor the western U.S. and the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Three additional satellites have been launched over the past four years and are currently in-orbit storage.  Once built, it's cheaper to store these huge satellites in space, where they can be quickly turned on and moved into position when needed.

The GOES weather satellite series provides near real-time images of clouds and can measure the water vapor content of the atmosphere. Instruments on the satellite can also measure sea-surface temperatures, estimate winds and provide other meteorological data.

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the first weather satellite.  TIROS-1 (Television Infrared Observation Satellite) sent back a fuzzy black-and-white image of the weather on April 1, 1960.

Remarkable at the time, the first images were pretty crude by today's standards. Weather satellite imagery is now a standard part of every TV weathercast and easily available on the internet.

Images provided by NOAA.

 

Recycle your old computer and other electronics

ABC 13 will give you another chance to get rid of your "E-waste" this Friday, April 16.

Drop off your old computers, TV's, cell phones, monitors, printers, fax machines and power cords during our third E-Cycle Drive. Stop by between 6 AM and 2 PM at the ABC 13 studios, 3310 Bissonnet.

Click here for a complete list of the items we're collecting.

This E-Cycle drive is for consumers only, not businesses. We ask that you recycle no more than five items.

Businesses can arrange to have their electronics recycled with our partner CompuCycle.

You can feel good, knowing that the electronics you recycle will not clutter up landfills. And unlike some other recyclers, CompuCycle does NOT export the computer waste to third-world countries.

Oak pollen problems

That thin layer of yellowish-greenish dust on your car is really oak pollen. And every breathe you take includes hundreds or perhaps thousands of microscopic grains. Yuck. 

Many of our trees are pollinating right now, but the oak pollen has been very high the last few weeks. That's right. Those same beautiful, stately trees that adorn our yards and streets are responsible for much of the sneezing and sniffling right now.

Locally, pollen is counted by the city Health Department. It's a painstaking job. Lately they've been counting as many as 4,000-8,000 grains of oak pollen per cubic meter of air. That's much higher than the past few years.

We need a good, widespread soaking shower to wash the pollen out of the air. But the front coming in on Wednesday will only produce scattered rainfall. And making matters worse, the gusty winds will be blowing the pollen around before and after the front gets here.

Luckily the oak pollen season should end in a couple of weeks. But it will be replaced by another type of pollen. This is spring after all: the season for sneezin'.

Celebrate "Earth Day Houston" at Discovery Green

Thousands of people are expected to "party for the planet" at Houston's Earth Day celebration at Discovery Green this Saturday, April 3. The weather should be perfect for the all day, free event.

The fun starts early with a 5k Fun Run at 8 AM. Family activities and live music are scheduled throughout the day. More than 20 vendors will be promoting their environmentally friendly products and services at the new Green Exp.

Organizers are practicing what they preach. Earth Day Houston is a "green" event. Cups for the 5k runners will be compostable, only 100% recycled paper will be used and recycling stations will be set up around the festival.

The 40th Anniversary of Earth Day is Thursday, April 22, 2010.

Spring officially begins this weekend

The vernal equinox is this Saturday, March 20.

The sun will be directly over the equator and the length of day and night are nearly 12 hours long all over the world. The word "equinox" means "equal night."

There's a false belief that you can balance an egg during the equinox. Truth is, you can do it any day of the year... with a little patience.

My first book! Sort of.

My name is there! You'll find it on page 542 of the book, Jackson by T.P. Jones.

"Information on the practice of TV weather forecasting was generously provided by meteorologist Tim Heller..."

So how did my name end up in the Acknowledgments section of a newly published novel?

Back in the late 1980s, I was working at KDUB-TV 40, a tiny television station in Dubuque, Iowa. One night I got a phone call from an author who had moved to town to research a book he was writing. One of the characters was a TV weatherman.  The author, Tom "T.P." Jones, wanted to hang with me to see what I did behind the scenes. 

Jones spent a few nights with me but then I didn't hear from him for the longest time. I assumed the book never got written.  But after almost 20 years, he emailed last month to tell me the first volume in the "Loss of Certainty" series had been published.

Walter Plowman is a popular TV weatherman on KJTV in Jackson, Iowa, the setting for the book named for its location.  Jackson is going through a drought, but Walter knows the weather is about to change and so are the lives of many in this small, close-knit river city. The local meatpacking plant, the biggest employer in Jackson, is struggling to stay open, faced with new competition from the unappetizingly named, Modern Meat. (The author's description of the kill-floor in "JackPack" will make you think twice about eating ham for awhile.)  The story and all the characters are fictional, but based on real people and real events. 

To be clear, Walter the weatherman is not me. But the author recreates my cramped office at KDUB-TV and borrowed some of my forecasting methods. Just like I did back then, Walter works on a computer he calls "Hazel" and employs the help of "weather families" to monitor local rainfall and temperatures. The weather center is adorned with weather maps on the wall and local weather records are written down by hand. Jones included some details that I had long forgotten.

The weatherman is only a bit character in this novel and in the second installment called, The Gamble. But Jones told me Walter Plowman will play a pivotal role in the third book of the series, River Rising, which will be published later this fall.  You can guess what happens in that story. I'm predicting a best-seller!

 

ABC 13 turns on new HD Galveston TowerCam!

Engineers just finished installing a new high-definition TowerCam on the east end of Galveston Island.

The camera is mounted on top of the Emerald by the Sea condos, just off Seawall Boulevard. We have 360° views of the city, the beach, West Bay, Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. With the help of a high-powered zoom lens, we can check out specific buildings as far away as Moody Gardens on the other side of the city! 

And of course, you'll see the new HD Galveston TowerCam only on ABC 13.

The camera is "live" when you see it during our newscasts.  But here are some snapshots I captured Tuesday afternoon:

With the camera pointed toward the west, we have a great view of downtown Galveston and the Strand. Way off in the distance, we can also see the Causeway.

weatherblog.abc13.com

weatherblog.abc13.com

weatherblog.abc13.com

weatherblog.abc13.com

weatherblog.abc13.com

We can see the whole campus at UTMB, the University of Texas Medical Branch.

weatherblog.abc13.com

weatherblog.abc13.com

weatherblog.abc13.com

weatherblog.abc13.com

weatherblog.abc13.com

Using the zoom lens, we get a good view of Seawolf Park. We can see the USS Cavalla and the USS Stewart.

weatherblog.abc13.com

weatherblog.abc13.com

weatherblog.abc13.com

weatherblog.abc13.com

weatherblog.abc13.com

We can also watch the waves in the Gulf of Mexico. This view is toward the east.

weatherblog.abc13.com

weatherblog.abc13.com

weatherblog.abc13.com

weatherblog.abc13.com

weatherblog.abc13.com

weatherblog.abc13.com

Watch for the new high-definition Galveston TowerCam during the newscasts on ABC 13!

Turning off the power in the Heller house

I'm on a mission: I want to cut my electricity bill at home by 30%.  During the summer, it's one of the biggest bills I pay every month. I figure if I can get my family to start saving electricity now, we'll be better off when the air conditioner starts running.

Here's how I'm going to do it:

• Bribe the kids
  To encourage my kids to turn off the lights when they leave a room, I told them I'd split the savings with them over the next three months.  We'll compare this year's electricity bill with last year to see how we're doing.

• Kill phantom power
  Power chargers suck electricity even when the iPods and cellphones are not connected to them. So I plugged them all into the same power strip that can be shut off with one switch after everybody unplugs in the morning.

• Use "smart" power strips
  The DVD player, xBox and Wii use phantom power too.  But a new type of smart power strip takes care of that. Now when I turn off the TV, the smart power strip automatically and completely shuts off the power to all the electronics in my media cabinet. I also installed a smart power strip on my computer, monitor, printer and speakers.

• Change the light bulbs
  I don't really like the greenish light given off by compact fluorescent lights, but I did some math and discovered they use 60-75% less electricity. So I changed out eight can lights in my family room, which are on all day long, with CFL flood lights. Now all eight lights use as much juice as just two incandescent flood lights. I also switched out the bulbs in several lamps.

I'll report back in early May and tell you how we're doing.