Extreme Weather Magazine Review

Hello everyone, sorry for the lack of blog the past 2 days.

Friday was hectic with work and then I had excitement coming home from work that night. I had to practice TADD.

Does anyone know what that means?

TADD = Turn Around, Don't Drown

We had a thunderstorm pop over east-central Denver Friday evening and it dumped 2-4 inches of rain.

There were some high water rescues along Cherry Creek in downtown and some major traffic issues along I-25 near Alameda.

I live in the SE part of town and on my path home there is a road with a very low spot with signs that say flood water crossing.

After 2.5 years of driving this route and it always being dry, I took my chances.

Sure enough, when I approached the low spot at 11 p.m. water was running rapidly across the road.

I could see all the high water debris marking so I knew it was on the decline, but still, the water was rushing so fast across the road and it was white-capping in the middle -- almost like there was some debris under there.

And wouldn't you know, two STUPID drivers in small sedans tried to go through it and they made it, but I think not much further down the road because they were both pulled over with their flashers on.

I know my "stupid" comment above is a little harsh, but c'mon --- it wasn't that difficult to turn around and go about a mile out of the way to get around it -- ensuring safety of them and potential rescuers.

I have a hybrid SUV that probably would have made it through, BUT I had no idea if the road was still under there as fast as that water was moving.

So anyway, I had heard of the 2-4 inch rain reports and when I got home I ran straight to the backyard to find what had happened over my gauge.

I only had 0.32 inches -- thankfully for the rain but I will admit I was disappointed. I wanted an overflow in my gauge because that is exciting to measure!

So if you want to see the maps of this storm, from the CoCoRaHS page click on maps. Then select Colorado, Denver metro, and 8-9-08.

EXTREME WEATHER MAGAZINE REVIEW

I was recently contacted by a publishing intern from Astronomy magazine. They put together a pilot issue called Extreme Weather -- and depending on the interest level, it could or could not become a regular publication.

It is about 100 pages of full color, short to medium length articles on a variety of weather topics.

This issue has info on chasing storms, lightning, and climate change. It also has information on both new research for the future and past weather, including the Galveston killer hurricane of 1900.

It is chalk full of pictures that are very captivating for the weather guru.

Personally I have enjoyed it, and even a few friends I had over recently managed to find it and read through it. (and they are not weather geeks)

I in particular found an article on page 80 interesting called top 12 weather myths.

So if you want to get a copy of this magazine and express your opinions to the publisher about the potential of making this a regular publication, I invite you to their Web site.

Click here

On the left side there is a section that says Welcome. At the bottom of that article is a link to order.

The magazine is $7.95 in the USA.

Once you get it and look through it, go back to their Web site and let them know what you think. There is a "contact us" link on the top right.

It wouldn't hurt to tell them you heard about this through the CoCoRaHS blog -- I want them to become very familiar with our organization.

There are PLENTY of great weather stories/pictures/experiences that our observers could provide!