February 5: National Weatherperson's Day

There are few careers as fast-paced and adrenaline filled as meteorology.  Will it rain?  What direction is the wind coming from?  I DON'T KNOW DAMMIT!  No, seriously though it's more than just witty banter with the morning anchors and remembering not to wear green to work...

...most of the time...

Justin and I decided we would celebrate by watching the weather channel and doing our very best to stay awake.  It's the least we could do for them after they were mercilessly dumped by Direct TV.  YES I REUSED THAT JOKE.  DEAL WITH IT.  We also decided to make our own predictions and name some of the weather patterns we saw.

The thing is - celebrating the holiday in a way that truly honors the man it is held for (John Jeffries) would basically be impossible.  He's credited with being the first man to take detailed recordings of the weather, including daily measurements.  That is a huge step forward in the field of weather prediction, but it also can't be done in a day.  So we decided to try our hand at modern weather-man-ing.

First, we named several gusts of wind on the way to work.  My favorite was wind gust Armando, traveling southeast at about 15mph.  He was gone as soon as he arrived...  But why did we name gusts?  Mostly because my deep personal offense at the winter storm team naming blizzards.  They aren't hurricanes and you're the B-team.  Well.  Someone had to say it.  You were all thinking it.

But we also predicted things.  Like that it would get colder in the evening.  OOOOOHHH!!!!  Weather'd!

Okay.  I'm mocking a lot, but let's be serious.  Meteorology has some kick ass sub-disciplines that are genuinely amazing.  Storm chasing requires meteorology knowledge, for one.  For two - the science has evolved to where the top folks in the field can tell you about storms weeks in advance.  The polar vortex?  A couple decades ago, that would've been known as "holy shit - why is it so cold?".  And realize that at some point, someone had to sit down and decide something as basic as how do we describe how hot or cold it is.  In fact - three separate someones came up with three different options (Celcius, Fahrenheit and Kelvin - all named after their creators).

We enjoyed reading about and marveling at both the substance and the spectacle of weather prediction.  It was a great learning holiday.  We really came to understand and appreciate the importance of the discipline and the dignified nature of the weatherperson's profession.

Al Roker agrees with me.