In computer news this week, 11/28/2001

Can the internet predict the weather any better ?

The weather - is there a more universal topic to discuss with anyone? You can be anywhere in the world - comment about the weather to a total stranger , and they will always reply, and you have that one thing in common; you're both subjected to the weather and its whims.

One of my pet peeves is the weather predictions - they're always wrong. I usually never watch the weather reports on TV, and I just glance at the weather prediction in the morning paper. I have had countless past events spoiled by believing in the weather reports, and have long since learned to ignore them. The last time I was actually concerned about the weather the prediction was for rain and cold, but it turned out to be sunny and 15 degrees warmer.

I think everyone has their own private idea of Hell; your private Dante-infernoish concept of what would be the worse torture or punishment for your past transgressions. I think my private Hell would be television that only has one channel - the Weather channel. Dull commentators talking in dull monotones displaying dull charts using dull colors to try to add some excitement to the most dull and uncontrollable phenomenom everyone is subjected to.

So last night all the tv stations said snowstorm, the morning paper said snowstorm, let's see what the internet says. Everytime I log onto Earthlink, it shows me what the weather is in San Marino, Ca, where they are, like I care. I now enter my zipcode in their weather lookup box - Spangle 99031 - 10 miles South of Spokaloo, and it tells me it is 40 degrees and raining. I then enter my old Spokane zipcode - 99203 - and it tells me its 39 and raining. Hmmmm, maybe I should look out the window of my office. Can't see out - it's covered with snow. I look out my back window and its snowing sideways with visibility less than 100 yards. One determined bird wearing a Mt. Everest parka, crampons and an oxygen mask has secured himself to my birdfeeder, which is almost doing circles in the wind.

I have an option here online to click to look at a doppler weather map - courtesy of The Weather Channel , so I do, and now I see a map of Washington, Idaho, and Montana with a large green splotch covering Spokane. I know as much about Doppler weather maps as my dog Bytes does about calculus, but I can click on another button - how to read this map - which explains that the green means precipitation.There is even a color shade chart which indicates this green means almost the lightest of precipitation, very different from what I see from my window. My neighbor calls to run me up to get my car with the snowtires mounted and I wade through drifts of several inches of snow to her car.

Is there possibly a better prediction somewhere on the Inet ... I go to my favorite search engine - Dogpile.com - and click on their weather selection - and enter my zipcode. Hey this actually works - it says its 28 degrees, humidity 92%, winds 17 mph, and snowing in Spangle, and it is. There's even a colored shaded radar map which shows dark blue - meaning moderate precipitation. This info comes from Accuweather.com, obviously better than the weather channel.

Now I know exactly where to go to confirm my suspicions about the weather. I'll bookmark this page. I even check out the online Farmers Almanac, which says stormy weather spreads in from Pacific Coast. Right on, as usual. Probably the best source anyway.

For Raw Bytes, This is Frank Delaney

POB 222 Spangle, Wa 99031 (509)245-3736 624-7230

And my basketball playing friend - one time I took the sport section out of his newspaper before he read it -