News of the week

We had some excellent storms rumble through the past few days, but it looks like the passage of a cold front tonight will signal the end of our stormy period...at least for a few days. Next time, I'll have to save a few images of the storms to post on the blog, hopefully we'll get some more before spring is all done.

Frontal passage this evening will definitely clear out the skies and get rid of some of this icky humidity. Expect some strong winds behind the front; gotta get that cool air down here somehow. Tomorrow will easily be the best day of the week. So go out and enjoy it!

Here it is! Our "final" schedule for the climate change seminar. Remember, this is free, so there's no cost excuse to not come down. You may have to fend for yourself during dinner though. We've got a great line up of speakers for you. Hope to see a full house!

Schedule of Topics:

Opening Remarks: 1:00 – 1:10 – Sister Damien Marie Savino

Session 1:

1:10 - 1:35 – John Hofmeister: CEO of Citizens for Affordable Energy

1:35 - 2:00 – Barry Lefer: University of Houston – “The Science behind Global Warming”

2:00 - 2:25 – John Nielson-Gammon: Texas A&M – “The changing climate of Texas”

2:25 - 2:50 – Bruce McCarl – Texas A&M – “Impacts to Agriculture”

Break: 2:50 - 3:00

Session 2:

3:05 - 3:30 – Jill Hasling: Weather Research Center

3:30 - 3:55 – Robert Harriss: HARC – “Adaptation Issues”

3:55 - 4:20 – Dr. Peter Bishop: Univ of Houston –“Sociological impacts of Global Warming”

4:20 - 4:45 – John Anderson: Rice University – “Impact of Global Change on the Texas Coast”

4:45 – 5:10 – Karl Pepple: City of Houston Environmental Programming Director

Session 3: Student Posters

5:10 – 6:00

Dinner Break – 6:00 – 7:00

Session 3:

7:00 – 7:40 – Tom Wysmuller – Speaker – “Global Warming (dis)believers – Are they two sides of the same coin?”

7:40 – 8:00 – Q&A

Also, take a look at http://wxresearch.org/earthday/ . It's was just posted up on the web today. Lots of good information there about conservation and recycling. It also contains a link to the flyer of our Earth Day/Museum Birthday event we're holding. It's another free day for the museum, so come on over! Food and drinks will be served!

Last topic of the blog brings us to a talk that Jill presented at the local Kiwanis Club dealing with hurricane Ike. Ike is still a special case for hurrican es. It was just a category 2 but that strom surge would easily accompany a catergory 4 storm. What happened? It was emmense, Thats what happened. Since 1900, only Hurricane Carla in 1961 was larger. With a windfield as large as Ike's, it's bucome a whole lot more clear as to why the surge was so devistating for anyone along the coast in it's path. Jill also brought up the 2009 hurricane outlook that was the subject of the last blog and our new hurricane strength scale (The Freeman HPD).