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[alac-forum] Compu-Weather's Week-in-Review



Title: Compu-Weather, Weekly Highlights
 
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WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS
Week of April 12, 2004

ANALYZING THE RIGHT DATA IS CRUCIAL TO THE OUTCOME OF YOUR CASE.

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N E W   F E A T U R E ! 
Compu-Weather
Case of the Week
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WEATHER HIGHLIGHTS

INTERNATIONAL

DEADLY FLOODS STRIKES MEXICO: More than a week after torrential downpours of rain caused flooding and mudslides in northern Mexico, crews continue to search for possible survivors.  Thirty-six people are confirmed dead in the wake of the heavy rains which struck the town of Piedras Negras, located just across the Rio Grande River which runs along the U.S-Mexican border. More than 2,000 people were forced into shelters, as their homes were either destroyed or badly damaged.  The entire city was without electrical power for several days. The flooding rains, which hit last Monday, occurred in one of the driest parts of Mexico. Officials are calling it some of the worst flooding to ever strike the country.

CAN A HOLIDAY INN BE FAR BEHIND? Tourists are arriving in droves to an unlikely vacation spot: Antarctica.  And this has scientists familiar with the frozen tundra very concerned. More than 13,000 tourists decided to "chill out" on the Antarctic Peninsula last summer.  This has raised fears over the continent's fragile ecosystem.  Very strict rules have been put in place by the nations which have research bases there, ranging from wildlife protection measures to the types of foods that tourists can bring ashore.  Scientists are concerned that tourists will unwittingly introduce diseases onto the continent, such as the flu.  This would be a disaster to those working in Antarctica on a year-round basis.  If a worker were to become gravely ill, leaving the continent is nearly impossible during the harsh winter months, when it is very dangerous for aircraft to take off or land. There is also concern that there could be harm to the many species of animals, some of which are just in the process of rebuilding their population after many years of uncontrolled hunting for fur, which took place from the late 1800s to the 1960s. 

COMPU-WEATHER CASE OF THE WEEK

Too cold for snow to melt?

Three days after a storm dropped eight inches of snow across southeastern New York, a 56-year old man slipped and fell in a shopping center parking lot in Westchester County.  He sustained injuries to his right hip, right shoulder and head as a result of the accident.  The man stated that he had slipped on a patch of ice which was present in the parking lot, near a large pile of snow which had been created by the plowing of the lot three days prior.  His attorney obtained the weather records from the closest observing site to the shopping center, in hopes that it would clearly show a temperature profile that would indicate a melt and re-freeze cycle in between the time the snow ended, and the time that her client slipped.  If it showed that, then it could be stated that snow from the built-up pile had melted, run-off and then re-froze into an icy surface.   To the dismay of the attorney, the daily temperature records indicated that it had been very cold in the days following the storm. Daytime highs were only in the mid 20s, while overnight lows were in the teens and single digits.  So much for the melt/re-freeze theory.  Or so it seemed.

The attorney called on the expertise of COMPU-WEATHER to help explain how the ice had developed.  The meteorologist assigned to the case did a complete analysis of the weather from the day of the snowstorm, up to the time of the accident.  Using the same data that the attorney had looked at, in addition to data from other sources which indicated the amount of sky cover that was present, the explanation for the patch of ice slipped right into place.   Just looking at the high and low temperatures was not sufficient in this particular situation.  In the two days after the snow ended, the sky was clear and sunny all day long.  This is a key point, as snow...and especially freshly fallen snow....will begin to melt in temperatures as cold as 24 or 25 degrees when direct sunlight is present.   But shortly after sunset, after the effect of direct sunlight is lost, and when the temperature is cold enough that melted snow will re-freeze very rapidly, while the remaining snow on the ground becomes more hard-packed in texture.  In addition to that fact, when snow is made into large piles, a certain amount of compression takes place due to the weight of the snow.  This causes snow on the bottom of the pile to compress, and under the right circumstances, to melt to some degree. 

The analysis by COMPU-WEATHER made it very easy to explain how ice could have formed in that parking lot.  With the key point being that 32 degrees is not the "magic number" for snow to melt or water to freeze.  Those two things can and usually do, take place at a temperature lower than 32.  The case never came to trial, as the information provided by COMPU-WEATHER proved helpful in securing a favorable settlement.  Though not for this particular case, the insurance company for the shopping center had used the services of COMPU-WEATHER many times in the past, and thus believed that the findings were valid and could be trusted.

To read more interesting Cases of the Week, go here

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