Weather - Precipitation

Meteorology versus Meteors

If a meteorologist studies weather, what do we call a person who studies meteors? In the days of ancient Greeks, meteorology was the study of the atmosphere, and anything that came out of it - rain, sleet, snow, hail. So, not too surprising that meteorology became the study of weather. But what about meteors? The science of meteors is called Meteorics. Accordingly, a student of meteors is a meteoriticist. A tongue twister to be sure.

Portal 7-Day Weather Forecast

July affirmed quite a bit about weather lore. Many people still firmly believe that we need extreme heat to “suck in” the moisture. Well yes, weather is a convective phenomenon and heat makes the air rise, which is certainly the first step of a convection current. But what about the moisture? Where is it and where is it being sucked in from? The Caribbean, the Pacific Ocean, the east? Hot air can sometimes make a barrier to the movement of moisture. The winds, of course, are very important. And let’s not forget El Niño, the warming of the oceans. Yep, weather is complicated which also accounts for the fact that people who live just a mile or two away from each other can have very different amounts of precipitation. Ten inches at Rustler Park and less than 1 inch in some parts of Portal. So, here we are, about half-way through the monsoon season and our creek is still dry. We have not been able to have a regatta in 3 years. Will this be year 4? GO August!