The View from Above, How Grand

It’s always amazing to me every time it happens. To be in the air with the clouds and watch from a different angle what we see everyday from the ground. Today I flew to Charlotte and then on to Boston where I’ll be attending WSI’s Broadcast User Group meeting. I hope to gain new knowledge on the graphic system we use to present the weather on 3340.

But right now as I write this in Andover, just north of Boston, I’m reveling in the getting here. I’ve been fascinated by weather nearly all my life. There is so much to see in the sky if we take the time to do it. Many of us – and count me in that group – are fascinated by the most extreme weather like hurricanes, tornadoes, and severe thunderstorms or winter weather. But there is weather everyday that presents us with a variety of visual stimulation – pretty mundane but with so much to see.

What made today interesting is to be able to look at the weather from the sky. It is such a different perspective to be there traveling through the puffy cumulus clouds. To be floating through the ice crystals that make up the thin wispy clouds we see so often is just fabulous. To be looking down on a field of cumulus that stretches out of sight is awesome.

There wasn’t anything strange or unusual about the trip to Boston. No thunderstorms, no hurricanes, no rain, no turbulence, just some clear skies, some cumulus clouds, some cirrus clouds - but what a view. I just marvel every time that I get an opportunity to fly, to see the weather from the sky.

By coming all the way to Boston, I’ve also been able to escape the heat of central Alabama. But not for long. I just caught the evening weather forecast from one of the Boston stations, and they’re expecting UPPER 90s here on Saturday. Guess I made a good forecast when I packed my shorts!!

Enjoy the sky,

-Brian-