Silver Bow Kiwanis Kiwanis Club Meeting, Jul 26, '11

12:00-1:00 Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Betty Elliot was our guest again, and was in attendance to pick up an application for membership. Tim also talked her into being our speaker on August 9!

Dave announced that we have a board meeting a week from Thursday.

Next week our speaker is Jim Lynch with MDT.

Tim introduced Trent Smith from the National Weather Service in Missoula. Trent is from Colorado, but now lives in Missoula with his wife and two daughters.

Meteorologists are primarily interested in the lower 100,000 feet of the atmosphere, called the troposphere. This is where weather happens.

The weather is measured and recorded using satellites, radar, balloons, and ground stations. This information is compiled and then three major equations are used to take this data and produce projections and models of what the weather will be like. These calculations require the use of supercomputers. The most difficult part of the equation is figuring out the friction between the air and the ground.

The maps that are created from the results of these calculations have a resolution down to 2.5kmX2.5km squares. But minor changes in altitude can sometimes make very significant changes in temperature or conditions even within this 2.5km region.

The forecast models really give meteorologists a general idea of what will happen in the short term, then the meteorologist needs to complete the picture, and that is easier in areas with flatter terrain.

For information beyond the first five days or so, you really need to turn from a meteorologist to a climatologist, who calculates the larger trends in temperature, precipitation and air flow over longer periods of time.

Presentation

Trent Smith, National Weather Service

Menu

Country Club Melt with Fries

Attendees

23

Event Updated

10:06 Wednesday, July 27, 2011