There's a 100% Chance of Science Today

For those of you who haven't noticed, it's hot in Florida.  It has been REALLY hot.  Most days have been in 90s, with some days like yesterday hitting 94°F.  This isn't the only spot that's hot lately.  The ENSO3.4 anomaly for MJJ was +1.0.  In English: The El Niño Southern Oscillation 3.4 anomaly for May-June-July was +1.0°C, relative to the historic mean.  To help you understand, the ENSO3.4 refers specifically to the temperature anomaly here.  Check out the El Niño stats at this link.

The last time ENSO3.4 was +1.0 in for MJJ was in 1997.  In that year, the Atlantic Hurricane Season was at the "D" storm, Danny, by the end of July.  This year, we are at Claudette by the same date, ironically the same list of storms.  The 1997 Atlantic Hurricane season ended in October with Tropical Storm Grace.  The ENSO3.4 for MJJ was +1.1 in 1987, and the Atlantic Hurrican season ended at Floyd.  In fact, for any year that had an ENSO3.4 anomaly of +0.6 or greater the deepest into the alphabet the Atlantic Hurricane season got was Lili in 2002.  Most of those years didn't get past "G."  These years with a +0.6 or greater ENSO3.4 are 1953, 1957, 1958, 1965, 1972, 1982, 1983, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1997, and 2002.

Now I am not going to speak about the relationship between ENSO and hurricanes.  I am just here to make a correlation to life in East Central Florida.

From 1950-2014 (the years of data stored at http://www.tornadohistoryproject.com/), there were 56 tornadoes of F2 or greater strength in the months of January-April in Central Florida, which is for these purposes considered to be the following counties: Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Polk, Sumter, Lake, Marion, Volusia, Seminole, Orange, Osceola, and Brevard.  Of these 56 tornadoes, 27 happened in the 12 years mentioned.  Or 48.2% of the tornadoes occurred in 18.5% of the years.  Of 10 intense (F3 or greater) tornadoes in the same counties in the same months from 1950-2014, 6 of those were in the 12 years following the strong summertime El Niño.

If history holds to the pattern, it's going to be a fun winter for meteorologists.

Acclimating Yourself to Marine and Environmental Systems

Welcome to Florida Tech!  This is going to be your school for the next 4 years of undergraduate study, so get yourself settled in.  Now there are so many things that you will learn in the first few days and then the first couple of weeks, so get used to things quickly.  I will only share a couple words of advise with you about general things.

(1) If you pass the math placement test and are invited to take the test to place out of Calc 1, do it.  If you pass and are asked to try Calc 2, try it even if you don't succeed.  You can't lose.  You could end up getting out of a class, which means there's a gap for you to take Intro to Underwater Basket Weaving later on.

(2) Don't let a few people's opinions of professors be the final word.  Some professors really are jerks.  Others are jerks only if you're texting in class.  Others are only jerks to that kid who keeps asking irrelevant or negatively argumentative questions.  So ask other people, particularly more experienced students who may have had that professor multiple times, if you can.  If you can't secure any positive feedback, run screaming.

So let me get the story in: I graduated from Florida Tech this past may with my Bachelor's in Meteorology.  I am returning for my Master's in the same.  I am a weather guy, and I am that crazy person you will see walking around campus looking up at the clouds taking pictures before, and maybe during, a storm.

You will be studying in the Department of Marine and Environmental Systems.  During orientation, you will meet most, if not all, of the departments professors.  You will quickly see that everyone has a different personality, but they are all likable.  And if you are in this department, there will be at least one professor who shares a common interest in your studies.  When the professors give advice, listen to it and, if it is given outside of class, thank them for their input because they're saying what they think is best for you.  So they will tell different things to different people.

The Link Building is home to some great features.  On the first floor, there are fish tanks and a chemical lab.  The 3rd floor houses a computer lab for the meteorology students.  And last but not least the roof contains a weather station on it and there's a computer in the lab monitoring it.  If research is your thing, you will find professors doing all sorts of stuff: weather modeling, climate studies, marine vessels, water pollution, aquatic life, and more!

And we also have the summer field projects which you will learn more about as you go through the program.  This is a hands on research project (including outdoor work) over the course of a summer semester.  During this time you will strengthen current friendships and make new ones as you all work together to do what needs to be done.  If you are really eager, you could even work one-on-one with a professor on a project of your own design or get a summer internship with a local group that runs concurrent with the field projects.  These projects include pollution studies, marine life, weather, beach profiling (measuring the sand), marine vehicle design, and much more!

Whatever your interests are, you will be sure to find a way to develop it here at Florida Tech.  Welcome to DMES and have a great four years