A quick 2011 Tropical Guide. Plus, who's sitting in the Lyons' Den?

It's hurricane season... well, it will be Wednesday (tomorrow as of this writing). So what better time than to actually write about the weather. I am, after all, a complete weather nerd and, despite some previous posts where I go a little AWOL, I've decided that it's now MY time to throw the name in the Jacksonville Weather Ring. Don't worry, there's plenty of irreverence at the end of this post... just keep on reading, or scroll down if you like. 

I've got my eyes on the tropics... as does every other meteorologist at the station. There is something worth keeping watch of in the Caribbean, off the coast of Honduras and Nicaragua.

Two things in this map worth mentioning... first is the system way down south. It's rather "blobby" and VERY unorganized looking right now, wind shear way  is ripping it apart. However, a couple of computer models show this getting better organized (though moving very very slowly) and becoming the first tropical cyclone of the season. If it holds up it would be called Arlene.

Then there's the cluster of thunderstorms off the coast of the Carolinas that's organized around a rather weak area of low pressure. Here's a larger picture:

I added my childlike red drawings to the map to show basic movement of these t-storms as well as an approaching cold front. For now, it looks like the front will do little to keep the storms away from the region, so as we move into Wednesday afternoon, we could see some showers and storms moving in from the coast.

Going tropical again:

Here's a list of storm names for the 2011 season: I'm going to do my very best to never refer to any of them as a "he/she" or "him/her." That's a bit too personal for monsters that can kill:

Arlene
Bret
Cindy
Don
Emily
Franklin
Gert
Harvey
Irene
Jose
Katia
Lee
Maria
Nate
Ophelia
Philippe
Rina
Sean
Tammy
Vince
Whitney

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PART DEUX... Who's this dude?

Interns have arrived... the annual summer rite of passage for each and every serious journalism student who actually wants a job.

Yep, if you want to work in TV you better get the internship. And you better pray that you don't get the desk next to me, because you will appear in multiple video blog posts and be asked ridiculous questions like, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Ha... I actually asked an intern that today. What do you want to be when you grow up? I felt like a grizzled news vet. I always felt like the "....grow up?" question was strange to ask a college student. Mainly because they are mostly grown up. Also, that question typically gets responses like "fireman" or "spaceman" or "lion keeper."

It just goes on and on.

I chuckle.

Thanks for reading and watching.

Mahalo,
Lew