The Man Over the Atlantic

When I was in high school, my physics teacher was an American guy who'd worked as a meteorologist in some branch of the military. As an after-school activity he formed a little club of junior meteorologists and we learned how to read weather charts and to a certain extent predict the weather. Interestingly it was an interest which has stayed with me and helped when I was out paddling. I continue to watch the clouds, the winds and the barometer for signs of change. It was his legacy which got me off a lonely island in the arctic a few years back. Noticing the changes, I was able to get to the mainland before high winds pinned me down for a week of foul weather. Instead of a lonely vigil, I was able to weather the storm with a bunch of Inuit fishermen and their families in relative comfort. Well, our tents did blow away one night, but that's another story...

This afternoon I noticed a change in the clouds to the west. They told of changing conditions on the way. Sure enough, we're going to get some snow (look at the very cold air over northern Vermont in the picture above).

While I will get some additional snow coverage to ski on, look at the system over the north Atlantic! I call it 'Atlantic Man', but perhaps I should say 'monster' given its size. He seems to be bouncing a ball just off Newfoundland, where I bet they're having some nasty weather as I write! If you live in Iceland and northern Scotland, I'd get a fire going... Stray warm!