Saturday, October 30, 2010

Lorenz Tecumseh Weather Station Returns!

Hooray! The Lorenz Tecumseh Weather Station is back up and running and just in time for the snow and ski season! Several people and organizations helped make this happen.

Volunteers Matt Bedard and Ken Vallery gave a lot in terms of time and expertise. Matt drove several hours and used his technical expertise to reset the programming that runs the instrumentation. Ken spent many hours, both off the mountain and on, planning and overseeing the relocation of the weather tower and its equipment. That happened on October 19th and it was a cold day! Ken was joined by Kim Votta, the Rey Center's Research Coordinator, Josh Roberti, our weather station intern, and Jim VanGyzen, the Rey Center's Graduate Research and Education Assistant. We were very happy to jump in a warm truck for the trip back down the mountain at the end of the day.

Thanks also are due to the Waterville Valley Ski Resort and their staff for the transportation of people and equipment up and down the mountain as well as their assistance in helping us choose its new location. Lastly, thank you to Plymouth State University's Meteorology Department and their continued support of our efforts.

The Lorenz Tecumseh Weather Station continuously collects meteorological data and transmits it to the Margret & H.A. Rey Center offices in Waterville Valley. The meteorological data complements existing climate observation sites in the state and provides important climate data to support the Rey Center’s research efforts on climate change. The station honors the memory of Edward Norton Lorenz, (1917 – 2008) a close friend of Margret & H.A. Rey and summer resident of Waterville Valley. Edward Lorenz was also a mathematician and meteorologist best known as a pioneer of Chaos Theory and for coining the phrase “butterfly effect.”

Check out current weather conditions on Mount Tecumseh at any time at www.thereycenter.org.

The Lorenz weather station is managed under a special use permit from the White Mountain National Forest.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Mushrooming is Fun!


Mushroom lovers had fun looking for fungi this past Saturday, October 9th, with Dr. Roz Lowen, a Lincoln, NH resident and mycologist. This Walk-Talk began with an indoor program where we learned about the various types of mushrooms to be found in our northeastern woods and which ones were safe to eat, or not! We even had a tasting! A good amount of time was also spent outdoors exploring the woods around Livermore Road where we found many species of mushrooms - all that was required was a keen interest and a willingness to dig through the leaves. Look for our winter walk-talks this upcoming season.