While building my weather site, I have been experimenting with code generators. My favorite is Code Smith. CodeSmith is a great tool that allows you to automate the coding process using templates. In its simplest form, code generators are programs that generate text files. CodeSmith goes a lot farther, and provides a robust tool that allows you to generate code in any language, customized your own coding standards.

I downloaded the demo version of CodeSmith (available at http://www.codesmithtools.com) and took it for a spin. Overall, I was very impressed. The templates included allowed me to generate clean data access code and stored prodedures in a matter of minutes... all I had  to do was point them at my database, and I was off and running.

My favorite templates are their Linq to SQL templates called "Plinqo" (http://www.plinqo.com). Essentially, CodeSmith has developed a set of tools that allow you to generate Linq to SQL code quickly and easily, and allows you to regenerate the code on the fly as you design your database. Using your data schema, it builds classes with properties and methods that allow you to interact with your database in a more object oriented way.

If you are a developer that uses Viual Studio to design .net applications, I high recommend that you check out CodeSmith and Plinqo at http://www.plinqo.com. They have great videos and documentation that can get you up and running, and eliminate countless hours of coding boring data access code.

In addition to being a weather enthusiast, I have been developing web applications for the last 10 years or so. Weather and computers go great together. These days, we can get all the weather info that we need without even turning on the TV... we have access to Radar, Satellite photos, weather models, and observations from all over the globe via the Internet.

When I was younger, this was not the case. Prior to the birth of the Internet, weather enthusiasts were on their own. A hard core weather geek often found themselves being some pretty wierd gear, like the early fax machines to get weather maps and satellite photos. The fax machines I am referring to are not like those that were envented in the 80's and 90's... these things ran on tubes and were built in the 50's for the miliary and government organizations. They used a special paper that was treated with the a chemical. The only similar thing I can compare it to is those old machines that they had in school when I was a kid to created math worksheets (The ink looked purple).

When I was 14 years old, I sent away for a mail order magazine of old weather equiptment. My dream machine was a 30 year old fax machine that you could hook up to a short wave radio, and get weather maps for free. I worked at my Dad's machine shop hoping to save up enough money for it, but instead, bought a bass guitar and amp, which is another story.

Anyway, I recently thought that it would be cool to join two of my interests together... web development and weather. I am brainstorming ideas for a cool weather application in .net, and as it takes shape, I will post about it.

Weather forecasting is actually a very new science.  Most of what we know now has been learned in the last 100 years. Advances in weather prediction came during the 20th century due to the use of computers. Using computers to predict weather is call "Numerical" weather prediction.

In 1922, Lewis Fry Richardson advanced a new theory that weather prediction could be possible by calculating the results of equations, primarily physics equations that apply to the motion of fluids. This theory became the basis for using computers to predict large scale movements of air masses. Today, there are hundreds of weather models that run on super computers. This output is used to predict motions of weather systems. While there have been many advancements, we can still only accurately predict weather about 5-7 days in advance. However, some scientists believe that as faster computers are developed and more observations are made available as input, that we will inevitably be able to predict weather weeks and months in advance. This is often referred to as the "Computer Problem" or "Data Problem" with forecasting weather.

Florida is many people's dream of paradise; warm all year round. Having lived here most of the past 25 years, I can say that sometimes the warmth gets a bit old. I remember Thanksgiving and Christmas in the mid 80s plenty of times growing up. The lack of a dramatic seasonal change can cause one year to run into the next, and sometimes you forget what month it is.

When I moved to the northeast part of the state, this changed somewhat. Here, there is a subtle seasonal change. In fact, sometimes it gets pretty cold, although the cold is short lived. I would describe our two seasons as:

1. A combination of Fall and Spring (running from Nov - March
2. Summer: April - October

However, this week was classic Florida in November, no hint of fall anywhere. Temps were in the low 80's during the day, and 60's at night, no jacket required.  And, since I am about to take a trip to Wisconsin for Thanksgiving, the warmth is just fine with me.

Since I missed the last 2 days, I will group a couple of observations together:

Thursday:
High: 81
Low: Around 65
Weather: Wind was SE. There were some showers in the afternoon.

Friday:
High: 82
Low: around 65
Weather: Breezy SW wind ahead of our next cold front. Skies were mostly cloudy.

I still have to research and purchase a weather station, so my observations are still approximate.

Hello,

I have always been fascinated by the weather. Actually, fascination might not be strong enough, obsessed might be more accurate. I actually remember when it started. I was five years old, living in rural Connecticut in a town called Tolland. It was early fall, and a heavy thunderstorm struck. It spawned a tornado that downed several trees in the neighborhood.

I had recently watched, and been totally freaked out by, The Wizard of Oz. When my mom mentioned that there was a tornado near by, I panicked, and had to be calmed down. I think this is the moment when it all started.

From that day forward, I was hooked. My interest in weather started with simply watching the weather man on TV. In those days (the '70's), TV weathermen simply drew on early versions of white boards, knows as "grease boards". There were no fancy computers, simply a guy that drew fronts on an erasable US map, and read the forecast for that night and the next day. No radar, no satellite... must have been quite a challenge keeping people interested enough to keep watching...

Later, I graduated to buying my first back yard rain gauge, and even building my own crude instruments, like my beer bottle barometer, and hair hygrometer (hair from my mom's hair brush, as it turns out, could be used to measure relative humidity... weird but true).

My parents nurtured my interest in science, and bought me a log so that I could record my observations. Each day I would record the high and low temperature, whether it rained or snowed, what direction the wind was blowing, the types of clouds I saw; it was basically like a diary, but just about my weather observations. Occasionally , I would make a prediction or two, and sometimes I got the forecast right.

Observing weather is becoming a lost art. Computers do it all for you now, and we move so quickly that we hardly look up at the sky long enough to notice what is going on up there. I think observing the weather is a great way to be "in the now" as my brother would say.

So, here is what happened at my house in Jacksonville FL today:

High:  Mid 70's
Low: around 60
Wind: NE at 15
Weather observed: Clear in the morning, followed by increasing clouds by after lunch. By 3pm, clouds thickened and lowered. Rain began to fall at 4pm, and continued on and off into the evening. I was caught off guard, and didnt bring an umbrella, and that's ok, since weather is meant to be experienced.

Since I dont own any weather instruments any more, my observations are just a guess. So, one of my first assignments will be to set up a real home weather station so that I can provide more accurate information. Until then, measurements will be approximate.

Thanks for reading. We actually have pretty interesting weather where I live, so check back often.