July Kansas City Weather Podcast newsletter

[Ed Roberts - Kansas Ctiy Weather Podcast]

Hey everyone!

Thank you for signing up for the Kansas City Weather Podcast monthly
newsletter. Of course, with the chaos of life, I'm already late with
the first update. I'm sorry if it's a bit long, but there are a lot of
things to talk about. Here it goes!

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BEHIND THE SCENES

*Severe weather coverage*
The last several months have been very active for the podcast. As you
have probably seen, I started providing live severe weather coverage
this spring when I'm available, so that has certainly kept me busy. So
far the response has been great. When the word can spread among the
social media channels such as Twitter, we've had upwards of 30-40
people in the chat room. The last severe weather event we had in the
city included baseball sized hail, 70mph winds, and flooding rain, all
of which had people in the chat room or on Twitter sharing what was
going on.

Many people have asked if I plan on doing some video for the live
coverage. I DO plan to do at least some of this in the future, but I
need a few more resources to get things rolling. Most notably, a
screen capture program, a second monitor for my laptop, and possibly a
webcam. While I don't anticipate having any of these things this year,
it's certainly a goal for next year. Right now, my main equipment
priority is purchasing a new cell phone that will allow me to keep
tabs on the weather much better than what my current entry-level phone
has.

*Commercial inquiries*
Another interesting development in the last few months has been
several commercial inquires I've received around KCWeather. Everything
from being paid to provide content for other entities, monetizing the
content though partnerships with other websites, to flat out starting
a new weather company. While the details of many of these are still in
the inquiry stage, there may be some unique things happening in the
next month or two. KCWeather will of course still remain free no
matter what happens, but it's possible that all the work I've done
these 3 1/2 years of podcasting may actually net me some sort of
monetary reward. I know this will make my wife very happy. She's been
so gracious with the countless hours I spend each week forecasting and
getting content out to you.

*SITE IMPROVEMENTS*
Along those monetary lines, many of you have asked if there was a way
to toss me a few dollars for the work I am doing. I still do this for
the love of weather and new media, and have resisted accepting money
for what I do. However, enough of you have poked me, so I have decided
to set up a way for you to donate to what I do through PayPal. If you
feel so inclined, I've set up the opportunity to provide a one-time
donation or a monthly donation. There is a new link on the top of the
page called "Donate" that has all the details. I'll be the first to
admit that while hosting for KCWeather for the year runs all of $150,
the time investment in the real world could easily be another salary
if I was paid for it.

I've also done some modifications to the web interface that allow it
to more easily be displayed on mobile phones. KCWeather.org should now
automatically detect if you are using a mobile browser and format your
page to make it more useful for you. Of course, the other mobile
initiatives I have are still running including Twitter, Foneshow,
TextMarks, and others. For details, hit the "mobile" tab on the
website.

JUNE WRAP UP

As expected, the start of meteorological summer has been a cool one as
our overall weather pattern keeps us cooler than average. My friend
and college Gary Lezak has continued to refine his weather theory,
dubbed the "Lezak Recurring Cycle" or LRC, and it has certainly been
very evident this year, even into the summer (a part of the theory
I've had doubts about for years).

Yet, despite the cool weather, this June was actually WARMER than last
June.
Average High temperature:
June 2008: 83.4 (0.5 degrees cooler than average)
June 2007: 82.1
Average Low temperature:
June 2008 and 2007: 64.3 (1.1 degrees warmer than average)

That all equates to an average temperature of 73.8 degrees, which is
actually slightly above average for the month! Another surprising
stat: Rainfall was actually BELOW average (by 0.13") in June, despite
the massive rainfall to our north across Iowa.

While the start of July has been pleasantly cool, I expect at least a
week-long period of hot weather to dominate the area during the second
half of July. This would correlate to the 50-54 day weather cycle we
are in, per the LRC.

PERSONAL LIFE

Becca (my wife) continues to spend a huge amount of time studying for
the CPA exam. For those of you that don't know what it is, liken it to
the "Bar" exam for those in the legal profession. It's very intense
and difficult. Becca is putting in 15-20 hours of studying each week.
After over a year of studying, we're hoping she can pass the next 2
sections of the test in the coming months... if for no other reason
than to get the monkey off her back. She was also able to spend a week
donating her time at a camp for abused and neglected kids a few weeks
ago, and it was an enormously rewarding experience.

My world continues to be active as usual. One of the things I'm
working on in my new media quests is to organize a local chapter of
Social Media Club. Several of us sat down for coffee a couple weeks
ago, and I'm excited to see how we can utilize the incredible
resources of the people here in Kansas City. If you want to know more,
feel free to send me an email.

I hope that YOUR summer is off to a great start. Thanks again for your
support of the Kansas City Weather Podcast.


Ed