THE SOPHISTICATION OF TODAY'S SATELLITES IS MIND-BOGGELING

It all started with Sputnik (1957) and the  Russian hound that went for a ride in SPACE named  Leika. The Space Race was on. President John F. Kennedy was one enthused man. He even wanted to go to MARS never on the MOON!


I was part and parcel of this fledging Space  enterprise in 1962. Frank Cooke, Inc. put me at a machine in his optical shop grinding ribs in a piece of German Pyrex. I was 19 years old. The item I worked on proved to be a reflecting mirror for a satellite!


Kennedy and Cooke's enthusiasms catapulted my way of thinking never to diminish after six decades. I have traveled to Cape Kennedy and witnessed a Launch carrying Senator John Glenn for the second time. I was a sophomore at Worcester Junior College when Colonel Glenn hit the skies for his first flight.


Fast forward  to the present moment...Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) permeate space. GOES Satellites ae synonymous and can be one primary source of air mass movements and   the study of satellite imagery et al.


Forecasters today rely on these applications. Old Don Kent used a piece of chalk and blackboard. Kent was our Savior. Yes, he pissed off farmers with inaccurate forecasts of thunder rains. Ralph Whitman down in Wine Village recounted a "3 hour cloudburst" for years.


Face it Facebook friends, weather is a dice-rolling endeavor. I enjoy it as a HOBBY as I am a frustrated dude who never perfected the slicing of equations in college. I quickly glissaded into my major course of study; Geography. It worked. I was in Saint Louis and so was McDONNELL Working on the Gemini Space program at Lambert Field, STL..


For over 50 years I delight in my layman's approach to the world's most popular topic: THE WEATHER.


Tonight my Weather Channel is beaming colored graphics in silence. Much of the Nation is in deep "Do-Do". It will prove to be a Snow Plower's Holiday. Fortunately my Landlord Son Josh  handles all of my snow worries. A mentioned Old Ronda-Honda sleeps under a roof.


I cannot depreciate what folks will go thru. I say.."Learn all you can" as I attempt to do. I have set my barometer, hygrometer and have my Atomic  for pinpoint accuracy.


I don't necessarily speculate in things as serious as "Quinn." I will not pollute my brain with the hype of it all. I will probably read a little SNOWBOUND by John Greenleaf Whittier and order a copy of THE OUTERMOST HOUSE (About the Outer Cape in Winter.)


For now.. that's it. Try not to lose any sleep over this historic storm-a-coming. Amen.


Sincerely,


ROBERT LOUIS POTVIN
A Glutton For Foul Weather (not foul balls.)
11:20 PM Tuesday
Box 11
West Brookfield, MA 01585


508-867-3360 Anytime