Career Advice

I have a nice collection of career advice books and articles that I share with my seniors, but I thought I'd put them out there for all of you to take a look at.  Please visit the "Careers" tab above or click here:  http://rowdy.mscd.edu/~kschuene/career/

http://rowdy.mscd.edu/~kschuene/career/

Most importantly, there is a great book specifically for atmospheric scientists called Eloquent Science.  All atmospheric scientists between their freshman year of college and their last year of graduate school should own a copy.

Podcasts

I live in Boulder, but commute to Denver five days a week.  This means that I am commuting two hours a day.  I do a combination of things on the bus.  I might randomly get on the same bus as another Earth and Atmospheric Science professor, three of which take the same route to school every day, and chat with them about teaching.  I might correct labs or homework, since I get about 50 a week that need correcting.  I might put on some classical music and brainstorm about research, pedagogy, my to-do list, or just ways to get a concept across.  Most likely, though, you will find me listening to podcasts.  Podcasts act as my news source, particularly science news. 

Here is a list of my favorite science podcasts.  I highly recommend subscribing to them for free via iTunes and putting them on your ipod the next time you sync it.  Give them a listen!  It's a great way to keep sharp.  Oh, and the next time you see me with my headphones in, instead of assuming I'm rocking out to music, wonder what I'm learning about science!

Science Podcasts
Skeptic's Guide to the Universe (your escape to reality)
Radiolab
Science Friday
60-second Science
Science Magazine
NPR Topics - Science

Education Podcast
American Radio Works

Steroids, Baseball, and Climate Change

Steroids, baseball, and climate change analogy beautifully created by NCAR/UCAR.  This explains how extreme events become more common as the Earth continues to warm due to anthropogenic emissions.  If you'd like to learn more about this, take my MTR 1600 course:  Global Climate Change.  I'm also always up for chatting about it!

Snow storm totals and maps

The storm proved to be wonderfully filled with moisture.  I had 22 inches at my house, which made for a fabulous birthday weekend for me!  I rang in a new decade by playing in the snow!  Here's a list of snow totals from the National Weather Service for the front range area:

We broke the February storm total record set back in 1912.  We also set the snow record for Friday.  Metro closed for the day, which was a great choice!  It was nice to work from home and not be out on the roads, but still be able to throw on my snow pants and boots and go for a mid-afternoon hike in the foothills.  

I just grabbed a few weather maps from a week ago today before they are archived to show the synoptic set up for Friday evening during the later portion of the storm.  This storm would be a great case study storm for an upslope event! 

From the bottom of the atmosphere up:

 

About 90% of the way through the storm on my front patio. 

Groundhog's Day Colorado Snow Storm of 2012

February is typically a drier month for Colorado.  In fact, the record snowfall from a single storm in Denver in February is 14.1 inches.  This record was set 100 years ago back in 1912!  While we come to expect snows larger than 14 inches in late March, sometimes April, as well as during the autumn, today's snow storm might break the February record.  Around 5:00 tonight, things are expected to get started. Here's the latest snowfall predictions:

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/bou/?n=bou_winter_briefing

Stay tuned to www.weather.gov for the latest!