The Updated Wasatch Weather Weenies

After 16 years, the Wasatch Weather Weenies has a new look and feel as I was getting tired of the increasingly dated look of the old site.  Let me know what you think.  It should also be improved on mobile devices.  

The Wasatch Weather Weenies began on October 1, 2010 as an invitation only blog for discussing the weather and climate of the Wasatch Front and Mountains, western United States, and mountainous regions in general. 

It started out as invitation only because I didn't want discussions to descend to the levels widely seen in social media.  However, I quickly had so many people asking to read it that I decided to make it publicly viewable and accessible.  Thanks to you, comments have remained mostly substantive and approved for all audiences, and I'm grateful for that.  I'd actually like to see more questions, comments, and suggestions, so feel free to do so liberally. 

Total page views for the blog recently eclipsed 10 million, but that's a highly questionable number since page-view rates increased by a factor of 10 this year.  I can only assume that most if not all of that increase is bots.  Pre-bots I was getting between about 20,000 and 70,000 page views a month with lower rates in the summer and higher rates in the winter, especially during Wasatch winter-storm cycles.  I guess you people like to ski powder.

The Wasatch Weather Weenies is an educational blog.  Posts sometimes target a more advanced meteorological audience, others a general audience.  There are plenty of graphs and plots (including meteorological ones like Skew-Ts and time-height sections), not to mention jargon.  If you'd like to learn more, click on the subject cloud in the left-hand column or the hamburger menu depending on how you are viewing the blog and then click on forecast tools.  

There are pearls of wisdom in forecast tools that can be useful for the self-motivated learner (click on older posts when you get to the bottom to dig deeper into the archives).   Alternatively my book, Secrets of the Greatest Snow on Earth, is a good resource.  Get the updated 2nd edition and give me a review.  I could use a a few more.  

The Wasatch Weather Weenies is not a weather forecasting service.  I often provide forecast thoughts in my posts, but this is to use forecasting as a gateway to teach people about weather and the challenges of weather forecasting.  In times of hazardous weather, your best resource is the National Weather Service.  When it comes to watches, warnings, and informing decisions to protect life and property, they should be your go-to source.  

The Wasatch Weather Weenies is currently a free blog, unencumbered by ads.  If you are a regular reader, consider making a donation to the Mountain Meteorology Fund at the University of Utah.  

Thanks for reading.  Thanks in advance for breaking trail for me this winter.  Save me some powder.

Jim

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