netCDF is starting to make sense (and other updates)

The past two weeks I have been incredibly busy. From job applications to lecture preparations; local research projects (ReLoClim) to exploring Graz and surroundings, life has been fun.

Today I had my first breakthrough with a dataset format, netCDF. I found a great support website, http://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/examples/programs/, that should give me a good place to start as I try to work our local ERA-40 dataset. Celebrate with me here, as I have been looking for this type of help for about two weeks!

Also, the 'severe and unusual weather' class is going very well. I am modifying the lectures from when I taught the course at OU, incorporating more physics and mathematics. On Wednesday, we covered frontogenesis from the perspective of both Petterssen and Bluestein, and I think it was sufficiently complex to give my students an appreciation for the complexity of meteorology. Thursday's lecture was fun, as we started talking about thunderstorms. Our remaining topics? Supercells, tornadoes, hail, hurricanes, winter storms, and ENSO/climate. The last day of class (14 December) is rapidly approaching. It's almost over, wow!

This afternoon, I am boarding the train to Praha (Prague) to visit Zach in the Czech Republic. I'm looking forward to having a great time with him - and to seeing what his crazy life in CZ is all about. I'll try to post a photo or two when we return (I still owe photos from Budapest, and one from St. Radegund [a local day hike last Wednesday]).