As a child growing up in Gloucester, Massachusetts, I was trapped on Ten Pound Island in the middle of Gloucester Harbor during a violent Summer Squall. I remember begging God to help me get my boat started before the Storm came, buy to no avail. I helplessly sat and waitied as the storm raged over and off of the mainland and across the Harbor, darkening the sky and relighting it with crackling lighting that shot sideways. The thunder was so loud that I could feel the sound thumping through my entire body, and the rain fell in heavy drops soaking me to the bone almost instantly. I had to ride out the storm on Ten Pound Island with no shelter from the elements, totally exposed to the awesome power an entity I had not yet discovered.

Needless to say, I was very wet and very scared by the time that I had rowed my 13' Boston Whaler to the mainland of Rocky Neck. It was only about 400 yards from shore to shore, but the distance was completely unpassable during the storm. That day, I learned a very important lesson that would stick with me for the rest of my life - never underestimate the weather, and always be prepared.

As I have grown older, my interest in the weather has grown exponentially. The town that I grew up in was at the center of the Perfect Storm story. Until the book 'The Perfect Storm' came out, the storm was referred to as 'the day the tide never went out' by my parents. Indeed the tide never did go out that day, in an area where the difference between high tide and low tide can range as high as 13 feet during extreme tidal cycles.

Reading The Perfect Storm got me into researching weather and climate on the internet, and actually motivated me to find the National Data Bouy Center Online. There, I could see the actual readings from the buoy nearest the Andrea Gail before it disappeared (both the boat and the buoy). It's one thing to read the information in a book, but it's another to see the information officially published for all to see in the name of science.

Soon enough I found myself meandering through the mountains of data that our government gathers regarding climate and weather. There has been evidence of global warming trends for years and the data is sitting right there to prove it. This info is found everywhere including NASA, NOAA, USGS and many other governmental sources in the United States alone. There are lifetimes worth of research just sitting out there to show the trends of what we are all facing now - more extreme weather more frequently.

Years ago Global Warming was treated as science fiction, but now the evidence is becoming undeniable - melting polar ice, large chunks of Antarctica braking off and melting, more frequent hurricanes and cyclones, snow in Southern Australia, Tornados on the west coast - all signs of the times.

I am convinced that man has a lot to do with the weather changes we are seeing, but we cannot rule out other natural forces that shape our climate - from earthquakes, to volcanoes, to holes in the ozone, to Forest Fires. These may not seem like weather events, but they influence the weather in very particular ways. Volcanic Eruptions dump millions of tons of particulate matter into the atmosphere - changing temperature, and affecting cloud mass. Earthquakes can cause tsunamis, which have the ability to change weather patterns by disrupting the water column that it travels through. Holes in the ozone allow more ultra violet light from the sun to melt ice in the Arctic and Antarctic - warming the water and dumping more water vapor into the atmosphere. Forest Fires can burn so hot that they acually create their own mini weather systems!

So this is what we are going to talk about at Everybody's Weather - our changing climate, as well as the natural and man-made causes of the climate.

Thanks for visiting and welcome to discussion!