Updated: Dec 5, 2022
We all know one, right? You spend hours and hours trying to find the perfect gift for that special someone obsessed with the weather. I have a list of my top 5 gifts in no particular order.
The best home weather station on the market, in my opinion. I have had this for several years and it works great. I have to change the batteries a couple times a year, but now they make a solar powered version. These are a little pricey, but should last many years based on my experience. You can check the current conditions and rainfall amounts from your smartphone.
2. Subscription to Weatherbell Analytics
Love looking at models? There's more weather information on this site than anywhere on the web. It's almost information overload, but weathergeeks love it! If you decide to give a subscription to weatherbell.com as a gift, your special someone will be immersed in so much data, you might need to increase your data plan. Might be an exaggeration, but there's a ton of great info.
I have never bought from this store, but it does have a lot of cool weather apparel. They have shirts, leggings, socks, stickers, and footwear.
4. Radarscope or RadarOmega App
While the KATV weather app is great to have and it is free, if you want to take it up a notch, download one of these apps. You will have access to every single doppler in the country and all the products needed to do some serious storm tracking.
5. Storm Chase Tour in the Plains
Very pricey and a bit dangerous. Instead of going storm chasing on your own, there are several tours with trained chasers as your guide. You'll ride along in a van with other weather enthusiasts from around the world and chase storms in the Plains. I produced a story several years ago with Roger Hill of Sliver Lining Tours and it was incredible. A man came all the way from Australia to chase storms. Also, I featured a blind man who always wanted to chase storms. I found his story fascinating and you can watch it below. It's from MANY years ago.
Again, these are pricey and beware! While these chasers are very well trained, it is dangerous. There are several different companies and I'll list a few below. The only one I have experience with is Silver Lining Tours so I can't give you any insight into the others.
Silver Lining Tours
Tempest Tours
Extreme Storm Tours
***UPDATE... BONUS IDEAS***
My friend, Ben Williams, mentioned a guided fishing trip would be a great gift. I agree! If you know someone who wants to catch A LOT of trout, check out Spiritual Ministry Outdoors
How about crappie fishing? Jerry McCready is the man! Great guided trips on Greers Ferry Lake! CLICK FOR FOR MORE INFORMATION
***DECEMBER 5TH UPDATE***
Gift ideas keep coming to me. How about a snow machine? They are pricey, but you can also make your own and greatly reduce the cost. Watch this story which aired on our company's "National Weather Desk". It was produced a couple months ago. Also, you will find all snow making packages and free plans to build your own on WWW.SNOWATHOME.COM
In our winter outlook, we discussed the potential for a cold December. That would be much different than most Decembers over the past several years, especially last year.
This does not mean it will stay cold the entire month, however, the month as a whole may end up below average. Let me explain.
I like to look at 3 teleconnective indicies: EPO (Eastern Pacific Oscillation), AO (Arctic Oscillation), and the NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation). Knowing the state of these indices help predict weather patterns across the northern hemisphere. Generally, when they are negative, it indicates blocking over the higher latitudes. That blocking disrupts the pattern and sends the cold air south. Getting all 3 of these indices to turn negative during the same time period is a recipe for arctic intrusions.
Follow the green line which is the model ensemble mean. They are all going negative.
EPO
AO
NAO
A birds eye view of the northern hemisphere shows the ridging in red and orange over the polar areas. Look at the blue showing up over Canada and the northern United States. That's a trough and it's filled with cold air pressing south.
IF this happens, expect the cold to dive south towards the end of the first week of December. How long will it last? Tough to say. Once these patterns break, they break big time and the warmth rushes back in. Let's just get the cold air in here first, then worry about that later.
By far, the coldest air of the season is on the way and it may stick around for awhile. This week will be mild, but the cold dives out of Canada Friday. Play the video below and watch it dive out of north and engulf much of the country.
Birdseye view of the northern hemisphere below. Strong ridging in Canada will set this up. The strongly negative Eastern Pacific Oscillation supports this. In it's positive phase, lower pressure off the west coast of Canada/U.S pushes Pacific air into the country and that's typically mild. In the negative phase, it opens up the arctic gates as ridging goes up in Alaska and the arctic.
GFS EPO is strongly negative= cold
Euro EPO is strongly negative = cold
Won't be perfect, but you can see where this is all going. Euro ensembles mild this week, then turning much colder
GFS ensemble has the same message.
What about snow? I would not be surprised to have some sleet and/or snow in the Ozarks at some point before the end of the month. That would not be all that unusual though. Get ready! Cold is coming.