Hello! My name is Karissa Sanford and I am the newest of the 24/7 Weather interns! I've been working for about two weeks and I already love being at ABC 7. I'm currently working towards my Bachelors of Science degree with a major in Meteorology at Metropolitan State College of Denver. With the quickly changing fall weather, Denver has turned out to be the perfect place to study! I'm originally from the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois but I moved out here last January for school. I miss home like crazy but Denver and all of its people have made my experience here nothing but wonderful. Plus, the mountains aren't too bad either!
Like some of the other folks around the station, my love of meteorology stems from storm chasing. While I would love to make that my career, I aspire to be a broadcast meteorologist. Hopefully, someday, I'll be as good as the 24/7 staff! I have learned so much from them already. And, the more I learn about meteorology, the more I love it! I'm currently working with Scott Mace on the 5 and 6 am broadcasts. Be sure to tune in and look for me and all the other 24/7 Weather interns! Also, keep checking theDenverChannel.com as well for more blog updates from Kim, Chris, and I. I look forward to an exciting season of forecasting this winter!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Wildfire Update
Hey there, Chris Here with an update on the fires down in California. My family is safe and have been since the fires started. It looks like my family was very fortunate, word is that our house is safe and was not damaged in any way. Even though they are not allowed back in to Ramona at this time. The image to the right shows what were mandatory evacuation areas(purple), areas that have been burned (peach), and the areas where people have been allowed back in to there homes (green). The red dots indicate areas where the fires are currently burning . A box is drawn around the area that is shown in the image below.
This image highlights just how much of my town was damaged by the fire. the location of my house is shown by the blue dot. The yellow lines show the current road closures in the area. As you can see, most of the roads in and out of Ramona are closed.Even though my family and I have been very fortunate to have not lost our home, many close friends have lost everything. I know for a fact that the many communities affected by these fires will rebound and rebuild becoming stronger then ever.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
California Wildfires
Weather here in Colorado is beautiful while summer transitions in to fall, the leaves change color, temperatures drop, and snow begins to fall. Weather at this time of year is usually beautiful however, it has a made a turn for the worst.
I am from a small town called Ramona, outside of San Diego. Being from the area currently in danger I know that the strong Santa Ana winds mixing with the extremely dry air and dry brush on the ground means that fires that start are extremely hard to put out.
Southern California does not receive much rain year round. This leaves the brush and plant life dry and easy to burn. Santa Ana winds begin with strong high pressure to the north and a deep low pressure to the south. This creates a strong pressure gradient which forces strong winds to come out of the northeast. The California coast is anything but flat. Mountains extend from Mexico up through central California and extend from the desert to the coast. As winds move in from the northeast the air is forced downward, known as down slope, and is warmed up and dried up. The wind is then pushed through valleys where it is then accelerated at fast rates creating gusty conditions. If a fire were to start it makes it very hard to stop as winds push the flames towards dry brush which only fuels the fires more.
I am from a small town called Ramona, outside of San Diego. Being from the area currently in danger I know that the strong Santa Ana winds mixing with the extremely dry air and dry brush on the ground means that fires that start are extremely hard to put out.
Southern California does not receive much rain year round. This leaves the brush and plant life dry and easy to burn. Santa Ana winds begin with strong high pressure to the north and a deep low pressure to the south. This creates a strong pressure gradient which forces strong winds to come out of the northeast. The California coast is anything but flat. Mountains extend from Mexico up through central California and extend from the desert to the coast. As winds move in from the northeast the air is forced downward, known as down slope, and is warmed up and dried up. The wind is then pushed through valleys where it is then accelerated at fast rates creating gusty conditions. If a fire were to start it makes it very hard to stop as winds push the flames towards dry brush which only fuels the fires more.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Get Used to the Snow
Hi everyone!
Snow is here to stay! We are all going to have to get used to hearing about and seeing snow! Snow is appearing in our forecasts on a weekly basis now, and we all know what that means....winter is right around the corner. I am not ready for it at all! Since I am commuting from Greeley, I am a little nervous about the roads when the snow does finally come to Denver.
The weekend cold front brought with it lots of snow for the high country. Breckenridge saw 12-18 inches of snow, just this weekend! That is great news for all the skiers and snowboarders. Ski resorts are going to start opening right and left! Loveland opens for the first day tomorrow, and A Basin is already open and seeing plenty of skiers.
With more and more snow, means forecasting gets that much more difficult! Every day that Chris and I are at the station we have to complete "tailoring." This is a program where temperatures are entered manually for 8 different times throughout a 24 hour period. We also have to tailor snow amounts, and that is when it gets difficult! We complete tailoring because it makes our forecasts more accurate and viewers are then able to go onto thedenverchannel.com and view what the temperatures will be at different times during the day. The 7News weather center is the only one that completes tailoring out of all the stations!!!! Mike will have to show me the tricks to forecasting snow amounts because it is one of the toughest elements of weather to forecast!
Snow is here to stay! We are all going to have to get used to hearing about and seeing snow! Snow is appearing in our forecasts on a weekly basis now, and we all know what that means....winter is right around the corner. I am not ready for it at all! Since I am commuting from Greeley, I am a little nervous about the roads when the snow does finally come to Denver.
The weekend cold front brought with it lots of snow for the high country. Breckenridge saw 12-18 inches of snow, just this weekend! That is great news for all the skiers and snowboarders. Ski resorts are going to start opening right and left! Loveland opens for the first day tomorrow, and A Basin is already open and seeing plenty of skiers.
With more and more snow, means forecasting gets that much more difficult! Every day that Chris and I are at the station we have to complete "tailoring." This is a program where temperatures are entered manually for 8 different times throughout a 24 hour period. We also have to tailor snow amounts, and that is when it gets difficult! We complete tailoring because it makes our forecasts more accurate and viewers are then able to go onto thedenverchannel.com and view what the temperatures will be at different times during the day. The 7News weather center is the only one that completes tailoring out of all the stations!!!! Mike will have to show me the tricks to forecasting snow amounts because it is one of the toughest elements of weather to forecast!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Rocktober in Colorado!!!
It has been one exciting month here in Colorado. The Rockies are playing well in the playoffs and are currently battling against the Arizona D-Backs in the NLCS for a trip to the World Series. I would like to congratulate the Rockies on getting this far and I wish them the best of luck in the rest of the post season.
As far as weather goes it has been a rocky month, pardon the pun. So far we have seen almost every possible type of weather here in Colorado. We have had temperatures in the upper 80s all the way down in to the low 30s here in Denver. A few big storms the last couple weeks have brought some good snow to the mountains giving the beginning of the ski season a jump start. Even though we have yet to see snow down here in Denver, cold temperatures are definitely making there way in to the state.
As far as weather goes it has been a rocky month, pardon the pun. So far we have seen almost every possible type of weather here in Colorado. We have had temperatures in the upper 80s all the way down in to the low 30s here in Denver. A few big storms the last couple weeks have brought some good snow to the mountains giving the beginning of the ski season a jump start. Even though we have yet to see snow down here in Denver, cold temperatures are definitely making there way in to the state.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Live From Coors Field
Hello!
Fall is here in full swing. We received 12 inches of snow above 12, 000 feet over the weekend! We had freezing temperatures here in Denver and some windy weather to accompany it! Not to mention baseball, GO ROCKIES! Rockies are doing very well in the playoffs, and to help show the support from 7News Mike went live from Coors Field on Friday.
Friday I had a blast! I had to stay in the weather center and help Mike give the forecast on the air. Because Mike was not in the weather center he was unable to control his graphics from Coors Field. For each of his 4 forecasts I had to change the graphics accordingly. We had 3 forecasts for the 4 PM newscast and 1 for the 5 PM newscast.
I felt official and everything while doing it! They had to give me an earpiece so that I could hear what Mike was saying during his forecast, and I would change the graphics depending on what Mike was discussing at the moment. I was so nervous. I think I was more nervous doing this than practicing in front of Mike on the chroma key! I was so worried that I would change a graphic too fast or slow, and mess up the whole forecast! Every thing went great, and I had a blast while doing it!
With winter just around the corner, I am not sure how many more forecasts Mike will do live from a location. I am hoping at least one more!
Fall is here in full swing. We received 12 inches of snow above 12, 000 feet over the weekend! We had freezing temperatures here in Denver and some windy weather to accompany it! Not to mention baseball, GO ROCKIES! Rockies are doing very well in the playoffs, and to help show the support from 7News Mike went live from Coors Field on Friday.
Friday I had a blast! I had to stay in the weather center and help Mike give the forecast on the air. Because Mike was not in the weather center he was unable to control his graphics from Coors Field. For each of his 4 forecasts I had to change the graphics accordingly. We had 3 forecasts for the 4 PM newscast and 1 for the 5 PM newscast.
I felt official and everything while doing it! They had to give me an earpiece so that I could hear what Mike was saying during his forecast, and I would change the graphics depending on what Mike was discussing at the moment. I was so nervous. I think I was more nervous doing this than practicing in front of Mike on the chroma key! I was so worried that I would change a graphic too fast or slow, and mess up the whole forecast! Every thing went great, and I had a blast while doing it!
With winter just around the corner, I am not sure how many more forecasts Mike will do live from a location. I am hoping at least one more!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
