Page 127 - Winterling's Chasing the Wind

During the week we spent there, we visited the Polynesian Cultural Center and the
sunken battleship Arizona. Other places we enjoyed visiting were Snowbird, the
Mormon Tabernacle Temple in Salt Lake City, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the
Riverwalk and Superdome Events in New Orleans and the Weather Channel in Atlanta.

Over the years, several of my colleagues noticed that the Conferences had changed in
several ways. The first that was pointed out was that weather reporting was becoming
more in terms of computer models, rather than the conventional descriptions of weather
systems and their behavior. Computerized weather did not seem to be weather as we
had visualized through weather charts and analysis. It appeared to us as being more
abstract, being lost in the differing computer models. The second difference was the
growth in the number of vendors.

The development of computer graphics had exploded. Instead of meeting to learn about
our first love, the weather, we had to learn how to operate the different computer
systems. Our Conferences included critiques and suggestions from several consultants.

119