Weather course in Jamaica

[JohnHuth]

As part of my preparations for the upcoming weather/nav course, I decided to be a true selfless citizen of NSPN and travel to Jamaica to investigate the weather there over the Thanksgiving Holiday. The philosophy being that if I could predict the weather in a climate other than New England, I could do it anywhere.

Come Wednesday morning, I was sitting on the veranda, sipping my customary Blue Mountain coffee. I gave it a quick stir. My breakfast companion inquired of the state of the weather from the bubbles in the coffee. They hugged the edge of the cup! Gasp - it looks like a storm for sure. (perhaps this and the dark clouds in the SW were a clue).

The heat and humidity of the tropical waters had had their last hurrah in torturing the mainland with hurricanes. Gamma was the last. Soon the mainland would have its revenge on the ocean.

Wind was out of the SW, and the rain commenced to move in. I had to fetch some duct tape from the local town, and hired the venerable old Monroe to drive me in his taxi to the Negril hardware store.

I assumed old Monroe would know something about local conditions, so I asked him about the weather.

"Fo sure, mon, Ever since I be de likkle boy, whenever we 'ave rain like dis in de mawnin', it clear up by noon for sure. Every year, I tell you true, mon..."

Well, the rain indeed let up by noon and the wind dropped to nothing. I swam in the ocean for about an hour to get some exercise. As I was swimming, I noted a swell from the NW beginning to build. I stopped swimming and bobbed up and down a bit - the swell had a perio of about 4 seconds. Having my handy-dandy wave-swell-velocity guide in front of me, I figured that the waves were traveling at about 18 miles per hour, no doubt in front of a storm that was pushing it along. At 18 miles an hour, that meant that a moderate storm would come from the NW in only a few hours. (real nasty storms in fully developed seas can have swells with periods of 16 seconds).

Sure enough, the storm started to kick in from the NW, and the wind really started to blow.

A number of squall lines came through. The massage ladies on the beach were better at forecasting than old Monroe. "De waves, dey wash up every-ting onto de beach in the mawnin'."

The wind continued out of the NW and was blowing up to about force 7.

By the next morning, the wind was still blowing. My anxious table companion inquired about the state of the coffee. I gave it a swirl - the bubbles congregated into the center. A clear day ahead. Sure enough, blue skies, a cold front remained steady throughout the day.

[eneumeier]

John,

Thank you so much for your tireless efforts preparing for the weather class. You carry on the NSPN spirit and are truly an inspiration.

Liz N.

[Suz]

John,

Will this work for tea drinkers too?

Suz

[JohnHuth]

Well, we could give it a try - but my trusty guide says that the oils in coffe are responsible for this effect. You need just a thin layer of oil on top of the coffee - this cames from a strong roasted coffee - no milk or sugar, not espresso, not instant.

I wonder if Starbucks should consider marketing a "weather prophesizing coffee"? Sounds like a good gimick.

[bob budd]

I am willing to volunteer to test this theory if I can get the funding. While I am not a tea drinker, Dee is and I figure we could go to Jamaica together. I'd provide the control, being neither a tea nor coffee drinker, and she'd provide the tea drinker test case. When we return we could correlate results with John. I suspect a complete analysis would have to include (Jamaican) Rum and other appropriate beverages.

[jonsprag1]

It may or may not work with tea, it does work with coffee, but if you drink enough rum, you won't care whether(weather--pun intended) it works or not.

[christopherG]

i think it could work with tea, you know, if you use earl grey: the bergamot oil in it will be just what the withdoctor -- errr, the doctor -- ordered!