Each week I receive a newsletter from Airfare Watchdog, aggregating low-priced airfares from my home airport in Sioux Falls. For months, about the only special airfares listed in the newsletter have been these four flights: to Las Vegas on Allegiant, to Orlando on Allegiant, to Mesa on Allegiant, and [...]
Sioux Falls airport has embarked on a major redevelopment project. It includes a renovation of the terminal building, and improvements to the runway area. The project will make a great “first impression” on visitors who land in Sioux Falls for the first time.
[...] In my opinion, the best way to see Paris is from the River Seine. Barring that, the top of the Eiffel Tower, or perhaps Notre Dame is a good way to see the Parisian skyline. But I believe the best view of all costs no money, and is best taken [...]
The International Weather Forum (en Francais: Forum International de la Météo) is an event that is held each year (mostly) in Paris. It is a great place for forecasters and television weather presenters from different countries to come together and discuss the weather profession. This podcast shows a few [...]
Wood pigeon in the wild (left), and on a plate in a fancy French restaurant (palombe en croûte, right).
[...]I have been to Paris many times, but there are a few things that I always do because they reinforce what I find so great about the city. I insist on doing a lot of walking, because it is not only a good way to get the feel of Paris, [...]
When people ask for travel advice about a place they have never visited, I tell them to take the water tour. Cities in every country in the world grow up around their lakes, rivers, and oceanfronts – so that’s where you will find that city’s identify and history. Norfolk, Virginia [...]
A goal by Jonathan Bornstein late in extra time (the 95th minute) against Costa Rica sent the US to next year’s World Cup of soccer as CONCACAF champions. The dramatic goal by the US also guaranteed the nation of Honduras a berth in the World Cup for only the second [...]
I like Toulouse, a medium sized city in the south of France. It is the headquarters of passenger jet manufacturer Airbus, which employs about 20 thousand people. With a wide variety of restaurants, Toulouse is an enjoyable place to visit.
The European Meteorological Society conference is taking place in Toulouse, in southern France. The EMS gave Danny Roup from Israel its Broadcaster of the Year award, and he told a remarkable story.
In Israel (like most of Europe), the nighttime weather forecasts are videotaped during the daytime for playback on [...]
It’s back across the pond for a conference in France. Toulose is located near the Pyrenees mountains, somewhat close to the Spanish border. Every time I come here, it has been cloudy. We shall see about this time.
[...]I’m not really a frequent flier anymore, but I travel enough to believe the merger of Northwest and Delta will be the death of small-market air service.
My airport, in Sioux Falls, was always Northwest-dominated, feeding into the airline’s main hub in Minneapolis. Delta and United also served Sioux Falls, acting [...]
We were all gathered in Geneva, Switzerland. Three thousand important people – and me.
The World Climate Conference (called WCC-3, because it was the third such gathering) brought together prominent scientists and global policymakers. The conference was held to discuss what is now called “climate change and variability,” to create the [...]
My weather colleague and friend Francis Wilson, of Sky News in London, defines English summer as “three fine days and a thunderstorm.” In my experience this description is accurate, including a recent layover at Heathrow airport. One fine August day – overcast and 63 degrees.
Heathrow Airport
I [...]
So how do things work at a big international conference? Mainly lots and lots of writing, re-writing, and finalizing of written statements that can be agreed upon by all. Based upon the World Climate Conference-3 in Geneva, this is my impression of how it happens.
[...]Geneva is truly an international city. Important people from all over the world live here, and this might explain why.
[...]From the World Climate Service-3 conference in Geneva, a big international meeting setting the stage for what will be a major climate change treaty to be ratified in Copenhagen in December. Judging by what we have seen here, one would suspect the nations of the world will have to make [...]
Geneva, Switzerland, is one of the world’s great cities. It is also a little expensive.
[...]This is the first in what will be a series of podcasts expected to originate in Europe. By way of introduction, we talk a bit about the drag of jet lag.
[...]Television meteorologists who make school visits inevitably get the same question from youngsters: “How much money do you make?” When speaking to adult groups there is another, equally uncomfortable question that comes up: “What do you think about global warming?”
We do our best to answer, as we are members of the [...]
As we make our way through the middle of July, with kids wasting away the days counting down to next month’s new school term, I am reminded of the circumstances under which I began spending my childhood summers outdoors rather than in front of the TV set. Not that my [...]
The climate change debate came to a rocky perch in western South Dakota the other day. Eleven activists representing Greenpeace slipped into a restricted area, climbed over the top of Mount Rushmore, and unfurled a huge banner containing President Obama’s picture, challenging him with the statement, “America honors leaders not [...]
Three years ago, while attending a conference in eastern Europe, I was invited to an evening social gathering hosted by the local British ambassador. At one point, the ambassador asked if I thought it was possible to get the Kyoto treaty ratified in America.
Kyoto was an international agreement under which [...]
The sporting world witnessed a huge upset this week, at an event which drew widespread attention everywhere but in America. Which is surprising, since the victors were Americans.
The US Men’s National Soccer team beat Spain 2-0. Had Al Michaels been there, he would have asked if anyone [...]
Journalists tend to rate the state of journalism based upon the number of media jobs that have been slashed during the current cycle. Let us rate the state of journalism on a different measure, whether journalists are meeting Webster’s definition of “gathering, writing, editing, and publishing or disseminating news.”
[...]
A small plane crashed into the side of a road on the northeast side of Sheldon, Iowa Tuesday morning. According to an Associated Press article carried in the Chicago Tribune, the FAA says the plane crash occurred about 11 a.m. when “thunderstorms with heavy rain were moving through [...]
A colleague of mine, Angela, insists that June is always starts cold in South Dakota. Clearly this June is extra cold, with daytime high temperatures averaging 6-7 degrees below normal in Sioux Falls, and the month is on pace to be the coldest-ever June in Rapid City.
My [...]
Vortex2, the biggest tornado research project in history (as The Weather Channel reminds us every five minutes), is an armada on wheels that has been roaming the Central and Northern Plains in search of tornadoes this Spring. The amateur storm chase community is an armada on wheels that has been [...]
These are difficult days in tornado alley – if you are a storm chaser seeking twisters for fun or profit. That was proven on Wednesday afternoon, when an army of chasers flooded into the panhandle of Nebraska from all directions after the Storm Prediction Center had rated this patch of [...]
