A personal site about technology, weather and anything else that catches my attention.https://staging.thecloudonline.net/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/brief-thoughts-on-pittsburgh-international-airport-terminal-modernization/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/brief-thoughts-on-pittsburgh-international-airport-terminal-modernization/The dream of the 90s is soon to no longer be alive in Pittsburgh. Or at least not at the Pittsburgh International Airport. This afternoon, the Allegheny County Airport Authority, wWed, 13 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/leaving-the-paris-climate-agreement-turned-out-to-be-a-good-pr-move-for-pittsburgh/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/leaving-the-paris-climate-agreement-turned-out-to-be-a-good-pr-move-for-pittsburgh/The press, and likely your social media feeds, are abuzz over President Trump's decision today to leave the Paris Agreement, signed by 195 countries in December 2015. His decision Fri, 02 Jun 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/google-public-alerts-an-effective-weather-communication-tool/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/google-public-alerts-an-effective-weather-communication-tool/Winter 2017 is certainly picking up in intensity across New England. After a strong storm brought 12-18" of snow and 4+ hours of blizzard conditions to much of Massachusetts, anothSat, 11 Feb 2017 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/weather-model-deep-dive-surface-pressure-artifacting/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/weather-model-deep-dive-surface-pressure-artifacting/In my group at The Weather Company, speed is of the utmost importance. We serve traders in the energy markets, so getting our customers weather data faster enables them to in turn Sat, 01 Oct 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/samplepost/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/samplepost/I'm a big fan of the SaltStack configuration management system. It's an extremely flexible and powerful system, but is also quite easy to use. When I initially set up this new releMon, 12 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/building-an-interactive-drought-relief-map/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/building-an-interactive-drought-relief-map/Quick Links: Project Website Source Code on Github I recently published an interactive map that shows the current US Drought Monitor levels and the 5-day National Weather Service QSun, 11 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/welcome-to-the-new-thecloudonline/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/welcome-to-the-new-thecloudonline/As seems to always be the case when it comes to my personal website, it was a bit of a journey to get to this newly-relaunched site. Real life gets complicated - there are certainlSat, 11 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/may-31-pennsylvanias-worst-historic-weather-day/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/may-31-pennsylvanias-worst-historic-weather-day/This post was originally published on psuchase.org. Generally, severe weather season in Pennsylvania occurs later in the year than it does out in the Plains and other parts of the Sat, 31 May 2014 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/remembering-tornado-researchers-tim-samaras-paul-samaras-and-carl-young/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/remembering-tornado-researchers-tim-samaras-paul-samaras-and-carl-young/This post was originally published on psuchase.org Ever since I was a young boy, I have been fascinated by severe weather. Growing up, I watched several "storm chase" videotapes, aSun, 02 Jun 2013 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/twisted-news-the-latest-tornado-outbreak-and-warning-for-the-future/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/twisted-news-the-latest-tornado-outbreak-and-warning-for-the-future/Note: This article has been minorly edited from its original form to remove some stale links and reformat some of the other media on the page. It seems as though tornadoes just canThu, 05 Apr 2012 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/basic-skew-t-analysis-snow-or-no-snow/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/basic-skew-t-analysis-snow-or-no-snow/It’s been a long time since we’ve posted some new content to the site, but in honor of Leap Day, let’s leap across the country to do some real basic Skew-T analysis in central CaliWed, 29 Feb 2012 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/a-summary-of-blogs-on-the-indiana-state-fair-stage-collapse/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/a-summary-of-blogs-on-the-indiana-state-fair-stage-collapse/There has been much news and discussion concerning the tragic stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair near Indianapolis Saturday night. Five people were killed, with several dozenTue, 16 Aug 2011 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/damaging-tornado-strikes-westmoreland-county/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/damaging-tornado-strikes-westmoreland-county/For the first time since December 2006, a tornado has touched down in Westmoreland County, PA. This was a very impressive storm which, unfortunately, caused significant damage in HThu, 24 Mar 2011 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/anatomy-of-a-surprise-thunderstorm/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/anatomy-of-a-surprise-thunderstorm/The past few days have been very interesting in terms of weather. A massive storm has moved across the country, bringing anything from blizzard conditions to severe ice accumulatioThu, 03 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/will-pittsburgh-see-a-white-christmas-this-year/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/will-pittsburgh-see-a-white-christmas-this-year/Merry Christmas to all, first off! Hope everyone enjoys a great day spent with family and friends while remembering the real reason for the season! One important question on everyoFri, 24 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/untitled/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/untitled/Who doesn’t love the band OK Go? Even if you aren’t the biggest fan of their music, their always-unique music videos are always worth watching. I think more people know the song “HSat, 18 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/on-lake-effect-snow-longevity/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/on-lake-effect-snow-longevity/Someone recently asked me “Can you explain to me how it is that we can get snow for 10 days straight, yet we never seem to get rain for 10 days straight?” Simply put, I can blame iSat, 11 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/snow-and-lack-therof/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/snow-and-lack-therof/While much of the state (namely, the western half) has been pummeled by lake-effect snow over the weekend, there appears to be one exception to notable snowfall accumulation, at leMon, 06 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/weather-update-december-1-2010/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/weather-update-december-1-2010/Ah, the changing of the months; the changing of the seasons. It’s official – December is here! (And in case you were wondering, I say the “changing of the seasons” because meteorolWed, 01 Dec 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/does-it-really-rain-every-thursday/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/does-it-really-rain-every-thursday/It’s another rainy day across the Commonwealth [of Pennsylvania]. It’s also Thursday. A friend asked me this morning, “is there some sort of meteorological reason why it always raiThu, 04 Nov 2010 00:00:00 GMThttps://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/strongest-windstorm-in-decades-bears-down-on-upper-midwest/https://staging.thecloudonline.net/blog/strongest-windstorm-in-decades-bears-down-on-upper-midwest/The worst windstorm to bear down on the upper Midwest in decades is beginning to fall into place. The extremely powerful low pressure system is expected to reach a minimum pressureTue, 26 Oct 2010 00:00:00 GMT