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TV weathermen lectured on misused term

‘Monsoons’ do not fit definitions some use on television, expert admonishes

SAM MORRIS / LAS VEGAS SUN

National Weather Service meterologist in charge Michael Staudenmaier, far left, leads a briefing for Las Vegas’ television meteorologists Wednesday. Clockwise from Staudenmaier are Kevin Janison, Les Krifaton, Ted Pretty and Bryan Scofield.

By Brendan Buhler (contact)

Friday, June 5, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Sun weather

Current conditions, today's forecast, neighborhood weather conditions, historical climatological information

Let’s get it right this year. A monsoon is not a storm. It’s a season.

This was the plea that Michael Staudenmaier made to the assembled television weathermen of Las Vegas last month. Staudenmaier is the meteorologist in charge of the local National Weather Service office, a concrete-block bunker, the interior of which is a cross between an insurance office and NORAD missile control. The office, like its counterparts across the country, provides most of the serious weather data and forecasting for the valley — measurements, analysis, 24-hour monitoring. When your local weatherman speaks in front of a mind-bogglingly lush and expensive display of computer graphics, chances are that he’s hewing to the weather service’s line.

And here, in this friendly little meeting complete with home-baked cookies, Staudenmaier is asking the weathermen to please not addle the public mind by issuing “monsoon alerts” for every summer storm. Because that’s not what a monsoon is. It’s a seasonal wind shift.

Here’s how it works:

Starting in late May or early June, the sun warms up the deserts in northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States. The air gets so hot and excited that it can’t wait to go share its energy with the cold upper atmosphere. This rising air lowers the air pressure above the desert, creating a bit of a vacuum, especially compared with the colder air over the ocean (the ocean does not get nearly so excited about the summer). Because nature always balances its forces, the cold high-pressure air from the ocean wants to blow into the desert. When it comes, it brings water with it.

But there’s a problem: At the same time all of this is going on, a ridge of high-pressure air sets up shop in Mexico. In June, this ridge mostly blocks moisture from flowing north from the Gulf of California and Gulf of Mexico. By mid-July, however, this ridge migrates north into the United States, where it bums around New Mexico and the four corners area. The farther north it gets, the more it allows moist air out of the gulfs into Southern Nevada — hence the humidity that sets your air conditioner intermittently wheezing through the end of September.

Now, when that air of the gulfs is especially moist, it’ll bump up against our mountains and condense into thunderheads as improbably high and menacing as the mold in a bachelor’s jar of olives.

In the late afternoon or early evening, the now-saturated clouds burst: lightning, sudden downpours, howling winds and sometimes hail. Roads flood, cars crash and every now and then, a person is swept down a wash and drowns.

On the upside, it cools Las Vegas to slightly below the surface temperature of Mercury.

But remember: This is a thunderstorm, not a monsoon. The monsoon is a seasonal weather pattern. The word is derived, Staudenmaier says, from the Arabic “mausim,” which means season.

Saying “Expect monsoons late this afternoon” is like saying “Expect summers late this afternoon.”

So please, let’s keep it straight on TV this year.

And feel free to take some cookies with you.

Discussion: 10 comments so far…

By xervradio

6/5/09 at 6:14 a.m.

Suggest removal

Furthermore, stop saying "further" when the word is "farther", i.e. 'low pressure further south is moving ...'.
By LasVegas2009

6/5/09 at 12:53 p.m.

Suggest removal

And stop trying to be funny, just shut up and give us the weather.
By timemist

6/5/09 at 12:55 p.m.

Suggest removal

You have got to be kidding! who cares, leave the guy alone. Stupid!!!
By corufi

6/5/09 at 7:51 p.m.

Suggest removal

Words are fun! Knowing its history adds to the depth and understanding of the word. Thanks.
By dollarbillz

6/5/09 at 8:03 p.m.

Suggest removal

I wish I had a job that I could be wrong more than 50% of the time and still keep it. Gee I went to college to learn partly cloudy/partly sunny. What the "F" is the diff? Who cares.
By homer

6/6/09 at 11:31 a.m.

Suggest removal

Thanks channel 3 for tempature reports in every area of the valley except Summerlin. The Lakes East is not Summerlin. It appears as if some small minded jack ass at channel 3 has an agenda with Summerlin and it's nearly one hundred twenty five thousand residents. I refuse to watch your news or weather.
By jldour

6/6/09 at 7:34 p.m.

Suggest removal

Also, 100 degrees should be described as triple digits, not the century mark. Century is a measure of time. I know, but it bugs me man.
By Bone_Daddy

6/6/09 at 8:51 p.m.

Suggest removal

When I lived in Miami they had a little white lie going for years, the TV weather men never sensationalized oppressively hot temperatures, the bank/public temperature signs wouldn't read a number over 95, ever.

It was good for the tourist industry.

If you're going to screw up the weather report, why not do it so's to be good for business?
By NWS

6/13/09 at 2:05 p.m.

Suggest removal

A LETTER OF APOLOGY FROM NWS LAS VEGAS:

Hi Everyone,

Our office would like to apologize to you personally for the article that ran in the Las Vegas Sun last Friday referring to the Media Workshop that we held at our office on the 6th of May that you attended. We would also like to apologize if it has caused problems for you with your producers and/or viewers, and likewise if it has caused a problem for your producers and station. Back in May when Brendan Buhler contacted us about an interview he said he was interested in doing a feature on Mike Staudenmaier for their "Person of Note" series. Since it had been about a month since the workshop and the only article we saw was on Mike, we had no idea this article was going to run. I guess Brendan tried to reach Mike on Friday to check some facts, but since he was out of the office and in a class he was unaware; and the message went unanswered. The message in the article is most definitely not one that we promote or support, and in our opinions the article completely missed the focus of the workshop. The focus of the media workshops has always been collaboration and communication; while the majority of the meeting was on this, it was not even mentioned in the article. The National Weather Service understands that we need our TV media to help us get the word out to the public during events. We value the relationship that we have built with each of you and your stations. In my opinion we have the best media in the country.

You have my personal promise that something like this will not happen again in the future. The print media have not been a part of the media workshops in the past. They asked if they could attend this time, and I will make sure the invitation is not extended to them in the future.

Sincerely,
Faith Borden
Mike Staudenmaier
NWS Las Vegas

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