Matt Haugland - The Independent Variable

The Independent Variable - Matt Haugland

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Summit Lakes

I currently live about a mile from the highest point in Norman. For the past 8 years, I've walked up to the top of the hill hoping that some day I could live there. That may happen soon!! Summit Lakes, one of my favorite neighborhoods in Norman, recently expanded to the top of the hill with home sites now available.

One of the lots is now reserved for me!!! It's at the top of a street called Horizon View Ct. It's about 2 feet lower than the highest point in Norman. Hopefully, if everything goes according to plan, this will be the view from my front yard in about 9 months:

The lights on the far left are buildings in downtown Oklahoma City, 25 miles north. Some of the towers on the right are over 30 miles away. It's an awesome place to watch storms, which I used to do there before any houses were built.

The neighborhood has several lakes with walking trails around them, and most of the houses are part brick and part stone (my favorite!). And it's only 2 minutes from where I live now, which will be handy if I rent out my current house. The main cross street, 36th Ave, happens to be the street that country singer Toby Keith lives on.

Here are a few more pictures either from "my" street or the next street over:

Monday, April 13, 2009

Puerto Rico Sensor Network

I am now back from Puerto Rico. I was able to find some awesome locations for setting up my temperature sensors. They are extremely diverse and include a rainforest, a parking lot, a beach, a baseball field, mountains, valleys, and plains.

I made a web page with maps and photos of the sites. It is available HERE.

The data I retrieved was wonderful! It gave very valuable information about the microclimates of each location, information that I can incorporate into my forecast model to further improve weather forecasts in remote areas.

I may post some additional pictures later (of other places I visited).

Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Puerto Rico Trip

I will be going to Puerto Rico very soon! The National Weather Service in San Juan invited me to conduct a seminar/workshop to help the forecasters improve their forecasts, particularly in areas with complex terrain and unique microclimates.

I'll be setting up temperature sensors around the island, most likely in mountainous rainforest areas where forecasting is most difficult. Part of my teaching will include a forecasting lab where they'll forecast for these locations, and the data I collect will be used to verify their forecasts.

I'll post pictures here when I get back.