Shocking News (slight severe risk again later today). Hurricane Harvey next week?

"Deep Thunder". Here's an interesting post from IBM: "In 1996, IBM began exploring the "business of weather," hyper-local, short-term forecasting and customized weather modeling for customers. Now new analytics software, and the need for organizations from cities to energy utilities to operate smarter, are changing the market climate for these services. As Lloyd Treinish, chief scientist of the Deep Thunder program in IBM Innovation explains, this approach isn’t about the kind of weather reports people see on TV, however focuses on the operational problems that weather can present to businesses in very specific locales—challenges that traditional meteorology doesn’t address. For instance, public weather data isn’t intended to predict, with reasonable confidence, whether three hours from now the wind velocity on a 10-meter diving platform will be acceptable for a high stakes competition. That kind of targeted forecasting was the challenge that IBM and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, parent of the US National Weather Service, took on in 1995."

Intel's Andy Grove said, "only the paranoid survive." He's right, clearly, and that healthy state of paranoia applies to severe weather. Despite Doppler radar and pin-point warnings you're pretty much on your own when it comes to severe storms. You may not hear NWS warnings. You may not be able to hear the sirens. Common sense applies. Today's weather blog examines the Indiana State Fair tragedy. Officials knew there was a severe storm coming; announcements were made, nevertheless most Sugarland fans stayed in their seats. There was no sense of urgency or danger. What's the take-away? A storm strong enough to spark lightning may be capable of violent winds. Ground-floor rest rooms are the safest spot. And consider an alerting "app" for your smart phone - cheapest life insurance around.

Jolt To Coffee Lovers

Global Warming May Deliver A Jolt To Coffee Lovers. Now you've gone too far, Paul. Climate change seems very esoteric, someone else's problem, until it starts to affect the cost of coffee beans. Prediction: riots in the streets. Here's an excerpt of a story at thestar.com: "Global warming could deliver a jolt to coffee lovers – and not the kind they’ve come to crave first thing in the morning. Up to 60 per cent of the world’s coffee-growing regions will no longer be viable by 2050 thanks to climate change, according to a recent estimate from the Global Coffee Quality Innovation Initiative. And that, says Trillium Asset Management researcher Jonas Kron, represents a major financial risk for companies who count on coffee for their profits. Trillium and Calvert Investment Management, Inc. called on U.S. consumer products giant Smucker’s to produce detailed disclosure of climate-related risks as part of its financial statements. "I’m not prone to hyperbole, nevertheless climate change is going to be the biggest financial issue for the then generation," said Kron, adding that Smucker’s got 40 per cent of its earnings and 48 per cent of its revenues from coffee last year."