MIT undergrads
forecast the weather for the
2009 Head of the Charles Regatta
Two
forecasters from the MIT
weather forecast team:
Vince Agard,
a junior in course 12,
and Elizabeth Maroon, a
senior in course 12,
volunteered to forecast for the Head of the Charles Regatta on Oct
17-18, 2009.
The
organizers were concerned about strong winds and asked Vince and
Elizabeth to monitor the weather during the race.
Saturday weather was beautiful: sunny, warm with a gentle breeze,
but the weather turned really nasty on Sunday. A Nor'easter moved
along the East Coast and intensifies off the Massachusetts coast,
giving rain, strong winds and even snow showers to Cambridge.
Elizabeth, who was on duty on Sunday afternoon, said:
"I saw the snow coming over the
radar, but I didn't
realize that it was going to be snow here until it got to us..."
The
organizers were very concerned
about the wind. Strong winds and rough waters can be very dangerous
for the rowers. Fortunately, the winds kept blowing from the north
and they did not result in dangerous wave condition and the
race carried on as planned. The
MIT weather station on top of the Green Building was of
great help with the forecast of the local wind conditions.
Here is
one of the several e-mails Vince and Elizabeth received from the
organizers:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Liz
and Vince,
You guys did an awesome job!!!! Those weather digests really helped
through out the day all weekend. Having that level of detail pushed
to us really helped the decision making process. We will be using
the wind and
temperature data to help guide the event in the future. The wind
chill information is very valuable.
We would very much like to have you back again next year. I hope
you both enjoyed working with the River Control operation.
Thank you again for your support of the Head of the Charles
operation!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
