“PETER HOBBS and me.” A well-known friend and well-published faculty member from Colorado State University, after I told him I was going write a blog about my almost 30 year professional relationship with Prof. Peter V. Hobbs, suggested that my title should look like the one above. After all, Peter Hobbs wrote several books in… Continue reading Life Stories: PETER HOBBS (!) and me (rangno)
Author: Art Rangno
Retiree from a group specializing in airborne measurements of clouds and aerosols at the University of Washington (Cloud and Aerosol Research Group). The projects in which I participated were in many countries; from the Arctic to Brazil, from the Marshall Islands to South Africa.
Updated Catalina, AZ, Water Year Plot, 1977-78 through 2022-23; summer temperature maximums in AZ not increasing (?)
Since the chance of measurable rain before the end of September 2023 is nil and none, I thought I would post an updated plot of the Catalina Water Year precipitation totals since records began at Our Garden from the 1977-78 Water Year, October 1 through September 30: With an El Niño in the wings, it… Continue reading Updated Catalina, AZ, Water Year Plot, 1977-78 through 2022-23; summer temperature maximums in AZ not increasing (?)
The Trials and Travesties of a Seattle Mariners Batting Practice Pitcher, 1981-1983
When Seattle Mariners pitching coach, Frank Funk, called me in from the bullpen that Sunday in July 1981, I was pretty nervous. I had never before pitched to major league batters. Tommy Davis, the former Dodger outfielder, had been nice enough to warm me up in the bullpen instead of one of the Mariners catchers. … Continue reading The Trials and Travesties of a Seattle Mariners Batting Practice Pitcher, 1981-1983
CHAPTER 5: GOT PUBLISHED! (I.E., “RAIN FROM CLOUDS WITH TOPS WARMER THAN -10°C IN ISRAEL”)
I was so excited… My trip, and the analysis of the data that came out of it, was the first published report that something was not right with Prof. Gagin’s cloud reports. My publication appeared in the Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., Rangno 1988, “Rain from Clouds with Tops Warmer than -10°C in Israel,” hereafter,… Continue reading CHAPTER 5: GOT PUBLISHED! (I.E., “RAIN FROM CLOUDS WITH TOPS WARMER THAN -10°C IN ISRAEL”)
CHAPTER 4: THE TRIP TO ISRAEL TO SEE THE “RIPE FOR CLOUD SEEDING” CLOUDS
The trip to Israel My self-funded trip to Israel was one of 11 weeks, from January 4th through March 11th, 1986. I loved my time in Israel and would go back in a heartbeat any winter to see those beautiful Cumulus and Cumulonimbus clouds rolling in off the Mediterranean again! Following my return and for… Continue reading CHAPTER 4: THE TRIP TO ISRAEL TO SEE THE “RIPE FOR CLOUD SEEDING” CLOUDS
CHAPTER 3: THE REVIEW OF THE ISRAELI CLOUD SEEDING LITERATURE BEGINS
By the end of the 1970s, Prof. Gagin and his work had become of interest to me. After all, as I learned in Durango, nothing could be taken at face value in the cloud seeding literature unless I had personally validated that literature by scrutinizing every detail of the published claims in it, looking for… Continue reading CHAPTER 3: THE REVIEW OF THE ISRAELI CLOUD SEEDING LITERATURE BEGINS
Chapter 2: A JOB IN DURANGO, COLORADO, THAT EVENTUALLY LED ME TO ISRAEL
This story begins with my first full-time job after graduating from San Jose State College. I was hired as a weather forecaster by E. G. & G., Inc., in Durango, Colorado in support of a massive randomized cloud seeding experiment called the Colorado River Basin Pilot Project (CRBPP). It was intended to prove that seeding… Continue reading Chapter 2: A JOB IN DURANGO, COLORADO, THAT EVENTUALLY LED ME TO ISRAEL
Chapter 1. JOANNE, ABE, AND ME: MY ONLY MEETING WITH JOANNE
This is a story about Joanne (Malkus) Simpson and our mutual study interest, Prof. Avraham “Abe” Gagin of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the leader of the world famed Israeli cloud seeding experiments that took place in the 1960s to 1970s. This is a story having irony. For more about Joanne Simpson and her major… Continue reading Chapter 1. JOANNE, ABE, AND ME: MY ONLY MEETING WITH JOANNE
JOANNE, ABE, AND ME: THE “LONG AND WINDING” STORYBOARD
(Joanne Malkus/Simpson and Abe Gagin) A modern-day story with elements similar to that of American physicist R. W. Wood and his exposé of non-existent “N-Ray” radiation in 1904. R. W. Wood went to France to expose “N-rays” as the product of experimenter delusion at the turn of the century (Broad and Wade 1982); our protagonist1… Continue reading JOANNE, ABE, AND ME: THE “LONG AND WINDING” STORYBOARD
A Progress Report on Science Doings…and More (updated in August 2023 after a year-long hiatus)
Dear Friends, First, turned the big Eight-Oh last year. Truly bad; time running out. The Grim Reaper can’t be far behind me. Let us calm down by listening to some content about death from the Swedish band, Ghost: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTDg9wMJB7Q Still doing science as best I can with this ancient brain! Lots still… Continue reading A Progress Report on Science Doings…and More (updated in August 2023 after a year-long hiatus)