February 26, 2008 by T Love.

The following information is courtesy from Frank Wachowski, official midway 3sw midway airport co-op weather observer.

CHICAGO MIDWAY MOST SNOWFALL FOR THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY SINCE RECORDS BEGAN 1928..

YEARS                         SNOWFALL
1994                              26.2
1980                              23.7
1967                              22.5
2007                              21.1
2008                              20.9   AS OF 10AM FEB 26^TH.

THIS IS THE FIFTH SNOWEST FEB FOR MIDWAY AIRPORT.

SEASONAL SNOWFALL AT MIDWAY…
SNOWIEST WINTERS SINCE 1928-1929.

1.                     89.7                 1978-1979
2.                     82.3                 1977-1978
3.                     77.0                 1969-1970
4.                     68.4                 1966-1967
5.                     66.4                 1951-1952
6.                     60.9                 1981-1982
7.                     59.9                 1929-1930
8                      59.5                 1964-1965
9.                     58.9                 1961-1962
10.                   58.3                 1973-1974
11.                   54.5                 2000-2001  

AS OF 10AM FEB 26^TH  55.9 INCHES.

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February 23, 2008 by T Love.

Friday training was rough. VFR guys were killing me on CD/FD. Darn ARTS keyboard man. ARTS keyboard sucks. For about 50 minutes, I trained for the first time on GC. I tanked on that. Though the phraseology that I learned at the academy is not wrong, the phraseology used here is different. Each technique says the same amount of words however its just in different order. If anything was considered a highlight it was LC. I plugged in around 8p on LC and gave my first take off and landing clearances to airplanes.

Today, Saturday, is a whole different story. I worked FD/CD for my first round and it went quite well. I had about 4 VFR call ups and I did much better on it. Overall, I think the light bulb came on, finally, at least for the time being. I just ate an apple, so we will see if I go down the crapper b/c I ate.

 And Congrats to my mother for making it on the Tampa Bay NBC news. www.wfla.com. Click on the story I-275.

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February 21, 2008 by T Love.

For those who may have to endure clouds or cool temperatures. A few pictures of the eclipse viewed from West Palm Beach, FL. Great viewing weather. Though, it was a little too cool for shorts, however, the t-shirt and a cold beverage was nice! ahhh.

www.tlove.wxobs.info. Use the left menu bar as follows: Activities & Events, Events, Lunar Eclipse.

Sorry that there is no easy way to directly link to the page when using frames. At least I don’t know how.

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February 15, 2008 by T Love.

I worked FD/CD yesterday and today. I thought yesterday was busy but today made yesterday seem like a cakewalk. Everyone and their mother flies into WPB during this weekend which is similar to Thanksgiving weekend. The winter season is quite busy here.

I was training today and mainly did everything else except read the clearances.  Once we got caught up, I started reading them, but that didn’t occur often. Man, I was busy. There were no breaks between pilots. Continuous talking, amendments, edct, flow, tmu, etc. On top of that, the top and bottom of the hour, strips start printing like a printer gone wild

One controller mentioned that they read that during this weekend, 60% of the worlds wealth is in Palm Beach. Imagine that.

The traffic worked Thursday, Friday, through Monday is like working level 11 facility. F-in busy. Strip bays were 3/4 full. GA aircraft along the mile long stretch of FBO’s are full. There were 5 navy helicopters in and out, along with another 5 regulars. Its just busy busy busy.

But I held my ground on FD/CD for the most part considering I’ve only had 10 hours on position.

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February 13, 2008 by T Love.

Finally, pictures and videos from my 8 weeks in Oklahoma City, OK are now available. Lots and lots of memories to say the least. The Karaokee was priceless. Also uploaded are pictures from 2008’s Rolex 24 race in Daytona. Kathy and I camped overnight there.

http://www.tlove.wxobs.info

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February 13, 2008 by T Love.

Sunday and Monday I trained on CD/FD. With only 4.5 hours logged in so far, I’m still stumbling over all the little housekeeping jobs associated with it. Anyone can read just a clearance, but there are many other duties and tasks involved as well. I’m trudging through it. My days off are Tues and Wed.

One aspect so far that sucks is my pay. My salary sucks ass. With student loan repayments starting this month along with a $300 increase in car insurance, I’m actually running a monthly deficit. It’s severe enough for me to look for a roommate and try to get a couple of shifts weather observing at the airport. This is quite depressing actually and it royally sucks.

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February 10, 2008 by T Love.

For the first time out of the box, I didn’t do too bad. Alot of information was thrown at me. As my Primary trainer said, “I’m throwing about a gallon worth of stuff at you today but I only expect less than a cup to be retained”. That sums it up. Anyone can read a standard clearance but its alot of the little housekeeping things that hang me up for now. Monday, Fridays and Saturdays are the busy days. Later this week, I’ll begin training on GC. Whew.

Tonight I thought I’d relax in the hot tub. After last nights frontage passage, the dewpoints finally dropped to near 50 degrees! So the hot tub was a good choice….maybe. Dang o mighty, that hot tub was hot. The rules of the tub says “maximum water temp 104 degree”. BS! I’ve been in 104 water and that was not no 104. I went back with an official NWS Max temp thermometer. The water was 108. No wonder why I couldn’t get pass my legs. No wonder why my legs are still very warm 40 minutes later. aye.

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