Weber State College Comment, April 1987, page 4 Forecasts Clear, Long-Term Still Cloudy Daily Weather dry season while every 22 years, when sunspot activity is at a minimum, a severe draught develops. ‘*! happen to believe in that theory,’’ Dr. Murphy said. ‘‘Consider the dust bowl days of the 1930’s, and the draught of the 1950’s. In 1977 people around here were skiing on rocks. The next draught, if the pattern holds true, should come in 1998 or 1999,’’ he said. ‘“We just came Out of a very wet phase in the cycle, we had the three wettest years in history along the Wasatch Front. I’m predicting dryer, milder winters for the next three to four years, then the moisture will pick up in the early 1990’s and by the late 1990’s it will be dry again and we’ll have draught,’’ Dr. Mur phy added. However, weather is much more than just a reaction to sunspots, he said. The angle of the earth to the sun, mountain barriers, proximity of water, wind movement, and Ocean currents all play a part. Pressure systems determine where moisture will and will not fall. Georgia, for example, had a high pressure system parked over the state last summer that refused to move. The high pressure kept a lid on any rising hot air, a condition necessary for rainfall, and warded off any incoming storms. The result was an unusual and intense draught. “‘There are localized patterns in weather that develop and at times you just can’t predict what’s going to happen,”’ he said. The same kind of high pressure system that happened over Georgia is developed by the Pacific Ocean and results in the Mojave and Sonora deserts of California. In fact, says Dr. Murphy, every continent in the world has a similar desert a few miles in from the west coast for the same reason. ‘‘The jet streams also are developers of weather patterns. If the jet stream (or quick-moving, high altitude ‘‘streams’’ of air) comes from Canada the air is cold with no moisture. If it’s from the Gulf of Mexico you get warmer temperatures with more rainfall, he said. Two jet streams most likely exist, and scientists think they are caused by hot air rising at the equator and working its way to the poles where the air cools and descends. But since the top of the earth doesn’t rotate at the 1,050 miles-per-hour of the equator, the farther north this air mass moves the more it seems to accelerate. ‘‘Our technology is able to overcome the weather problems. The hot cities of the south never would have grown without air-conditioning. People down there live in air-conditioned ‘deserts. We can create the micro-environments, but we still can’t control the weather,’’ Dr. Murphy said. ONT ate! 0 ver since the ancients’ offered sacrifices ~10°. raimi? gods; man has been trying to control the weather, but despite a plethora of modern technological advances, the best we can do is predict five days in advance, and many picnickers will tell you that even that is faulty. But man has not lost every round with Mother Nature. Meteorologists are pretty good at the day-today predictions. ‘“*That’s due to our satellite system,’’ said Dr. Don R. Murphy, a meteorologist and professor. of geography at Weber State. Prior to the satellites there was not an accurate way, besides a swelling bunion or aching joints, to tell when a storm was coming. In fact, it has only been in the past couple of hundred years that the notion of ‘‘traveling storms’’ has been around, Dr. Murphy said. ‘‘Ben Franklin was the first one to come up with the idea that storms move,’’ he said. Modern weather ‘‘predictions’’ are really not much more than tracking. Once a storm develops, meteorologists have a fairly good idea where it will go and how it will affect local climates. But predic ting when and where the storms will first develop is beyond current scientific abilities. Most weather men will not hazard specific weather guesses beyond five days. **There are some situations that occur far in ad vance, such as warming trends in the ocean, that af fect weather, but we can’t say that on March 27, 198S there will be a storm,”’ he said. Climatologists, or those who study general shifts in weather on a global setting, will make statements about weather patterns for the future, but those _ Statements tend to be generalities. One theory, for example, says that wet/dry cycles parallel the same 11 and 22 year patterns that solar sun spots seem to follow. Every 11 year period is a High-Tech Developments ; —— lee F To stay competitive in world markets and to provide good-paying jobs, American manufacturers must use modern technology, Randall said. *“It doesn’t do any good to have a Five Axis Okuma if we don’t have the people to program, run and maintain the machine. That’s what we do well,”’ Randall said. The college will use the $500,000 to take technology developed at the state’s universities and apply it to fill industrial needs. “The universities do the research and we do the applications to transfer, as quickly as possible, the technology prepieee. Weber State has received, from two sources, a new, advanced-technology milling machine and $500,000 for development of training programs in high tech fields. Almost from the very first day Pres. Nadauld set foot on campus he has been pointing out the need Weber State has tor advanced technology machinery like the new milling equipment. The president carriéd, in his briefcase, a part machined by a Five Axis Okuma, showing it to legislators, local businessmen and to many organizations. His etforts paid off. Industry and private donations resulted in the college receiving a new Five Axis Okuma, and the state legislature, during the recent session, appropriated one-year funds for the college to develop high tech training programs. ‘“Fhe Five Axis Okuma is an excellent example of what we’re trying to do,’’ said Kent Randall, dean of the WSC School of Technology. i = trained people into industry. That’s the whole focus of our school,’’ Randall said. The Five Axis Okum, for example, came as a joint effort of the college, the Okuma Co., the Private Industry Council of Utah and local industries. They pooled funds to purchase the machine, and the college is now training displaced workers to operate the equipment. ‘‘This ia a vital role to the state,’’ said Randall. ‘‘We’re going to be out there pounding the sidewalks to see what needs there are so we can fill them.’’ and Both the bench and the milling tools of the Five Axis Okuma (top) move to create intricate parts. The machine doubles efficiency and is run via computer by a single operator.