Bob Wise

Robert Wise brings a lifetime of eclectic experience to inform his Eclectications Blog—field artillery, graduate study in geography and meteorology, mapmaking, college teaching, computer programming in scientific applications, boatbuilding, and developing maps and imagery to support a workstation that could deploy anywhere on earth.

Calling the Turn: Uncertainties and Challenges of Hurricane Season

It’s wonderful to have all the information and the long advance warning of tropical storms. We’ve had plenty of time to prepare. And lots of practice. We’ve had lots of time, too, to prepare for the coming tempest of resource deplection and global warming. A few individuals and communities have done some preparation, which they won’t regret. But our government and financial leaders are throwing a hurricane party.

September 11, 2017

Mortal Mugginess: Extreme Heat Stress in Florida and in the Persian Gulf

This July and August, the Heat Index (“feels like” temperature) seemed to climb into the “Danger” zone every day and stay there for hours, its peak often exceeding the forecast. Could we be approaching deadly weather already? What about other, even muggier parts of the planet?

September 6, 2017

A mixture of different transport modes

Choosing Your Ride

In a recent post I extolled public transit as a way to cut personal fuel use, emissions and expenses, for those few Americans who can use it. But I had to think hard about that view after reading two well reasoned rebuttals, from Paul in Madison, Wisconsin, and Vince in Austin, Texas.

August 7, 2017

Who are the Transportation Disadvantaged?

But if I could get to the bus stop, a mile and a half away, I could board a comfortable air-conditioned bus with connections to many points downtown and elsewhere in the county. Stops are much closer along the routes, but the nearest route is inconveniently far away. I hope someday to see a bus line closer to home. Until then, I consider my neighbors and I to be Transportation Disadvantaged.

July 20, 2017

The Grass Really is Greener, Especially Between the Rails

If you can use your local bus service without too much inconvenience, you can vote for public transit with your feet and your dollars. You don’t have to wait for a referendum, and you can vote as often as you like.

September 27, 2016

Dust Storms Again in the High Plains

A cold Arctic air mass swept southward across the high plains last Tuesday, its 50 mph winds dropping temperatures by 50 degrees overnight. Blowing over drought-parched farm soil, the wind created a huge dust storm in eastern Colorado, visible in striking photographs from space.

November 18, 2014

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