The video above is the President's funeral train as it departed Spring, Texas. Below is an inside look the train and its remarkable history. It is fitting that President Bush, given his love of trains, was transported to his final resting place in this way. Back to regular blogging tomorrow. ADDITION:  Via Twitter.

After a moving ceremony in Washington today, the President's body has been flown back to Houston. Tomorrow, a funeral train will carry the President to the Bush Library on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station. The casket will be borne by funeral train. The Union Pacific locomotive #4141 will pull the train. It was painted to honor the 41st President. Photos are below. The Union Pacific (formerly Southern Pacific) tracks run near the Library. At the rear of the train will be Union Pacific's locomotive 1943 which is painted (actually, railroads call  paint schemes "livery") to honor the United States' Armed Forces. It will be pushing the train from behind. Below is a photo of what the funeral train may look like only with #1943 in the lead . Addition: #1943 was standing by in case there was a problem with #4141. It is a fitting way to honor the late President. May God rest his soul. Addition: The information I received pertain...

While readers of this blog have had a preview, we are officially announcing Diseasecast.com . DiseaseCast is a consumer focused disease forecasting site and mobile application.  The site is powered by Big Data Media, a subsidiary of Luminar Media Group.  Data presented at DiseaseCast is provided by flu outbreak forecaster Ascel Bio.   DiseaseCast presents America’s only zip code specific forecast for chronic and infectious disease risks.   Multiple models for risks are displayed for human an avian influenza risk, foodborne and waterborne diseases, mosquito diseases, as well as heart attack risks.  The site has unique visualizations that look exactly like weather maps.  The risk maps are derived from reliable environmental and public health data, and Ascel Bio uses operationally proven and peer reviewed assessment approaches.  Models and approaches were first used by Ascel Bio in clinical settings since 2011.   At the site, there ar...

I retired from a 47-year career in meteorology and weather science in March. I have continued this blog more or less unchanged since my retirement and I have enjoyed writing it since it was established in November, 2009. It is a time for a change, however. While I will occasionally blog about weather when a major storm (blizzard, destructive ice storm, tornado outbreak, etc.) threatens the central United States, the focus of this blog will no longer be weather and climate as they are no longer the focus of my professional life. Before switching to other topics, I want to provide some words about the recent headlines pertaining to global warming. The recent National Climate Assessment (NCA), issued the day after Thanksgiving, was another step backward for the integrity of atmospheric science. The gloom and doom scenarios are a perversion of good science. As a person who has devoted my career to atmospheric science, it is extremely discouraging. Since I am retired from that caree...

During the last year, and especially since my retirement, I have found myself in demand from people who would like my assistance in setting up businesses or helping to make existing businesses more profitable and efficient. I have experienced a great deal of satisfaction from these projects.  So, while Mike Smith Enterprises, LLC still exists as the parent company (for other purposes), I have formed MSE Creative Consulting so as to focus on four areas: Business and scientific consulting services Keynote speaking Writing on deadline/assignment (example here ) Future books The new website is here . What can clients of MSE Creative Consulting expect?  Our goal is to assist entrepreneurs establish or tweak their existing businesses to make them more profitable as well as more professionally rewarding. We are fiercely dedicated to the proposition that innovative, well-run businesses are essential to America. A profit, ethically made, is nothing to be de...

Really. Details here . Happy kissing!!

Here is a map of rotation tracks. The reds/whites/blues are where the most violent tornadoes are likely to have occurred.