Congratulations to Jack Ahern and the
Branford Weather Information Center in Branford, Connecticut,
for your selection as
WXForum.net’s Featured Weather Web Site for Winter, 2008! Jack put his weather website online in August of 2006 with the basic
Weather-Display web package. His station consists of a Davis VantagePro2, a WebCam, and a "Hobby Boards" one-wire lightning detector. Jack's station runs Weather Display "because of its vast capabilities". He also runs WXSIM for local weather forecasts and GRLevel3 for NEXRAD radar images. He uses HAPedit 3.1 to manage his website pages.
His motivation behind having his site on-line was "[that I] wanted a place to check live conditions both while in Town and away. It is important for live and current conditions to be at my finger tips. Now it has become a place where many people get their weather including local sports teams and outdoor event planners."
Other web sites that particularly inspired Jack's website design were "
Saratoga WX and
Thornton Weather" (ed. note
)
He says he "would love to have a Boltek Lightning Detector!" as part of his future plans for his station and website. His station reports to
CWOP, Weather Underground, and Weather for You -- he says "the more places my data is available the better!"
Jack's interest in weather began in childhood. "From big snow storms to loud thunderstorms. While other kids were hiding in the basement I was outside watching the lightning streak across the sky."
His most rewarding experience in having a weather web site was due to "the vast amount of knowledge that is available from the great people on this forums and others that so unselfishly share their skills and scripts. I have learned how to design and maintain web pages and even dabbled with writing some very basic php scripts."
Jack's advice to someone wanting to get started in weather watching as a hobby is "Ask and Learn! There are so many people in this community that truly like to share their ideas, insights, and knowledge that you can quickly learn how to post a professional looking web page! Don't be afraid to try it and have the patience to work through errors and failures. There is always help available."
Jack is 48 and has always lived in Branford CT. While growing up he dreamed of being a firefighter and he joined the volunteer FD as soon as he turned sixteen. In 1980 he was hired by the
Branford Fire Department and he has been the Chief of the Department since 2002. His wife Lisa and he will be married for 25 years this June and they have five great kids, three of which are in college. Their oldest daughter is in a nursing program at Bridgeport Hospital, and their second daughter will be a senior at Northeastern University, Their oldest son is pre-med at Boston College, and they have a daughter entering her senior year of high school, and one last boy in sixth grade. Jack's hobbies (besides the web site) include the Boston Red Sox, camping, and gadgetry!
Jack says, "The list of people to thank is too risky to detail for the fear of leaving someone important out but unlike any other club or group that I know of the weather forum community is truly made up of great people. Back in May of last year with the help of Chris from
SLOweather and Ken from
SaratogaWx we grew the weather networks into a worldwide community with the expansion the original "
Southwestern Weather Network" to 19 networks and 670 member stations. Currently I host the
North American Weather Network as well as the
Northeastern Weather Network. It has been a lot of fun and I am truly humbled by this honor."
Congratulations, Jack and your
Branford Weather website, for being selected by your peers as WXForum.net’s Featured Weather Web Site for Winter, 2008!
Congratulations also, to all our outstanding nominees -- your efforts have not gone unnoticed!