Gadgets: Wind Meters, Watches, Cats

The last entry about testing an infrared laser thermometer got me in a gadget mood. I have to admit: I really geek out with this stuff sometimes. Would you believe that I used to have a in my "storm chasing car," and once during the summer measured an inside temperature of 155.5 F?

What's worse, I tried to make a joke (the other day here in the office) that was way too geeky (remember, we have 75 meteorologists, but 225 "normal people" here at AccuWeather). Designer Melissa was explaining why her cell phone's antenna was shredded, saying that her cat stole it and was chewing on it. So I said...

Nobody laughed, except Designer Tom, who moonlights as Meteorologist Tom. It was funny of course, because it's precisely during a hurricane that you would need a barometer watch the most! It's a true story -- cat is shown at left; the watch is shown at right (next to my new, upgraded watch which has an anemometer too).

And one final geek note -- I recognized the handheld anemometer used on last week's Mythbusters [JessePedia] episode (November 8th, "Concrete Glider", Episode Guide). They were measuring the wind speed next to a moving train to help determine if humans standing there would be killed. Not only were they using the Speedtech Skymaster Wind Meter which we're thinking of carrying on the AccuMall -- they were also using the optional Wind Tunnel accessory, if not the whole kit, to ensure that the speed they were measuring came from only one direction. (They measured speeds of near-hurricane-force and determined that humans could be injured but would probably not be killed, and would not be sucked behind the train as the myth goes.)