Proudly providing accurate weather information for all of Oklahoma
from the School of Meteorology at The University of Oklahoma.
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Proudly providing accurate weather information for all of Oklahoma from the School of Meteorology at The University of Oklahoma. |
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©1999-2005, |
The History and Future of OWLOWL was officially formed during the Fall of '98, and was the idea of then-seniors Kevin Scharfenberg, Brian Good, and Kevin Manross. They discussed the idea with Dr. Carr, who was more than willing to help out, provide funding, etc. The SoM purchased the OWL computer that year, and it was up and running by the end of the Spring of '99. Shifts started that Spring as an introduction, to make sure everything would work, and formal shifts began in the Fall of '99. For most of the 1999-2000 school year, Christina Hannon headed up OWL, which was then passed on to Trisha Brune and Joshua Palmer near the end of the Spring 2000 semester. Under their leadership, the attendance of OWL increased while the program became more established in the OU community. The OU Daily, the OU student-run newspaper, started carrying the OWL forecasts, and OWL gained a second computer. When Josh and Trisha graduated, Nathan Bain, Angela Beauchamp, Nicole Haglund, and Ryan Willis stepped up to take control. In Spring 2003, OWL got their own forecast room, complete with observation windows and its own Linux-powered weather server. In Summer 2003, OWL continued producing forecasts through the off-season for the first time, while Jim Southard joined OWL's officer corps after Angela graduated. In Fall 2003, OWL restarted the tradition of having a mapwall, where students and faculty alike can get a look at a complete suite of current weather maps all housed on one wall. A video mapwall was added in Spring of 2004, where eight large screens interactively display current weather maps, observations, and imagery. Both mapwalls are housed within the Williams Forecasting Lab (room 1468 in the Energy Center), providing the School of Meteorology with copious and instantaneous data in one single, centralized location. The winds of change swept OWL during its Fifth Anniversary year. Both Nicole and Nathan graduated, and class commitments caused Ryan's departure. Jenifer Henslee joined the officer team, while Jim pulled double duty in the interim. In Spring of 2005, Jim graduated and Megan Ferris, Phillip Hurlbut, and Chad Garneau came aboard, filling out the roster of officers, adding new enthusiasm and extra stability, and setting the stage for OWL's forthcoming innovations... In early 2006 Tristan Baruth joined the team bringing plenty of new life and ideas with him! A Look AheadWeather Website and Archive One of the largest projects that OWL is working on is having a full suite of weather information on an easily-usable website. The goal of this project is that when complete, OU students should never have to visit websites outside of the University of Oklahoma. Other ProjectsWe are looking into purchasing a web cam (funded by the School of Meteorology) that is
to be mounted on the roof of Sarkey's. Hopefully it will be remote
controlled, so that we can move it and point it in the direction of any
significant oncoming weather. |
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Webmaster: Megan Ferris
