In Nodak...

After 3 days and over 1,800 miles I made my it to Bismarck, ND and completed ground school. I was taught the processes of cloud seeding, the history, and the economic benefits. There are 23 of us total working on the North Dakota Cloud Modification Project. I am one out of only two girls. There are six meteorologists and the rest are pilots and pilot interns. We start the project June 1, and will continue through August. We may begin the project with suspension on rainfall enhancement, but we will continue to seed for hail suppression. The reason behind possible suspension is that for the past couple of weeks several storms have moved through our seeding districts dumping rain and leaving the areas fairly wet.

I'm so excited to get started on this project. I really feel as though I'm part of something big. I will personally be responsible for keeping a detailed log of the entire operation. I will also assist the radar meteorologist in making valuable decisions on which storms to seed, which planes to launch, and where to place the planes within the storm. I will communicate via walkie-talkies to each plane. This will be the interesting part because I'm the only one from the South and nobody can understand what I'm saying. I'm most excited about getting to fly in the planes through the storms and viewing the storm's structure and effects of seeding. Once I rotate back to Bismarck I will be one of the lead forecasters and conduct a daily weather briefing for the entire team.

It is extremely different this far North compared to the South. Most people instantly discover that I'm not a local. Most northerners have never heard of eating crawfish, turnip greens and the existence of dry counties and buggies. Also, I have discovered that my sense of humor is not the same as theirs. Nobody gets my jokes. Ha, but eventually I'm sure I will fit in or they will learn to embrace my differences.

The temperatures here have been mild and comfortable. Yesterday it even reached 90 and it felt like home. I even received a slight sunburn. So far, there has only been one day that I had to dress warm because the temp remained in the 50s, and there was sustained winds at 40mph with gusts even greater! Since the geography is so flat, it allows the wind to ramp up once it gets going. It also amazes me that it does not get dark until 10:00!

Tomorrow I move to Stanley, ND, and I'm ready to get out of a hotel and more settled in. I'm also in need for a more functional kitchen so I can make some sweet tea! Stanley is much smaller than Bismarck with a population of only around 1,200. Also, the rumor is that the house I'm staying at has no Internet or cable. Hopefully we will be busy with the project, but downtime looks like games, movies, and outdoor activities are what's in store. I am currently reading Emily Giffin's series and it is awesome. Hopefully I can keep you up to date with pictures and adventures. My latest adventure was: at the beginning of Day 2 of ground school I managed to lose my keys to my car. I had to get my 2nd pair FedEx from Bama which I received 3 days later. It could have been worse, I guess.

Also here is the link to my newest resume tape: http://www.trailheadproductions.com/tvreels/ldailey.htm

X-Ray