Articles, photographs, and letters should be sent to:
Mr. Robert A. Luke, Editorial Supervisor
Mariners Weather Log
NDBC (W/OPS 52)
Building 3203, Room 305B
Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-6000
Phone: (228) 688-1457
Fax: (228) 688-3923
E-mail: robert.luke@noaa.gov

Welcome once again to another offering of the Mariners Weather Log (MWL). I hope that this issue finds you healthy, happy, and where you want to be in life. Of course, for most of us, that would be anywhere with the salt spray in our faces and the trade winds frolicking through our hair (ok, what is left of it that is…). The VOS program has been really active since we last chatted. It was hard last year to make the decision about cutting back the number of MWLs issued per year. It was purely a budgetary decision and not meant to show any lack of support or commitment to this great publication or its reading audience. After several financial discussions (yes, the wounds do heal in time), the VOS program has found a way to rub its pennies together to make it work. So, beginning this next fiscal year, the MWL will return to being published three (3) times per year. We will revert back to a December, April and August issue. I humbly apologize for any and all inconvenience this has caused all of you.

I hope you enjoy this issue, which includes great features such as: Admiral Kreüger's anemometer, the heroic efforts of the Meredith Victory, some great artwork from Scotland, and an article from the Tropical Prediction Center (TPC) on how vital YOUR VOS observations really are!

After our last issue, George Smith, the PMO in Cleveland, retired from government service. George didn't want a lot of fanfare so there will not be an article about his life, but Thank you, Friend, for nearly 43 years of Federal service.

In the last issue, I mistakenly said that Ms. Debra Russell, the new Alaskan PMO, was in Kodiak. Whoops! Deb actually works in Valdez. It must be this hot Mississippi sun that has fried my brain to cause this confusion between Deb & Rich Courtney. Or maybe it was too many years of cold coffee on the 00-04 watch that did it. Sorry Deb!!! (Guess I’d better get my eyes checked again.)

So, as long as you are off watch, go find a snug harbor to prop up your feet, grab some coffee, and enjoy the MWL.

Regards - Luke