What is this Blog

Well, after procrastinating away for some time I decided I should enter the world of blogging.
Why you ask? I need to improve the quality of my writing, so why not do so while posting regular information on the meteorological happenings in Australia and around the world. This first post will give a bit of information about me and what I am about.

A bit about me:
I am a PhD student in meteorology at the University of Melbourne, spending my time looking at the environments producing severe thunderstorms. I am really a bit of a 'weather wienie'. I like to observe weather via radar, satellite and keep track of synoptic conditions. However, I also firmly believe that observational meteorology is very important to the field, not just the latest model output. For this reason I enjoy getting out in the field to observe the weather in action, including chasing storms. This being said I do not look favourably at those who place themselves in danger to obtain extreme footage of storm events. I instead believe that chasing storms should be about understanding and observing the dynamic conditions associated with these awesome displays of the power of nature. Therefore, I believe chasing should be undertaken in the safest possible fashion by observing a storms behaviour. This should allow you to avoid not placing yourself in danger, which would require outside intervention if everything was to go wrong. I guess what I am saying is, if you intend to stormchase, do it responsibly.

So I guess I should start off with what is likely to eventuate over the next couple of days:
Today we should see the warmest day in Melbourne until the spring, as the pattern is starting to become more winter like. The change will be abrupt as per usual. The next few days should become unsettled with thunderstorms and rain developing as a trough moves through. There is the potential for storms to be severe and organised. I am not entirely sure if I will be able to chase as there are a myriad of things on.

Finally, I guess I should explain why I called this blog "Forecasting from in the Pouch"
15 Months after starting my PhD I recieved an email from the department secretary informing me that I was not on the books as a PhD student for the department. Upon further investigation it turned out I had been enrolled as a Zoology PhD student for 15 months, and nobody noticed. Therefore I figured I should probably have an appropriate thesis title for this enrolment as well:
"Kangaroo Casting: Forecasting conditions from inside a Kangaroo Pouch."