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My New Website

FoothillsNC

By FoothillsNC,
in Southeastern States

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FoothillsNC

FoothillsNC

Posted
Posted

Just wanted to tell everyone I've decided to develop a website devoted to weather and earning a living. As most know I've been on the forums many years and never charged for my forecasts, thoughts, case studies, etc. I hope I've helped somebody and we've all had fun along the way. Now I'm at a point where I have to go to a pay blog type of site. I like the style of JB at Weatherbell.com, and I'm sure I'll have my own style and technique (I'm more reserved and laid back). Overall I'm marketing myself and my site to the weather weenies (most of us) and to others who lurk who've written me over the years that they depend on my forecasts and attention to details for their business needs. It affects their business's bottom line. Also I see my services going toward an untapped insurance market, basically data digging (it's all free, but few want to take the time to find it) on things like storm damage, court appearances, expert witness and testimony and things like that.

I'm going to market my services to a host of industry and individuals through this and social media because I think thats the way of the future and having the ability to generate needed info on weather events (hail, storms, etc) and delivering that data will be important.

Some of the users that I plan to market to are :

* Insurance

* School Systems

* Broadcast Media

* Utilities

* Agriculture

* Heating/Air

* Construction

* DOT

* Expediting Services

* Inventory Management

* Grocery

* Landscaping/Hardscaping

* Forensics

* Legal

* Recreational

I think 99% will be recreational at first. Fine with me, that's where we all are and will be the fun part of weather. I've enjoyed being here immensely over the years, and will still check in at times, but since I lost my fulltime job 3 years ago I'm at a point where I have to earn a living and its been an extreme struggle lately. My week is full with parents and pretty much weather related. Now I'll continue to do exactly what I've done on the forums: daily updates, case studies (for the whole south) and pattern talk, using my favorite form of (dying) meteorology: synoptics. Year in and year out, not just Winter, I'm always on the weather. I love rain. :raining: Whether its a widespread of local drought, I'll continue to discuss in detail and go places where other outlets just generalize. Same for the attention to details I love to give to all types of weather events, including your most likely favorite: SNOW :snowwindow:

So I hope I can plan on some support from the many I've made friends with on here and those lurkers who never post. Please check out my FB page (WxSouth) and maybe soon Twitter. My fee won't be much. I know nobody has extra money these days but hopefully the price of a starbucks and a donut won't break you per month. For now it will be free. Who knows exactly where this site will go and what it grows or evolves into. I have big plans for it, but sometimes things take turns. One thing I do know is that I'll pour every bit of my passion and soul into forecasting both short and medium range and do a lot of special case studies that will provide hours of good reading material for the Wx enthusiasts. You can get free forecasts anywhere these days but I always specialize in the South and will continue to do so, and try to go the extra mile. A life-long learner is my motto...never stop learning. I'm going to try to do what Accuweather and others do for our region but hopefully have a special , more detailed emphasis on our weather. I think we get glanced over way too often and forecasters across the board pull forecasts straight off MOS and computer generated schemes, totally skipping climo, anologs and past precedence...waiting until too late to recognize what's really going to happen...as we've all seen many, many times over the year. Its that type of detail and pattern recognition I hope I'm good at. Even when it means going against the grain.

Lastly, I'd like to thank Burgertime, Powerstroke and especially DaculaWeather for great, tremendous help on getting this started. And thanks to RaleighWx for the use of his models page. Please donate to him if you can. His models page is an excellent resource to all of us.

My first post and video can be seen here (I'm more of a writer--not a talker :lol: )

http://wxsouth.com/?p=3

yes its' scripted! I am tweaking how to do it, and will eventually change things up I'm sure.

The url will be www.wxsouth.com but it's not complete yet. We are still working on it, and hopefully making daily progress but at this point I can atleast blog there. I have a ton of info coming there but for now its a simple site and will be a place to get my latest thoughts.

Thanks for reading and I hope I can get some support...again it won't be much cost but should be worth it, so give it a try. I could have chosen examiner and other sites but it didn't fit my needs now and I've been dreaming of doing this for about 3 years. Probably should have began last year as this year's a dud (so far!). :axe: I still like the chances of a big ending to our winter though: blocking in northern Alaska usually has led to good things for the East later on (Mar 93, Jan 96, Feb 69, etc). not always of course but more often than not.

So, thought I'd get that out there. If I'm not on here much soon I'm probably working at the site. Please check it out and consider joining a premium subscription. Thanks!!

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FoothillsNC

FoothillsNC

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Robert:

Congratulations and best of success and blessings with the endeavor!

I will be glad to be a charter subscriber.

Where do I sign up?

Me too!! Congratulations!!

Let us know how/if/when we can help in any way. :)

Thanks both of you an everybody. Its not pay pal ready just yet. So enjoy free for now. I hope to add that next week.

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FoothillsNC

FoothillsNC

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Good luck Robert. You should consider writing some books on weather and forecasting (kind of like Tim Vasquez) to sell on your site. I've always thought you were a good writer and wouldn't mind reading more into your forecasting methodology.

Thanks , I am. I would love to get it published and a hard cover copy. It already has a ton of info in it since the Southeast has had every conceivable event lately, plus some old stuff. Now I'm still getting pictures and the rights to them. It should be good. I'm having fun writing it for sure. I will check into Tim Vasquez...not sure who he is.

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superjames1992

superjames1992

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Thanks , I am. I would love to get it published and a hard cover copy. It already has a ton of info in it since the Southeast has had every conceivable event lately, plus some old stuff. Now I'm still getting pictures and the rights to them. It should be good. I'm having fun writing it for sure. I will check into Tim Vasquez...not sure who he is.

Vasquez wrote the "Weather Forecasting Handbook", the "Weather Map Handbook", and the "Red Book". The first two are really good and the Red Book is supposed to be good, too, although I haven't got around to reading it quite yet.

I will make sure to purchase your book when it comes out! :)

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POWERSTROKE

POWERSTROKE

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You know I will help you wherever you need me to. Don't forget our contract, I get 2% of all sales!!! :thumbsup: . You know I am kidding, I do believe it will work out great. Though your info has been free for years it only makes since for you to charge. In today's economy you got to whatever you can to make a living. Like I have told you since November weather is what you know why not charge for it. Nobody on this forum should have a problem paying for it. You are right a cup of coffee and a doughnut is what your site will cost per month. I think that is very fair and then more for business subscribers like myself or sponsorship's. I appreciate the friendship we have developed over the past year and look forward to seeing you succeed. (If you didn't feed Rusty so much you would be rich) :whistle: . Good luck and run with it, glad to see it up and running

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NavarreDon

NavarreDon

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:clap: :clap: :clap: Congrats Robert! As you said in your post times are tough. That being said I will find a way to be a charter premium subscriber. You have donated so much of your time to our passion you deserve to be compensated. I hope it is a raging sucess. Working two jobs I don't have alot of free time but, I would gladly donate some of my time for marketing & sales if you need any help. Lastly and this is selfish of course. I hope you will still jump in threads on this board when we have a good one coming. ie: the X-mas storm last year. It just wouldn't be the same without you. Good luck with the endeavor I really hope it excedes all your expectations! Don
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Rankin5150

Rankin5150

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:clap: :clap: :clap: Congrats Robert! As you said in your post times are tough. That being said I will find a way to be a charter premium subscriber. You have donated so much of your time to our passion you deserve to be compensated. I hope it is a raging sucess. Working two jobs I don't have alot of free time but, I would gladly donate some of my time for marketing & sales if you need any help. Lastly and this is selfish of course. I hope you will still jump in threads on this board when we have a good one coming. ie: the X-mas storm last year. It just wouldn't be the same without you. Good luck with the endeavor I really hope it excedes all your expectations! Don

Well worded! I second this!

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