May Meeting

The Beauty in Our Sky: A Look at Optical Phenomena and an Exploration of Clouds.

Beauty in the Universe extends from the heavens to here on Earth. At night, we can see countless stars, nebulae, and galaxies. During the day, we can see rainbows, sun dogs and extraordinary sunrises and sunsets. There are dozens of types of clouds, and each offer a different meaning to approaching or departing weather systems.

The sky is an amazing place day or night. In this presentation, we'll explore various optical phenomena in our sky as well as different types of clouds, including their meaning, formation and beauty.

T.J. Del Santo is a meteorologist at WPRI and WNAC-TV. For the past 18 years he has been tackling the challenge of very changeable weather in Rhode Island. When he was 8 years old, he first looked at Venus through a telescope, and since then, he's loved all sciences, but especially astronomy.

After earning a Bachelors of Science in Atmospheric Science from Lyndon State College, he worked at Weather Routing, Inc. in Glens Falls, NY. There, he gave forecasts and routing suggestions to yachts and freighters around the world.

He then became a computer specialist at the Harvard Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, MA. He calibrated the CCD's on the Aspect Determination System aboard the Chandra Space Telescope.

It was in May of 1997 when he started at Channel 12 and Fox Providence. He's forecasted for numerous blizzards, hurricanes and a few tornadoes. He loves the challenge and excitement a good storm can bring, but he's always in awe of nature's power and beauty.