4H Equipo GIS

I want to take a moment to offer my truest appreciation for all the people at ESRI who have helped make this happen! Without all of you, 4-H Equipo GIS would still just be a very great idea, not a reality!

I want to thank Jack Dangermond for supporting our youth and the program! We are continually overwhelmed by the amount of software, support, and energy ESRI puts into our youth development programs, and for creating the opportunity for the youth to attend the conferences both abroad and in San Diego! Without his support, we would not be able to offer these opportunities!

 I want to thank Esther Worker and Charlie Fitzpatrick for their continuing support, and their belief in the 4-H program! They have provided the best support we could have had. They have been wonderful in promoting youth experiences, and encouraging our youth to explore! They are vital to what we do!

 I want to thank Merrill Lyew and Juan Gomez for the terrific Latin American and Caribbean User’s Conference the 4-H EquipoGIS youth have just attended. This opportunity, both to present, and interact with GIS professionals has made a profound impact on the entire team!

 I want to thank Joseph Kerski for his ongoing support of our criteria and all of the work we do! His input has been essential to improving the skills of our youth!

 I want to thank Ismael Chivite for answering the questions that came from our team! Your direct answer to their question has clearly inspired Clara to peruse a career in GIS, and to believe that she can set her goals high, and achieve it!

 Thanks to all of you for all of your support, enthusiasm, and your belief in youth! You clearly are making a difference!

My deepest appreciation,

 ~Sarah Cofer

Well, it finally seems like the storm may have REALLY broken. We actually saw some stars tonight as we were walking back to our favorite outdoor marketplace. We had a difficult time getting everyone out the door of the hotel for this evening’s excursion, but we finally made it. We still missed a lot of the open stores because of our late departure AND because we had to make a little stop by la farmacia. Si, estoy enfermo. My stomach has been a little upset for the last couple of days. May be the milk products – delicious going in – but not settling so well. I took a nap this afternoon and definitely headed for the pharmacy this afternoon. Was thinking maybe TUMS or GAVISCON, but they were around USD20 for a bottle. Ended up with a single serving of Phillips Milk of Magnesia. About USD2. Not completely sure yet if it has helped or not, but I’m hoping for the best. I was going to take my nap today by the pool because it seemed like the sun was going to break through, but due to all the rain, the pool was still closed. The lady in the spa area said that they were going to clean it before re-opening. Anyway, after the pharmacy tonight, we went to the market area and walked by mostly closed stores but we did manage to find the little souvenier shop we had stopped by a few nights earlier. We were better negotiators tonight than before. I think all in all we got some pretty favorable deals. So it’s been decided that I’m a look alike for a Latin singer named Juanez. People look and say, “Coca-cola.” He has apparently done a coke commercial. Well, the kids decided that I needed to learn a Juanez song, so I’m working on La Camisa Negra. Hopefully, I will have it down for the trip to the beach tomorrow. Boca Chica is about 30 miles away. We’re hoping for good weather. But anyway, we found ourselves tonight back outside a location that Sarah swore a couple nights ago was a brothel. But instead, we found it to be one of the kids’ favorite restaurants so far. Kind of a cafe/italian/french/techno place. We had a really good time. I had one of my favorite Italian dishes – Gnocchi. We had a great walk back – the DR finally has their street lights working in Santo Domingo. We got some good pictures. I’m sure they’ll be posted on here or FLICKR. Well, I’ll hopefully get back on here tomorrow, but I need to go to sleep. Hasta manana.

We woke early this morning to a bleak day! Guess what? We have rain!

We will be going to the Melia Hotel to attend the plenary sessions of ESRI and to present at 3:30.

We will try to post our presentations, as well as videos of the presentations later today!

The storm appears to be passing us by.  The power is back, lost it for less than five minutes. The warning is now for mostly Haiti, although it is still raining hard!

We just lost all POWER! The lights have gone off and the whole hotel is without light. This is probably because of the wind…we can hear the rain pounding our window outside. Its supposed to be to the west of us but what if it had gone over us? That wouldnt have been good..

[um..the laptop is running on battery, just in case you were wondering where i was writing from]

Oh! The lights just came back on…yay! Well this is going to be an interesting night….

Here is the NOAA National Weather Center’s image of NOEL. Santo Domingo is just to the east of the blue warning area. 

Upon giving room number 605 a wake up call this am, I was informed verge of a major storm. (Our hotel is maybe 50 yards from the ocean. Separated from the ocean y a perhaps ten foot burm, cement railing, and a four lane avenue.

I thought Thomas was kidding. He wasn’t….since this morning the storm has turned into a named Tropical Depression. NOEL!

 

Most of it appears to be expected to pass by us, but we will be watching closely. The warning says hat we may have significant rains and winds in the next 24 hours!

The waves breaking on the beach are monster size, at least five times the size we saw yesterday!

 We will keep you updated!

~Sarah C

Advisory taken from: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT1+shtml/281443.shtml?

000

 

 

WTNT31 KNHC 281443

 

TCPAT1

 

BULLETIN

 

TROPICAL DEPRESSION SIXTEEN ADVISORY NUMBER   3

 

NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL   AL162007

 

1100 AM EDT SUN OCT 28 2007

…DEPRESSION ON THE VERGE OF BECOMING A TROPICAL STORM…

 

…SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL AND FLOODING POTENTIAL FOR PORTIONS OF THE

 

CARIBBEAN…

 

A TROPICAL STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR THE ENTIRE

 

SOUTHWESTERN PENINSULA OF HAITI FROM THE HAITI-DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

 

BORDER TO PORT-AU-PRINCE.  A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT

 

TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA

 

WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

 

A TROPICAL STORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT FOR PORTIONS OF

 

SOUTHEASTERN CUBA IN THE PROVINCES OF GRANMA…SANTIAGO DE

 

CUBA…AND GUANTANAMO.  A TROPICAL STORM WATCH IS ALSO IN EFFECT

 

FOR JAMAICA.  A TROPICAL STORM WATCH MEANS THAT TROPICAL STORM

 

CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA…GENERALLY WITHIN 36

 

HOURS.

 

FOR STORM INFORMATION SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA…INCLUDING POSSIBLE

 

INLAND WATCHES AND WARNINGS…PLEASE MONITOR PRODUCTS ISSUED

 

BY YOUR LOCAL WEATHER OFFICE.

 

AT 1100 AM EDT…1500Z…THE CENTER OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION SIXTEEN

 

WAS LOCATED NEAR LATITUDE 16.5 NORTH…LONGITUDE 72.5 WEST OR ABOUT

 

220 MILES…355 KM…SOUTHWEST OF SANTO DOMINGO IN THE DOMINICAN

 

REPUBLIC AND ABOUT 145 MILES…235 KM…SOUTH OF PORT AU PRINCE

 

HAITI.

 

THE DEPRESSION IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 6 MPH…AND

 

THIS GENERAL MOTION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE DURING THE NEXT 24

 

HOURS.  EVEN THOUGH THE CENTER OF THE DEPRESSION COULD PASS SOUTH

 

OF HISPANIOLA…HEAVY RAINS TO THE NORTH AND EAST OF THE CENTER

 

WILL PASS OVER THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC AND HAITI DURING THE NEXT 24

 

TO 36 HOURS.

 

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 35 MPH…55 KM/HR…WITH HIGHER

 

GUSTS.  SOME STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST…AND THE DEPRESSION COULD

 

BECOME A TROPICAL STORM LATER TODAY.  AN AIR FORCE HURRICANE HUNTER

 

AIRCRAFT IS SCHEDULED TO INVESTIGATE THIS SYSTEM THIS AFTERNOON.

 

ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE IS 1003 MB…29.62 INCHES.

 

ABOVE NORMAL TIDES ARE LIKELY WITHIN THE WARNING AREA.

 

THE DEPRESSION IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE TOTAL RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS

 

OF 8 TO 12 INCHES OVER HISPANIOLA…SOUTHEASTERN CUBA…AND

 

JAMAICA…WITH POSSIBLE ISOLATED MAXIMUM TOTALS OF 20 INCHES.

 

ADDITIONAL RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 5 INCHES ARE EXPECTED

 

OVER PUERTO RICO DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.  THESE RAINS COULD CAUSE

 

LIFE-THREATENING FLASH FLOODS AND MUDSLIDES.

 

REPEATING THE 1100 AM EDT POSITION…16.5 N…72.5 W.  MOVEMENT

 

TOWARD…WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 6 MPH.  MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS…35

 

MPH.  MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE…1003 MB.

 

AN INTERMEDIATE ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL HURRICANE

 

CENTER AT 200 PM EDT FOLLOWED BY THE NEXT COMPLETE ADVISORY AT 500

 

PM EDT.

 

$$

 

FORECASTER KNABB

 

Clara, Luis, and Sarah arrived in the Dominican Republic after nearly 18 hours on planes and in airports!

JFK was a wonderful experience with weather delays (rain) and air traffic issues. We left New York exactly two hours late! Luis like the NY to Santo Domingo leg of the journey!

Descending through the clouds into the Santo Domingo area we flew through a thunder storm complete with cloud bursts over the ocean and lightening! Our first view of Santo Domingo was extraordinary! Heavy, dark clouds to the south, and green city to descend into to!

We cleared customs with minor confusion, and giggling. The sleeplessness was starting to hit us all! We found a taxi to the airport without any trouble, however, the driving skills of our driver appear to be questionable. He took his half out of the middle, cutting of another driver at one point, to which the other driver proceeded to pull up along side of the taxi, and welcome us into the country!

We arrived at the V Centenario in Santo Domingo without actually crashing, only running one vehicle off the road, only ignoring one red light, and without running out of gas…..note: the gas light was on the entire trip!

It is warm and raining hard. Buckets and buckets of rain! We walked (because Luis wouldn’t let us nap!) and found the conference hotel, and walked along the sea front.

We are currently waiting for Liz, Thomas, Gabriel, and Christian to arrive. We have dined on Salmon, capers, and onions….and chicken fingers that had a distinct fish flavor…..

After the rest of our group arrives, we plan to go explore the Zona Colonial.

A group of seven 4-H members will be traveling to the Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo) to take part in the plenary session of the ESRI Caribbean User’s Conference. (Our deepest gratitude to goes ESRI for all their support in our 4-H programs!)

We will be traveling from Oct 26th – Nov 3rd. Please check back often for updates on our progress!