Sure enough, the band of showers got stronger during the night, even producing some lightning. The rain storms here are as wet as any in the world, but there is almost no lightning. This is true of almost all oceanic reagions, and seems to be related to the lack of strong updrafts at mid-to-high levels in the convective clouds. It is easier to get the right conditions over land because the land surface reduces the amount of water that evaporates into the atmosphere and instead puts more of the incoming solar energy into heating up the lowest layer of the atmosphere. Anyway, the occurrence of lightning around here is a big deal. The planes got in several good, coordinated passes, but we're still hoping for some really big storms in the coming days.

I messed up a little on getting the weather balloons to support the airplane flights ­ takeoff time was set for 9:30 a.m. for the Convair, meaning that all the sites were supposed to launch an extra balloon at 8 a.m. If I had thought, they could have been informed during the first round of calls at 5:30. As it was, only give about 45 minutes of notice, which really jammed up the morning for the individuals involved. This was particularly true for the crews on the "out islands." The sites at Lae Island (west of Kwaj) and Woja (south-southeast) are essentially camps. There is no modern infrastructure other than a gravel airstrip that serves the Marshallese village on each island. At each site, KWAJEX brought in two prefab huts, one each for people and equipment, plus everything needed to support the project. The list is impressive; generator, fuel, floodlights, solar-heated shower, chemical toilet, refrigeration, water tank, and so on, not forgetting the weather balloon supplies and support equipment, computers, and communications gear (satellite phone, HF radio backup) that are the reason for the site.

After work I stopped by Macy's, which seems to be no relation to the Macy's in New York, although the Macy's here is sort of a department store. It's in two buildings, both relatively new. Macy's proper has a variety of clothes, gifts, electronics, and CD's. Macy's West has sports equipment, lawn and garden supplies, housewares, and hardware-type items. In both cases the displays and brand names are what you would see in the States, although in general there's only one or two brands of a particular thing. One of my co-workers has already made serious investments in Kwaj tee-shirts as gifts, and he said the selection changes amazingly quickly. What I really need is a sweatshirt to wear in my very cool office, but I think I'll wait and see if the selection of those changes as quickly.

George Huffman