Wouldn’t I love to give you a really impressive and technical post about weather here in the mountains? Well, I can’t but Preston Jacobsen with Local Yokel Weather sure can. What I can tell you is that for most of the years I’ve lived here, weather forecasts in the mountains can be like tuning into a forecast for a totally different state!
Weather f
orecasts on television are broadcast from Asheville, NC (40 miles away), Greenville, SC (75 miles away) or Knoxville, TN (90 miles away). Pretty often they bear little resemblance whatsoever to the weather we actually do experience here in Sylva. The Asheville weather is the one we usually hear. It isn’t unusual for beautiful sunny and dry weather to be predicted and we get rainfall! Sometimes in the winter we’ll hear about 4-6” of snow and rush out to get the prerequisite French Toast supplies (milk, eggs and bread???) only to find not a flake in sight.
That kind of perceived hit and miss forecasting has made the weather dudes the butts of lots of jokes…until a couple of years ago. It calms my mind to see how
inventive and smart some of the younger people in our area are. When I started googling Preston Jacobsen I thought all I’d find out was information about his 5 local weather stations. I’ve never met him, but it sure would be a pleasure. Not only is he wicked smart about weather, but he’s an entrepreneur … my favorite kind of individual. His website’s sponsored by local businesses and has good local information. He’s also mentioned all over googledom in association with business sustainability. I like that, sustainability is the direct opposite of “flash in a pan”. We love longevity.
Preston’s also creating jobs. He’s advertised for a commissioned direct sales position to sell advertising for his website. If I didn’t already have a commissioned gig, I’d think
about it. What’s better than selling products you can believe in? He offers a 20% commission on advertising spots on his website. He seems to consistently get around 500 hits a day and tons more with stormy or snowy weather. I hope he gets several great candidates. Who knows what kind of inspiration he can provide to one of his “hires” or what path he can set in motion for someone?
I’ve no way of knowing how old Preston is. He’s a fairly recent graduate of college so he’s probably under 30. Someone like him makes me feel way better about the future.
Back to the weather. Real estate agents really do depend on accurate forecasts. If it’s going to be cloudy, rainy and foggy - maybe that’s not the best time to schedule appointments for “view” properties or walking land. Thanks to Preston Jacobsen’s daily updates on his LocalYokel weather website, now if we see that our area should be sunny and warm…we can chance it and leave the umbrella home. That should give me more room in the car!
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