Any truth to the rumor?

So thats how they get all the power for it!

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Dear Valued Guest, I regret to inform you that Cedar Point’s newest roller coaster, Top Thrill Dragster, is not currently in operation because of mechanical problems.

yes, believe it not the round ball is doppler. they also have the old doppler

radar that is on disaster transport.but its o.k. if you don't believe. that is the most optimal place to have it.

Having a doppler radar ball 400 feet up is too high. The optimal place to have a radar ball is about 60-90 feet up (Just above the trees)

Otherwise, you're looking up in the clouds (especially when scanning out more than 20 miles) a long way. The whole point of radar is to look at whats happening near the ground. Radar scans in a flat plane, so you'd start off up 420 feet, and then scan out and the curvature of the earth would make it so eventually you were hitting 1000+ feet up. Whats the point then?

http://www.pbase.com/image/16230720 That ball is part of the lightning rod. It helps bleed off electrons, and actually will attract lightning to the rod, instead of the rest of the ride (as has been discussed)

*** This post was edited by bholcomb 7/10/2003 12:20:55 PM ***

Well judging by the size of doppler radar at cleveland's NWS office, CP does not have Doppler radar.

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/cle/office/doppler.html

I think they get there radar feed from one of clevelands news stations. May be wrong.

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"This second hill is my favorite part of the ride. It is so Cool!"
TTD Status: "Contaminates in the system" S.K.

There is no Doppler radar at Cedar Point. As far as I know, weather information is provided by a private forecasting service.

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Walt Schmidt - Virtual Midway

Or the NewsChannel5 Forecasters... accurate... on your side. ;) The official forecasters of Cedar Point! (Yeah, I'm sure that's just marketing stuff, though the station does have a weather station on the Ice Cream building next to SkyRide.)

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Jeff - Webmaster - GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

You're right, I'm sure that's marketing. At least I hope so, considering the talent at WEWS. (I promise not to go on my yearly rant about what a true meteorologist is :) )

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Walt Schmidt - Virtual Midway
*** This post was edited by Gemini 7/10/2003 2:29:42 PM ***

Hey, that Mark Johnson guys seems to know his stuff. A lot more than Brad Sussman did, anyway.

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Jeff - Webmaster - GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

Johnson has a Bachelors degree in Telecommunications from Kent St. and a Meteorology Certificate from Mississippi St. The Miss. St. certificate program (which is usually done through correspondence) does not make a meteorologist and it has a dubious reputation. It gives them enough training to make them sound smart on TV.

Their web site says Sussman is pursuing a post-graduate degree in meteorology. I don't know what that means, but I assume it means he doesn't have any kind of related degree now.

Stephanie Roberts has a BA in Journalism from Penn State with a minor in meteorology. At least she went to the right school, though she has the minor and major reversed :)

I'm pretty picky about who I watch on television for weather. I know what it takes to get that degree, so that's why I'm a little insulted at those with certificates being called experts.

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Walt Schmidt - Virtual Midway
*** This post was edited by Gemini 7/10/2003 6:55:08 PM ***

It's television... the only thing that really matters is who is the prettiest.

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Jeff - Webmaster - GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

Gemini - I couldnt agree more ... being a fellow met major and now 3 months away from a masters degree in Atmos. Sci., I know what it takes. Dynamics, thermo, atmospheric physics, etc ... just some of the "challenging" classes we have to endure.

Jeff - that's true and understandable. Just don't present them as experts. But outside of Stephanie Roberts, who in Cleveland TV weather is pretty? ;)

Gemini joe - congratulations. I've been through all of that stuff, so I know the challenge of which you speak.

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Walt Schmidt - Virtual Midway

I've given up on TV weather altogether and just usually read what the NWS has to say. Figure I'll skip the middle guy and go straight to the source. Sadly, even the NWS is wrong often :/

hey guys, i know this has nothing to do with what you all are talking about, but i'm coming to Ohio in about two weeks and I always go to Cedar Point when I'm there, so is there a good chance that dragster will be open? thanks...

Amyg, not to sound like a jerk or anything, but no one here knows if there is a good chance TTD will be open in 2 days let alone 2 weeks. :)

lol its cool, thanks

Dragster was down Tuesday because of a hydraulic problem. They tried firing it up in the morning for resort ERT but couldn't get it going for whatever reason. So they announced it would be down for the day. About 3 o clock I believe that day, they had a crane over the hydraulic room pulling out the pumps. I'm not sure how many they pulled out becuase we didn't stay that long to watch. (cue-tip11 and I) They were out there til about 8ish I think. They quit when the rain started to come in. Whatever they did worked becuase it ran fairly well all day wednesday.

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If idiots could fly planes, this place would be a friggin airport!
*** This post was edited by Will_1205 7/10/2003 9:15:53 PM ***

O.K. call me gullible, I was there 6/28/03 and thats what one of the oil changers on C.P. maintenance said.and when I say oil changers he said he was on of the auto/cart maintenance people. Anyway he had a tool belt, a radio, and was pretty dirty !

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Millie:20
TTD: 1
CP&LE RR: 150
*** This post was edited by imadj 7/10/2003 8:46:23 PM ***

Walt, when some of those news channels break and goto commericial they say the person has a AMS seal of approval. Can a person have that and not be a meteorologist? I am guessing yes. And what degrees does Dick Goddard have? I know off topic, pardon me.

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"This second hill is my favorite part of the ride. It is so Cool!"
TTD Status: "Contaminates in the system" S.K.

Dick received his weather training with four years in the Air Force and then five years with the National Weather Service (though I think it was called something else back then) before he was ever on TV. He doesn't actually have a degree that I know of, but this was back in the 50's. It was different way back then and he's the exception to the rule.

The AMS seal does not require a degree in meteorology. The AMS has a professional guideline to what a meteorologist is and it is much different from the Seal of Approval program. Under that guideline, people who do not meet the requirements should be referred to as weathercasters, not meteorologists. But you can still be a weathercaster and have the AMS seal. The stations that use the AMS seal should follow that AMS guideline as well. But that's not good marketing :)

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Walt Schmidt - Virtual Midway
*** This post was edited by Gemini 7/11/2003 6:55:21 AM ***