Whether you are getting ready to go to the beach, or the mountains, or on vacation to a locale you are not familiar with, being able to track the weather is important... and fun!

Even if you're not going anywhere... we all like to know what the weather is going to be like wherever we are. Right?

But who has the time to log on to the Internet and then bounce around from site to site trying to find the weather information that you need?

Sometimes it's not so much a matter of time as just not wanting to do it. That's usually what the case is for me, I simply don't want to spend the time and energy looking online for a website that has the weather information I'm looking for.

So what are the options when you want to find updated weather information in a hurry, without all the fuss and muss? Fortunately there are a few nifty little weather tools that you can download to your computer that will help you to keep track of the weather -- any time, any place.

You can even download them to your laptop to take along with you on the road!

I saw a report a week or so ago on ABC News about weather insurance.

Sometimes it's referred to as vacation insurance or travel insurance.

Several online companies are offering what they call "vacation insurance," deals in which they will reimburse any parts of a vacation that are ruined.  "We will cover them if their vacation is rained out," Jeff Boyd, CEO of Priceline.com, told Good Morning America.  -- ABC News

These days, more and more companies and services are providing weather insurance to protect you from things like rain delays at sporting events and concerts, as well. And companies are even offering weather insurance for those times when a complete change of plans are required (due to the weather) at your own outdoor events, including weddings.

Here's more about weather insurance...

I once heard someone say that teachers coined the phrase "The Dog Days of Summer" because they all got to lay around like dogs and do nothing during the hottest part of the year -- like dogs get to do every day of the year. 

Of course, that's not true, but do you know where the phrase really came from?

We usually think of summer as that time between Memorial Day at the end of May and Labor Day in the beginning of September.  Officially, that's not really the case though.

Meteorological summer runs from June 1st through August 31st -- typically the hottest 3-month period of the year.  Traditionally, however, we use the astronomical definition of our seasons. 

So here's more about "the first day of summer"... and for that matter, "the first day of winter".  We'll try to make sense of what's going on during summer solstice and winter solstice.

Trying to understand a hurricane is tough for even the most seasoned meteorologists. 

That makes big storms like hurricanes really tough to explain to kids. 

Here are some great websites which help do just that...

Why is that rain cloud so dark? 

That's one of the most common questions I hear when making weather presentations. 

It is also one of the simplest to answer. 

Read on!

You've seen storm chasers and weather spotters featured on the local and national news. Plenty of times, right?

What is the definition of a storm chaser?  A storm chaser is defined as a person who pursues imminent or existing severe thunderstorms, for any reason, and operates independently or as part of a research effort.  Source

Ever wonder how you can become an official weather spotter for the National Weather Service?

Well, I did it. I became an NOAA weather spotter. Here's how I did it...