After a successful inaugural grant program in 2008, NK is pleased to continue supporting the rowing community by making nearly $5,000 worth of equipment grants available not only to current national team members, but also to those training hard to make it to the elite level.

We are happy to announce this year’s NK Athlete Grant Recipients for 2009. This year, we selected our grant recipients from over 150 applicants. We wish all of these athletes successful training and racing in the coming year.

Have your sights set on a national junior, U23, senior or adaptive team? Watch for our grant application window in late 2010. Tell us your story, your goal, and how you plan to get there, and you too may earn an NK Athlete Grant of $250 towards NK equipment to support you in your training.

Just two weeks ago, I blogged from the dark recesses of my electricity-deficient house (and my generous neighbor’s shared WI-FI internet) about the snowpocalypse taking over the Philadelphia area. That colossal white blanket broke records, shut down airports and highways, and caused mass black outs. Got to love the dramatic irony of a widespread whiteout resulting in an even more far-reaching black out as power lines struggled and snapped under the strain of heavy accumulated ice and snow…even after the flakes stopped.

Well, here we are again folks! It appears we are under Jack Frost’s icy thumb as we prepare for another (gasp) 18 inches of powder. Never one to blindly rely on a meteorologist’s sometimes unpredictable prediction, I’m setting up a portable Kestrel Weather station outside the office to track the hourly trends. The new Kestrel Meter with Bluetooth technology can send all the instant, on-site weather conditions straight to my lap top. This way, I can monitor real-time environmental weather data such as current wind speed, wind direction, temperature, wind chill, dew point, altitude, barometric pressure and more throughout the day! Plus, I’m definitely going to dunk my Kestrel into the snow to get the snow temp just for fun. Maybe Lindsey Vonn would have liked to know that as she navigated those slopes? The US biathlon team sure relied on their Kestrel 4500 for the most accurate environmental readings they could get…when you’re going for the gold, guessing just doesn’t cut it.

Our new Technical Support Manager, Ben Nielsen and I are headed out to set up the Kestrel 4500 with Bluetooth, collapsible tripod and Vane Mount for full weather monitoring capabilities. Welcome to the Kestrel blogosphere Ben! Look for video and pics as we do hourly updates on the looming snow storm. Hey, if we get snowed in the office and have to sleep here…does that count as overtime? Never hurts to ask:)

Kestrel Fans: How do YOU Kestrel in extreme conditions? Send me your pics and I’ll post them to our Facebook page, website and twitter. Or upload them yourself and tag me. If it’s a really cool pic, I’ll blog about it on NKhome.com.

Current conditions by #KestrelWeather are 34 degrees, Wind Chill 21 degrees, winds 14 MPH. Weather is as fickle as a 2-year old so be sure to check back for up-to-date conditions throughout the day.

Your Kestrel Weather Girl,

Monica

twitter.com/KestrelChick

facebook.com/KestrelMeters

mdevlin@nkhome.com

Here we are in the midst of a major sweeping snow storm that has everyone on the east coast sick with cabin fever! The Kestrel girls first heard about the storm set to hit Philadelphia while we were away on the other side of the country exhibiting the Kestrel 4300 Construction Weather Tracker at the World of Concrete.

Luckily our Business Development Manager Christy Munding made it back just in the nick of time before the airports shut down. I got stuck along with a mass of people in a sea of cancelled flights. Thanks to a packed red-eye, I did arrive back in between when the second big storm was about to hit. 15.8 inches of the white stuff. With power outages and major roads shut down, there’s nowhere to go and nothing much else to do except watch the weather!

I checked the temp with my Kestrel 4500 and it was a wintry 2o degrees.  Winds speeds varied throughout the night but when I checked at 10PM, they was hitting about 14MPH. The wind chill read 4 degrees and I can vouch that it sure felt that way!

Tonight, I’m going to track the jack frost conditions and see how they change throughout the night. You’d be surprised how much the actual weather conditions can vary even 10 miles away! The surroundings suburbs got hit much harder here than center city Philadelphia. Since most central weather stations are located at an airport possibly miles away from your town, you could be shocked to see the variance in forecast if it’s based on remote data. But our Kestrel weather buffs already know that:)

Send in your favorite winter wonderland pics and I’ll be sure to post them on our page! I’ll have some of mine posted tonight.

E-mail me at mdevlin@nkhome.com , send them to me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kestrelmeters or Twitter.com/kestrelchick.

P.S. Please be patient if I don’t respond right away- I still have no power (including internet!) but my neighbors are kind enough to let me share their WiFi in exchange for hot cocoa. Hopefully I’ll be back in electricity action tonight.

Happy Winter Weather Watching!

Your Kestrel Weather Girl & Faithful Blogger,

Monica