A good source for tracking extreme weather

Many of those of us whose livelihoods depend on the outdoors were already "weather addicts", relentlessly checking weather websites, weather stations and comparing weather conditions with friends and colleagues. The extreme weather patterns of the past several months seem to have justified our obsession, because now almost everyone has become a weather junkie.

With this type of focus on the weather, it's good to have a reliable source of information. One of the best we've found is the federal government's…