Let us get the business end of the blog post out of the way first. A WINTER STORM WARNING is in effect for Ashland, Price, Iron, Lincoln, Langlade, Vilas, Oneida, Forest, and Florence counties until 7am Tuesday morning. A HEAVY SNOW WARNING is in effect for Taylor county during the same time period (it is basically the same as the WINTER STORM WARNING). A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY is in effect for Clark, Marathon, Shawano, and Menominee counties until 7am Tuesday morning. A FLOOD WATCH is in effect for Waushara county until 1am Tuesday. Snow will develop in the northwoods this afternoon with 2 to 4 inches possible north of Merrill, Antigo, and Medford. An additional 4 to 6 inches is possible in the northwoods tonight. Along highways 64 and 29 a mix of precipitation will develop during the afternoon with an inch or two of snow accumulation. An additional 2 to 3 inches is possible in these areas tonight. South of Marathon county the precipitation will be mostly rain with an inch or so possible. With an inch of rain and some melting snow, there could be some flooding problems in the southern half of the area. March is definitely going out like a lion. Since the month came in like a lamb, it makes the old saying true – that we get opposite weather on the first day of the month as compared to the end. Last year we did a little study about how often the saying come true and found that in the last 3 decades more than 50% of the time it does not come true.

After today and tonight things will settle down a bit and temps will turn a little warmer late this week. After a high temps in the 30s today and tomorrow, we should reach the low 40s Wednesday, the mid 40s Thursday, and the upper 40s on Friday. If we don’t hit 50 on Friday then it looks like we will have to wait until after the 10th of April before we reach the magical spring mark.

Space News:

I talk often about the successes (and failures) of NASA and ESA, but not too often about other Space Agencies around the world. One of the reasons is that the other space agencies seem more secretive, especially communist China. However, last Fall I did contact JAXA (Japan) about their Kaguya spacecraft and now we have an update. Both the Kaguya (Japan) and Chang’e-1 (China) lunar missions are doing well. JAXA is going to extend the mission of Kaguya for another 6 months, however, they will not be releasing the scientific data from the mission until a year after it ends, sometime in 2009. Boooo. Who knows if China will ever share any data with the rest of the world.

While on the subject of the moon, here is an interesting story: Now you can send your remains to the moon for $10,000. A company is offering to send a small capsule filled 1 oz of your cremated remains (or those of a loved-one) to the moon. The company – Celestis – has been sending ashes into orbit for a few years now and was also responsible for sending the cremated remains of astronomer Eugene Shoemaker to the moon on board a NASA flight.

Not sure if I linked to this video as of yet so here goes: an explanatory video of the landing maneuvers required for the Mars Phoenix robotic science lab. All the steps the craft has to go through in order to land safely are quite amazing.

Also, more data is now available from Cassini’s close inspection of Enceladus.

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I meant what I said in the headline, we are expected an early Spring winter storm because it is early Spring and we can still expect a winter storm.  After a generally quiet weekend, our weather will take a turn for the worse just in time for the work week. A strong low pressure system is expected to move into the area on Monday with the potential for multiple types and amount of precipitation across the viewing area. Keep in mind, that this storm is very complicated and there are many different factors that will contribute to how much and what type of precipitation we receive. The one thing that we are confident about is that whether you are expecting heavy rain, snow or a wintry mix, travel will be quite hazardous and difficult Monday into Tuesday morning. Here is what we are thinking now. Precipitation will start to arrive early Monday morning and start out as a light mix. During the afternoon and early evening is when we can expect the heaviest precipitation. Late Monday evening and Monday night, precipitation will mix with and change-over to all snow across the viewing area as temperatures fall. Snow will taper to flurries and end Tuesday morning.

The following warnings and advisories are in effect for the viewing area:

…Winter Storm Warning for Vilas, Oneida, Langlade, Lincoln, Forest and Florence counties beginning 10 AM Monday to 7 AM Tuesday

…Winter Storm Warning for Ashland, Iron and Price counties beginning 10 AM Monday through 6 AM Tuesday

…Heavy Snow Warning for Taylor county beginning 7 AM Monday to 6 AM Tuesday …Winter Weather Advisory for Marathon, Shawano, and Menominee counties beginning 10 AM Monday to 7 AM Tuesday

…Winter Weather Advisory for Clark county beginning 7 AM Monday to 6 AM Tuesday

…Flood Watch for Waushara county beginning 7 AM Monday to 1 AM Tuesday

Those are the general lines of thinking right now, here are some details. In the Northwoods, snow will be the predominant type of precipitation, but there may be times when sleet and freezing rain mix in as well. From a line of Medford-Merrill-Antigo and north, 3-6 inches of wet, heavy snow are possible. North of Rhinelander-Phillips, accumulations of 4-8+ are possible Monday into early Tuesday. In central Wisconsin including Marathon, Clark, Shawano, Wood & Portage counties, there may be 1-3 inches of heavy, wet snow which will mix with rain, sleet and freezing rain throughout the day. South and east of Wisconsin Rapids-Stevens Point-Waupaca, the main precipitation type will be rain, but there could be a mix of sleet and freezing rain at times, especially Monday evening and night. This is also the area where rain may be some heavy rainfall between 1to 2 inches along with an isolated thunderstorm. When you combine the heavy rain with snow melt, there is the potential for flooding, particularly in small streams, creeks and low-lying areas. Monday night, probably midnight 2am, the main low will be east of the state allowing cold air to wrap in which will change precipitation over to all snow as aforementioned earlier. By Tuesday morning, precipitation will taper off completely.

Stay tuned to TV-9/34 for the latest updates and details! Have a great night and travel safe!

Meteorologist Megan Syner

Posted under Science

We are finally starting the transition into Spring even though temperatures continue to stay below average.  It doesn’t look like we’ll see that change in the short-term, but in the long-term we will continue to see temperatures climb which is good news for those of you anxious for Spring weather!  As for our snowpack, it continues to slowly melt which is a good thing because the mild days and chilly nights helps reduce flooding risks.  In Wausau, our snow depth is 13 inches while 17 inches of snow is still on the ground in Rhinelander.  Despite all the snow that has fallen over Madison and Milwaukee, there is no snow on the gound in Madison and only 1 inch in Milwaukee and the reason is because temperatures have been milder so the snow melts quicker.  As for flooding concerns, there isn’t too much in central Wisconsin, most of the flooding problems are towards Milwaukee.  If you are curious to see how high rivers are across the area, the NWS in Green Bay keeps track so check them out at this website.

On the opposite end of flooding, fire danger in Wisconsin typically peaks in the Spring because we can tend to see dry air masses sitting over the area for a period of time.  This can be of particular concern if our snow melt is no longer present because the snow keeps moisture in the ground and if it is windy and dry with little snow melt, then the NWS will issue different fire statement.  When conditions are favorable for wild fires to form, this is known as "Red Flag" conditions.  To learn more about what a Red Flag Warning is and the exact criteria associated with them, read this article from teh NWS in Green Bay.

Parts of the area may be concerned about the potential for flooding on Monday as a storm system loaded with Gulf of Mexico mositure pushes into the area.  Areas south and east of Marathon county have the best chance for seeing heavy rain that could potentially cause minor flooding in streams and creeks, especially with the snow melt that will be associated with it.  I’ll have more details about Monday’s event on Sunday so check back!  Have a great night!

Meteorologist Megan Syner

Posted under Science

        I write tonight completely depressed after the beat down the badgers took this evening.  Did not see this one coming but that Curry dude was un real.  Well I guess for me there is always the weather:)  Our chilly weather continues.  It now looks almost definite that we will not see 50 degrees this March.  Our only slight chance will be tomorrow.  If we receive strong enough warm air advection with winds out of the south, and all day sunshine we have at least a shot.  But I’m afraid increasing afternoon clouds and a very chilly start to the day will leave us a bit short.  The last time we did not hit 50 once in March was 7 years ago in 2001.  On the bright side I’ll take tomorrow’s weather any day in March.

      In the coming days we have a couple storm system which will affect the area.  The first one arrives on Sunday.  An area of low pressure will track well to the north on Sunday trailing a cold front.  With most air in place and a trailing cold front, we will likely have some light rain and snow showers state-wide.  The second and much stronger system arrives on Monday.  This system will almost make a bee-line from Texas due north into the Badger state.  If all the pieces come together we could have some fairly heavy precipitation.  Precipitation is the key word and the biggest question right now.  I’m leaning towards more of a rain event for most, but there will likely be some accumulating snow at least across the northwestern portions of the state.  With that said, heavy rain could almost be more of a concern than snowfall.  The ground is still fairly frozen and saturated from melting snow, so heavy rains could tap off the potential for flooding.  One of the computer models is  outputing over an inch of precipitation.  We’ll have to keep a close eye on this one.  Until then…enjoy your weekend folks!!

Meteorologist Brian Niznansky

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If you read the blog often you know I closely watch the debate on AGW and criticize the "sky is falling" (and failing, and deteriorating, and being destroyed, etc…)  attitude a bit. On the flip side I am always keeping my eye out for the latest in new technology and energy developments because I feel progress is the best way forward to live cleaner and more efficiently. One that note, MIT researchers have created multicrystalline solar cells that are 27 percent more efficient while keeping the cost the same. More electricity, less cost, good news. Like many breakthroughs reported in the news, this is just a laboratory creation and is not commercially available, however there are no major hurdles to mass production. In a year or two we might see this new solar cell on the market. Not everything makes it to market but many do. It was 2 or 3 years ago that there was a lot of buzz about thin film solar panels, and now products are rolling off the assembly line a Nanosolar and a couple other U.S. companies.

Another new energy technology that is a bit more exotic but nonetheless useful is radiative-electric materials. These are materials that turn radiation directly into electricity – similar to thermoelectric materials that powered the Pioneer spacecraft. Researchers have created radiative-electric materials that are 20 times better at creating electricity than thermoelectric materials. This could mean a new energy source for spacecraft and could usher in a new era of nuclear power down hear on the surface. The one big hurdle is handling the radioactive source material that will power the systems.

A lot of companies are making money off of alternative energy but many of them are the smaller start-up type companies. The larger companies of the world have experienced tough sledding at times trying to turn their operations and products "green". The bottom line (profits) still matter. According to this article, Toyota lost money on the Prius and they made up for it by making a bigger Tundra and upping their sales of trucks.

What about Black Holes (mentioned in the title)?

Some scientists are suing the creators of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) being built at CERN in Switzerland. They fear that this particle smashing toy of physicists will create miniature black holes or other exotic matter that could destroy the entire earth. Read about the lawsuit here. The vast majority of scientists think these scenarios a nearly impossible and the odds of catastrophe are so tiny that it doesn’t even deserve debate. However, since most scientists are agnostic, they won’t rule anything, no matter how crazy, completely out. And thus this stuff makes headlines every once in awhile.

Big Storms

Big storms have been missing Northcentral Wisconsin so far this Spring, but that might change early next week. Another storm system will be moving up from the south on Monday afternoon and linger in the upper Midwest through early Tuesday morning. The last two storms were at times projected to hit our area and then stayed farther south. That is a possibility again with Monday’s storm, but it is close enough that you will want to pay close attention to the weekend forecast with Megan Syner. If the storm makes a direct hit in Northcentral Wisconsin there could be several inches of heavy wet snow. Other than Monday’s potential storm, things will be fairly tranquil. Conditions should remain dry today and tomorrow. There is a 40 percent chance of light rain and snow showers on Sunday, the chance of snow late Monday (as mentioned above), then dry weather late Tuesday through Thursday. High temps will be in the upper 30s today, the low 40s tomorrow, and Sunday, drop back into the 30s for Monday and Tuesday, then rise back into the 40s late next week.

Last but not least, a viewer photograph – this one taken by Joel Mackie of Rudolph. The grandkids were having fun on Easter Sunday.

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This March has been cold but it has not been very snowy. Most of the area has yet to experience a major snowstorm. The only semi-big storm hit the far southern part of the area late last week. On Good Friday there was 6 inches of snow reported in Arkdale and Necedah and 4 inches in Wild Rose, otherwise the snow has been on the light side. The total snowfall so far this March in Wausau is 7.4. Through this time of the month the normal is 9.2 inches. Not too much snow is on the way either, unless there is a big change in the storm system projected for Sunday. Right now it looks like 2 or 3 inches of snow is possible in the Northwoods. While more rain than snow is likely in the southern half of the area. I’ll give you another update tomorrow after the freshest data arrives. Other than Sunday’s storm we might have to deal with another bout of rain and snow on Monday if a second storm system moves up from the south (which hasn’t been the case for most of the storms this winter/spring). After Monday there should be a couple dry days with slightly warmer temps. By Tuesday and Wednesday, high temps should reach the mid 40s. What about further down the road during the month of April? Take a look here at the front page of the CPC website. Click on the "One Month Outlook: Temperature" and you will see the the outlook for Wisconsin is EC, which means equal chances of above or below normal temperatures. Not much help there. The southeastern U.S. has a higher chance of seeing warmer than normal temps which would be a continuation of the winter trend. If you go here you can click through predictions for every month of the year. Most of the months we are in the equal chances category. One thing that has me slightly worried is a greater chance of below normal precipitation during July and August. I hope this is not the case. 5 years in a row of below normal precipitation during the growing season is enough for me. I am tired of it.

Energy News

California is making news again with regard to electric vehicles. You might remember that I reported on California’s effort to basically sue the world in retribution for their homegrown pollution problem. They want to sue major automakers. They want to sue the EPA. Sue. Sue. Sue. They blamed GM for killing off the first attempt at making electric vehicles a stable presence on California roadways. Now they are blaming…..themselves…. for killing off another mandate for electric vehicles. The California Air Resources Board has slashed the mandated number of EVs that automakers must build between 2012 and 2017 from 75,000 to 27,500. First of all, isn’t it kind-of un-American to tell a private company what they must build? Secondly, what if the technology is not available or super expensive? That is what has held back widespread EV adoption so far. It isn’t a conspiracy. People want vehicles that can travel more than 10 or 20 miles on a charge. Battery and supercapcitor technology is just now coming around to the point where we can drive an EV over 100 miles. The Tesla roadster is advertised to get over 200 miler per charge. That’s pretty good. I am a big fan of EVs and I hope to buy one as my next car. Rumor has it that a fellow in Wausau has bought an EV and is now (or will soon) petitioning the City Council to allow neighborhood EVs. Even though I am a big fan, I am also a realist. It is a fools errand to force EVs into production before the technology or economics of the situation allow it. Perhaps there are a lot of fools in California. Between 2012 and 2017, fossil fuels will be much more expensive (and you thought $3.00 a gallon was bad) and that will naturally bring more fuel efficient vehicles, including EVs, onto the market.

Speaking of expensive fossil fuels, I still am unsure whether the IPCC and major climate modelers have woken up to the fact that human society has maxed out on fossil fuel production across the world. When you hear all of the doom and gloom AGW disaster scenarios reported in the media, they often mention "if we continue business as usual". There is a snowball’s chance in ‘a very hot place’ that human society’s main energy source will be earth based fossil fuels in the year 2100. So the worst case climate models should be taken with a huge grain of salt. The long range computer models were forecasting a warmer than normal winter in the U.S. this year and it ended up being the coldest winter since 2001 and at many places across  the globe it was the coldest winter in 100 years.

What if the colder trend (temps have been decreasing slightly since 1998) continues? Will we continue to hear disaster stories about how "Global Warming" is ruining the planet? Maybe for awhile, but more likely what you will here is a change in terminology. A person I know in the news business says there has already been a slight shift in how people talk about AGW. Instead of saying "Global Warming" more alarmists are saying "Climate Change". That way if temps get colder in the future climate alarmists can still say it is bad and it is all caused by human activity and spend many years and millions of dollars drawing up Kyoto-like regulatory treaties. I am all for minimizing the impact on the environment, I just don’t like using force to achieve those ends.

While I am on the subject of AGW, I have another item to add to the big list of bad things that will happen because of AGW. Global Warming will irreversibly alter water circulation in Lake Tahoe, and this will kill off most of the native fish and plant species. Whenever you hear the word "irreversible" in an AGW story, you have my permission to view it with a large dose of skepticism. The earth has gone through mammoth temperatures swings throughout its history and none of it has been irreversible, I am not sure why it would be now, especially on long time scales. Anyway, here is the updated list:

(irreversibly alter water circulation in Lake Tahoe, dramatically decreased rice production, fewer flowers in the Rocky Mountains, the Butterfly fish will starve, transportation system will be ruined, air pollution related deaths will increase, tropical fish could go deaf, more ocean deserts, more tundra wildfires, collapsing oceanic food webs, sharks devastating Antarctic sea life, the drying up of Lake Mead by 2021, plant-devouring insect invasions, poor food quality, increased human mortality, solastalgia/mental illness, more wars, the past 1993 conflict in Somalia, more intense heat waves, more heat deaths, polar bears starving, Isle Royale Moose dying, Walruses dying, Penguins starving, Australian bats dying, more hurricanes, less hurricanes, more intense and bigger hurricanes, more stormy weather, rising oceans, more acidic oceans, California wildfires, more droughts, more floods, future disastrous declines in food production, coral reefs (hard and soft) dying, enormous extinctions of plant and animal species, massive loss of fish in the Bering Sea, the earth literally being torn apart, Amazon deforestation, a bigger ozone hole, a smaller ozone whole, less fresh water, more obesity, more hunger, more asthma, more allergies, more infectious disease, more to come)

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It’s hard to believe that a year ago on this day we broke a record high temperature of 77 degrees!  This year, its quite the opposite with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees.  I must say though that 40 degrees is a step up from the consistent 30s that we’ve experienced lately.  And if you are anxious for more Spring weather, then you might not have to wait much longer.  It seems that over the long term we may start to see more typical Spring weather (perhaps early April).  During this time, the jet stream may make a trek farther north which would allow warmer air and more moisture to surge in from the south.

It seems as if the storm system that was expected to bring snow to portions of the viewing area is heading south, but that doesn’t mean we won’t see any snow.  There will still be some snow showers south of Highway 10 with up to an inch, perhaps an isolated 2-inch amount.  Flurries are possible as far north as Wausau.  Our next storm system may bring a mix of rain and snow to the area on Sunday so we’ll be keeping a close eye on that.  And if you are concerned about more drought for the upcoming Spring and Summer it looks like the Northwoods are already starting out in a drought.  You can check out all the details at this website.  Hopefully, we’ll see more rain this Spring all across the area so we can have a good start to the upcoming growing season and perhaps end our 5-year drought!!!  That is all for tonight, have a great night!

Meteorologist Megan Syner

Posted under Science

First an update on the budget cuts at NASA that I reported on yesterday. There were reports that one of the Rovers would need to be shut down because of NASA budget cuts. NASA was requesting the Rover budget be cut by 4 million by the end of this year and by 8 million in 2009. The Rover team at JPL responded by saying they would have to shut down one of the Rovers. Today there is a change of heart at NASA, as reported here. They will try to cut the budget elsewhere. I think this is a smart move by NASA since the Rovers have been so successful and are still working. They a bright spot in NASA’s space exploration record. Apparently, the budget problems arose because the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) ran 200 million over budget (Yikes…how does that happen?). The MSL is a mission planned for 2009. Read about it here. Basically it is a ‘super’ rover – larger than the current rovers and with greater science/analytic capability.

In other space news, another company (XCOR) has announced plans for a sub-orbital space ship (like Spaceship One from Scaled Composites), but is it only vaporware? Scaled Composites successfully demonstrated a sub-orbital flight last year, has since hooked up with Virgin Galactic, and has a solid business plan. I am not sure XCOR is in such a good position. I don’t even know if they have a ship that has flown as of yet. The plane they are developing will supposedly only carry a pilot and one passenger. That doesn’t sound so great, however, it should be able to fly several times a day.

Speaking of vaporware, what is the latest in the electric car market? It seems a lot of cars are promised yet hardly any have delivered (which is the definition of vaporware). ZAP is one electric car company I have written about a couple of times in the blog. Apparently they have been promising big things for many years now, but have not delivered all that much. Here is an in depth expose of the company and what the future may hold. Tesla on the other hands seems to have made it out of the vaporware category. They unveiled the Tesla roadster back in 2006 but were unable to deliver in 2007. Good news! According to this press release, regular production of the Tesla Roadster began on March 7th of this year. The company pre-sold 900 vehicles so if you want to order one ($95,000) you will have to wait until 2009 at the earliest for delivery.

What about the rest of the electric car market? Here is a nice review article about all the entrants in the automotive x-prize.

Forecast Details

Officially, at the time of this writing, there is a Winter Storm Watch in effect for Juneau, Adams, Jackson, and Monroe counties for Thursday. However, the latest computer model information is pointing toward less snow so I have a feeling this Watch will be canceled later today. There still could be some snow in the southern part of the area, but it shouldn’t be so much as to cause major trouble or warrant any advisories or warnings. Be sure to monitor Brian Niznansky’s forecast later tonight for updates.

Other than Thursday’s potential for light snow, the forecast is pretty tame, albeit cool, through Saturday. High temps will only be in the mid 30s on Thursday and Friday and then rise up to around 40 on Saturday. A milder trend will continue into next week with the mercury a little above 40 by Tuesday and Wednesday.  The next chance of precipitation will be on Sunday when a mix of rain and snow is possible.

If you are unhappy with the weather maybe you should talk to the Chinese. They have one of the most extensive weather modification programs in the world. Read about their plans to keep the skies clear during the Olympics here. They seed clouds with different chemicals to produce rain or alternatively break the clouds up. The seeding takes place with aircraft and even anti-aircraft guns. The Chinese are also changing the weather in a different way. Not only is China the largest emitter of carbon dioxide, they also generate a lot of smog and soot. NASA has been tracking the pollution from China for several years and has found that 15% of the air pollution (aerosols) in the U.S. and Canada can be traced back to China. That is a shocking number! Maybe that is why we have air pollution warnings more often nowadays.

Meteorologist Justin Loew

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With winter holding on to it’s last Gasp, it is hard to believe a year ago today, we were basking in sunshine, taking in record breaking temperatures.  A year ago today the high temperature was a warm 74 degrees, followed by a year ago tomorrow the temperature was a record 77 degrees.  There was also a funnel cloud reported on this date a year ago near Neopit, with 1.5 inch diameter hail in Amherst.  Instead this year we are talking about yet another potential snowstorm on the way….agh!!!

However this year severe weather has been a major issue across the deep south.  As a nation it was the 2nd fatal all-time for tornado deaths from the period January 1 – March 15.

Here are the top 10 Jan 1-Mar 15 rankings…

Year Deaths

1971 137

2008 69

1966 58

1950 46

2007 44

1998 42

1969 32

1997 29

1959 27

1953 24

(courtesy of the NWS)

For those interested… there is an upcoming Skywarn Spotter Training Class in Medford on April 14th at 6:30 p.m..  The event will be held at the Medford Fire Station.  The class is free and is open to anyone interested.  The 2 hour class is intended for storm spotters or potential storm spotters.

Meteorologist Brian Niznansky

Posted under Uncategorized

First the forecast. It still looks cooler than normal for the next 6 to 7 days with the coolest temps coming on Thursday and Friday. High temps should be in the low 40s today then drop into the mid 30s for Thursday and Friday. To add insult to injury, there could also be some light snow Thursday afternoon into Friday morning. Right now it looks like the heaviest snow (a handful of inches) will fall in southern Wisconsin with an inch or two possible in the southern half of our area – south of Wausau. If the storm changes course there could be as mcuh as 2 to 4 inches in our area so stay tuned to the forecast over the next 24 hours. The same goes for a storm system that could affect our area Late Sunday into Monday. It could produce some heavy snow if it tracks far enough north. So it looks like we will not have any 50 degree weather during the month of March, which is odd. Just to point out how different the weather is from year-to-year, last year on this date we had a record high temperature of 74 degrees.

Space News:

Some sad news on the space exploration front. Due to budget cuts, one of the Mars Rovers may have to be shut down. NASA needs to make budget cuts and the Mars Rover Program costs 20 million per year. NASA has proposed cutting the budget by 4 million by the end of 2008. This news got me to wondering why the Mars Rover Program costs so much every year. The major costs is just getting the Rovers to Mars. Where does all the cost come from. Are they paying the team members a million dollars per year? I doubt it. Does it cost millions of dollars to transmit data from Mars? I doubt it. I realize they need engineers on call for whenever something goes wrong with the rovers or with interplanetary communication. They also need people on staff to analyze the data. I wonder how many people are on the rover team? It would have to be 100 people each earning 100,000 per year before the labor cost would even be close to 20 million. I wonder why NASA keeps getting the axe and is losing budget money year after year. I suspect it has to do with politics. It is easy for politicians to cut science programs because there is a large segment of the population that does not understand the research and technology development that is going on. Alternatively, those same voters would be upset (to put it mildly) if government social programs were trimmed. Thus, social programs grow to the point where they are bankrupting the country while NASA feels the budget axe. As always, you can check out the rover homepage for all the latest images and discoveries.

Reader Comments

I was happy to see a couple of comments to yesterday’s blog post.

Dave was wondering if this year will be a big severe storm season for Wisconsin. It is hard for me to say at this point. I haven’t researched La Nina related severe weather in Wisconsin. Hopefully I will have time to take a look at some historical records soon. From what I have researched so far, La Nina years are weakly correlated with drought in our area. If that is that case this year then I would tend to think there would be less severe weather.

A couple of readers brought up the subject of night lighting across the world. In case you haven’t realized how much light is produced at night take a look at this image. You can click on the image for a larger view. Europe, Japan, and the Eastern U.S. really stick out as spots in the world with a lot of people and a lot of development. The Nile river is also a striking feature. It is as if the entire population of Egypt lies along the Nile river.

I would tend to agree that we could use somewhat less lighting and/or more efficient lighting, but we can’t eliminate or drastically cut night lighting, not in today’s world. We have night lighting because that is what the vast majority of the population of the world desires. It isn’t a conspiracy. It is a by-product of our technologically advanced society. People live and work 24 hours a day and thus there is a need for night lighting. Also, more crime happens in cities not because there are lights at night but because there are more people and there is more wealth in urban areas. Crime happens in the ‘dark’ countryside as well.

All this considered, there are efforts underway to use more efficient LED lights, such as the ones I profiled a couple months ago. Also, lamp designs are moving toward more a more focused beam that only points downward and not up into the sky. This makes sense. Why waste energy illuminating the night sky? That being said, barring any major world-wide catastrophe we won’t be going back to natural darkness anytime soon.  There will always be some protected dark areas and cities will become more dense in the future, so the problem should not get any worse. More light will be concentrated in small areas and focused downward.

I grew up out in the country and there was only one light in our yard so I understand and feel the desire for less light. I enjoy nature and I am sometimes depressed to see development in new areas where there used to only be trees, fields, and streams. I get nostalgic for the old days, but I don’t dwell very long, for every minute longing for the past is another minute less I spend preparing for the future.

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