The rumors have been flying for the past few years that December 2012 will be the end of the world.  A lot of the hysteria has been fueled by the so called Mayan calendar reaching the end of its cycle at that point.  Throw  in the wacky weather and climate of the past few years, unprecedented  March heat, earthquakes in Clintonville, WI, terrible world economies, and a movie dealing with Earth’s demise, “2012″, and you have all you need to stir up a frenzy.

Well some NASA folks have set out to debunk all the end of the world hysteria.  They have put together a nice article that basically says there is no science, no evidence, and no facts to support the claim that 2012 is the end.  They dive into the following items and explain why we should not be overly concerned about them for this year.

• Planetary alignment
• Magnetic pole shifts
• Planets or brown dwarfs approaching Earth
• Meteors, comets, and asteroids
• Giant solar storms
• Super novas
• Super volcanoes
• Mayan calendar

Well if you are worried that our days are numbered, please check out this NASA link.  It should give you a bit of reassurance if nothing else.   http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html

Posted under astronomy, Natural Disasters, Science, World Weather

While we didn’t have the best view of the Northern Lights around here last week when the big geomagnetic storm was hitting the Earth, some in the southern hemisphere certainly enjoyed the aurora.  In fact an astronaut on the International Space Station took photos of the Southern Lights between Australia and Antarctica.  The green hues and expansive vista are out of this world. 

Courtesy: NASA, taken by Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers

Posted under astronomy, Space

You’ve probably heard about the devastating tornadoes that ripped through the Deep South late Sunday night.  The preliminary count from Storm Prediction Center is around 22 twisters.  

  Some were fairly strong with winds estimated up to 150 mph.  The cause was a sharp trough of low pressure moving east from the Plains.  Warm and humid air was surging north from the Gulf of Mexico to collide with the colder air in place farther north.  As you’ll see in the map below from the Storm Prediction Center from Sunday evening, dew points had climbed to the 60s around part of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Alabama along a warm front where most of the twisters occurred. 

 Very strong atmospheric winds were moving in from the west.   The winds were turning in direction with height, which is another important factor for forming violent tornadoes.  We can only hope we d0n’t have as active of a spring as last year for severe weather.  Numerous major low pressure systems marched from the Southern Plains to the Mid-Atlantic and set up a frequent battleground in that area in late winter and spring 2011.

STRONG SOLAR STORM IMPACTING EARTH

On a different note, a strong solar flare erupted from the sun Sunday evening with possible impacts to aircraft communications near the Earth’s poles.   Besides the flare, a Coronal Mass Ejection accompanied this event.  A geomagnetic storm is expected to develop around 8 a.m. CST Tuesday, continuing into Wednesday.  It could be a moderate intensity (G2).

From NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory showing the solar flare that erupted Sunday evening

This may affect power grids, where voltage corrections may be required along with false alarms set off on some protective devices.  A few spotty satellite navigation and low-frequency rado navigation problems may also develop.

Finally, high latitude locations could be fortunate enough to have some decent auroras.  Let’s hope our skies are fairly clear around here.

Posted under astronomy, Severe Weather, Space, Storms, Tornadoes, Weather NEws

Image from NOAA

The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year, but even a little bit of sunlight created a brilliant photo op from space.

Check out this incredible image from NOAA–its an image of the earth that includes all of South and North America plus parts of the North Pole and Antarctica taken on the 2011 Winter Solstice. 

Here’s the desription provided by NOAA: “Taken on December 22, 2011, this full hemisphere scan from the GOES East satellite shows Earth on the 2011 winter solstice. The solstice is the shortest day of the year, and is also notable because the Sun’s angle relative to the planet is at its most southern point, leaving the North Pole in darkness. The high angle is evident in this image, were no visible cloud imagery can be seen over the North Pole, whereas the South Pole is well lit. Clouds are actually present over the North Pole (and would be visible in infrared imagery), however the visible imager sensor on GOES requires sunlight to capture imagery – and there is no sunlight at the high latitudes.”

To see the image in more detail follow this link:  http://www.nnvl.noaa.gov/MediaDetail.php?MediaID=912&MediaTypeID=1

When you get to the page, if you click on the image once, you’ll get an expanded zoom that shows amazing detail! 

It’s a bit astonishing to look at the image.  The earth looks so quiet, peaceful and calm.  You can’t tell that millions of people are on it, living their lives unaware of their photo being taken from space. 

What a nice way to bring in 2012, by seeing the earth from afar, and perhaps to reflect on what an incredible gift it is! 

And happy new year! 

Posted under astronomy, Environment, International Weather, Nature, new media, Science, Weather NEws, World Weather

Before discussing anything else in the blog, I would like to remind everyone that I am soliciting ideas for the top 10 weather events in our area during 2011. Thanks to Ray who commented on some of the trends he remembered from the past year!

Another sign that we are getting closer to the end of the year is that today is the Winter Solstice or the shortest day of the year. It is the day that many people mistakenly call the beginning of Winter. Defined by monthly temperature (which makes more sense), Winter began back on December 1st (and will end February 29th).

Another reason today’s date is important is that we only have one more year to live! That is, according to some Mayan Calendar “experts”. If you haven’t heard previously, the ancient Mayans created a method of counting time that was on a 144,00 day cycle. The 13th cycle of this “long” calendar will end next year on December 21st. Some people think it will be the end of the world. The Mayans do not seem to think so. I have read a few interviews where Mayans state they don’t understand why it is a big deal. I agree. It seems that most of the apocalypse talk has come from western religion and society, not Mayan practices. Hollywood recently got in on the mythology as well.

I have a 365 day calendar here at the office. It ends on December 31st. I don’t think the end of my calendar signifies the end of the world. I doubt the 144,000 day Mayan calendar signifies the end of the world either. Ah, but it sure is fun to talk about.

Not so fun for snow-lovers and Winter enthusiasts is that another day has passed and the weather pattern still looks very quiet. No significant snow or cold is likely for the next week or two. It might be the middle of January before we have any amount of snow on the ground. The upside to the tranquil weather is that there should be good travel weather for the Christmas weekend.

Have a fine Wednesday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under astronomy, Seasonal Items

Some NASA astronauts just released one amazing video.  It’s a four minute and 56 second video that time-lapses the International Space Station’s rotation around the earth. 

The video is amazing.  It’s quality is superb.  And when you see it you get the opportunity to see features of the Earth from a perspective you’ve likely never seen before. 

The Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights are incredible to see looking down on the Earth instead of from the surface to the sky.  Seeing the collective lights of our planet’s cities matched under the clouds visible from space is beautiful. 

Plus, the trance-like music the video is set to is very relaxing! 

Check out the video here: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/8373771/astronauts-share-orbit-of-earth-in-stunning-time-lapse-sequence

Posted under astronomy, Environment, new media, Science, Technology

Keep an eye out for meteors this weekend! Meteor image courtesy NASA

Keep an eye to the sky this weekend!  The Draconid meteor shower is going on up above! 

Though astronomers are saying those of us in North America won’t have the best view, we may still see a few go by.  If you have friends or family in Europe, North Africa or the Middle East, give them a ring–they’ll be better situated to get nicer view!

For more information check out this interesting article by EarthSky here.

Posted under astronomy, Environment, Nature, Science

I hope you have been enjoying the bright moonlight the last several nights with the clear skies around.  The moon is actually full early Tuesday morning, just a few hours before sunrise.  We call the fall moon that hits closest to the Autumnal Equinox the “harvest moon”.  Most of the time it occurs in September but once in a great while it falls in early October.

The harvest moon is named as such because the extra light it offers in the evening was beneficial to Native Americans and early farmers before the days of headlights on tractors and other harvest machinery.  I find it hard to believe that you could see well enough in the moonlight for the harvest to be efficient, but I suppose a few things could be gathered.  I know that when I try to harvest things in my garden and fields when it is even partially dark, everything is harder.  It’s easier to trip and fall.  It’s easy to miss some of the crop you are trying to pick.  And besides, the mosquitoes get more annoying after dark.

The full moon can often have an orange cast as it first rises on the east horizon and can look quite large. Of course, it’s no bigger than it is when it is sitting high in the sky.  Some experts say your brain tricks you into thinking the moon is bigger when it is lower in the sky, say next to a tree or building.  Your brain tries to tie the moon in with the close objects and amplifies the size.

Actually, this harvest moon may look a bit smaller than usual as it gets up higher because the moon in nearing apogee.  This is when the moon is at its farthest point from earth in its orbit.    Well, the weather should be pretty cooperative for moon watching with just scattered clouds the next two nights.  So enjoy the sight and light!

Posted under astronomy, Fall