Tomorrow we officially kick of spring at 6:21 pm! Unfortunately this week is going to feel more like winter than spring.  We will see more 30s than 40s and even snow back in the forecast!

If you are curious about what the Spring equinox is you can check out my blog post from last year.

As I said last night we are seeing a supermoon tonight! Go outside and check it out.  Here is more info about the supermoon and a picture that I took tonight after 8.  It was really pretty shining through the high cirrus clouds.  

This only happens around once every 18 to 25 years so make sure to take it all in.

Have a great Saturday night! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Seasonal Items, Space, Weather History, Weather NEws, Winter Weather

You may think I am crazy, but we are actually not officially in winter.  With the bitterly cold days we saw this week, it is hard to believe.  Some places dropped down to 20 below which is just astonishing to think of in mid December.  A typical mid December day is in the mid 20′s with lows in the lower teens.  This being said,  our highs in the mid teens this week, were in some cases closer to the normal low than high. 

As we all know the kick off of Winter is almost here, it officially begins at 5:38 p.m. on Tuesday, December 21.  What is also interesting is that we will see a total lunar eclipse on that same day.  This rare coincidence that we will see both events occur on the same day has not happened in over 350 years!  The last time this occurred, according to records, was December 21, 1638.  The next time the two astronomical events will fall on the same date is December 21, 2094. 

Here are the details about the eclipse:

~ It will begin at 12:33 a.m. and continue through 4:01 a.m.

~ The time when the Earth’s shadow will cover the moon, called totality, will occur from 1:41 a.m and will last until 2: 53 a.m.  The approx best time  to see the totality, when it will be at its peak and there will be a coppery shadow, will occur at 2:15 a.m. 

After explaining how awesome of a site it will be to see…. I have some bad news.  It is likely that we will be under mostly cloudy, if not overcast skies, on Monday night.  This is because we will be watching a storm system that will likely bring us our next accumulating snowfall.  It is on track to push south of us, moving along the Wisconsin, Illinois border as of  the latest model runs.  Things could change, altering the path farther north or south, but even those variations will likely still mean cloud cover over us. 

Even if we don’t get to see this total lunar eclipse it doesn’t mean we have to wait till 2094 for another one!  That is just the date that they will occur coincidentally.  The next total lunar eclipse is on June 15,2011.  Let’s hope for clear skies then!

Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under forecast, Science, Space, Uncategorized, Weather History, Weather NEws, Winter Weather

Good morning! It has been funny this morning watching the major networks talk about the arctic cold.  All over twitter and facebook I have seen folks in Alabama, Florida, the Carolinas complaining about freezing temps! I guess when you live in Wisconsin we are prepared even though this is not exactly what we should be seeing in early December! At least we know how to brave it and have the clothes for it.  It is going to be a chill week… temps likely won’t reach normal but we will have sunshine to start and then snow to end.  For more details check out my blog post from yesterday. 

I noticed this weekend I didn’t mention my story that aired on Friday and also this morning.  It was a very interesting and fun piece!  Did you know that in Northern Wisconsin, Monico, we have the World’s Largest Globe Planetarium!  It was built all by one man, Frank Kovac and he actually runs the showings himself.  I have to say I was so impressed and could not believe he did it with just hard work and persistence.  It really is an inspirational story.  Here is the link to it.  One of the most unique parts is how he did the stars inside the globe, watch the story and find out!  

Have a great Monday and see you tomorrow!

Posted under Science, Space, Technology

Not one, not two but maybe three…. yes we are watching three areas in the Tropics.  It was a slow start to the Hurricane season but like I mentioned earlier this week Sept is usually the most active month and there is still a good chance to see more storms fire up.  As of right now we have Hurricane Danielle, Tropical Storm Frank and an area that will likely become our next tropical depression. See the map below:

There is also an area of low pressure off the Louisiana coast that has caused flooding around New Orleans.  They were seeing rain rates at an inch per hour.  Off course tomorrow marks the devastating anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.  This statement from the National Weather Service office in New Orleans was written the day before the hurricane made landfall. It really hits home to just how terrible a Natural Disaster Katrina was.  What are building process that has been.

Our first major Hurricane, Hurricane Danielle luckily had no impact to the US.  It also missed Bermuda pushing to the East of the British Isle.  So thankfully she was a powerful storm that didn’t cause destruction.  She did cause issues through from rip currents.  Over 70 people were rescued in Brevard county with one surfer drowning.  There was also over 100 rescues in Virgina Beach. 

Now all eyes are on Earl.  He could atleast brush close to the Eastern Seaboard but only has about a 20% chance of making a landfall on the US.  IT has been stuck in the current of Danielle but will begin to break free and track more westward than north like its predecessor.  It will pass just to the North of the Leeward Islands and the Caribbean but shouldn’t make any landfalls.  Still tropical storm force winds, and high surf  will be issues for the islands through the beginningof the week.  It should then track towards the north and run mainly parallel to the East Coast. 

On a different subject…. I mentioned earlier about seeing the International Space Station in the night sky.  Saturday nights viewings are at 8:17 for 4 minutes and at 9:54 for 1 minute.  Sunday night you can see the ISS at 8:46 pm.  For all viewing look towards the WNW.  For a complete list of all the times you can check out that link. 

Meteorologsit Kristen Connolly

Posted under Hurricanes, Space, Tropics

First I added a new question to my “Have you ever wondered series”  This one is on the topic of drizzle versus rain. If you ever wanted to know the difference check it out!

Brian posted an article earlier this week but I just want to remind people that the Perseid’s meteor shower will be tonight and tomorrow night! I am hoping that the fog holds out just long enough for us to at least see something.  I remember watching this meteor shower last year and was able to catch just a few “shooting stars”. 

Just a quick background…The meteor shower is thought to come from the remains of the Swift-Tuttle.  They are typically one of the fastest moving stars at speeds of 60 kilometers per second!  The meteor shower was discovered back in 1862 and was rediscovered in 1992.  It takes approximately 130 years for the comet to circle the sun.  With each pass it produces a debris trail which we call the Perseids.  Every year the Earth passes closet to the orbit of the Swift-Tuttle during mid-August, it is then when we see the debris or material from the comet which we see as shooting stars!   

Best times will occur late overnight from after 2 am through dawn both tonight and tomorrow night.  Unfortunately for us, this is when fog will likely develop so I saw head outside as soon as you can.  You also want to get as far away from city lights, the country is by far the best place to observe. 

Here is all the info you need to know!

It probably won’t look like this but we can dream

Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Science, Space, Weather History, Weather NEws

Finally some rainfall! I was reading Justin’s earlier post about the fact that rain comes sometimes when we don’t want it aka the weekends.  I have to admit I like the sunshine but the rain is so needed in this area that I can take a few rainy days for the better good of everyone.  We have had various totals around the area from a few hundredths to over a half an inch in some cities south of 29.  Some of us will luck out and others will get what we need, a nice dosing. 

Speaking of rain I was just up visiting my family around the Boston area.  I was talking to some about their recent flooding.  I know a few of my famil ymembers had to literally pump out their basements so  I was talking to them about their experience dealing with the drenching rain they saw, some almost 20 inches in 24 hours.  They talked about how lucky they were compared to friends whom had just finished their basement and it was completely destroyed in the flooding.  I also noticed how much everything was in bloom up there.  I felt the difference in rain really made it feel more like spring in the northeast compared to here.  I hope the rain we see today will help to liven everything up a bit!

On the topic of things being beautiful today is the 20th anniversary of the Hubble Telescope.  Many people know what the Hubble telescope is but for those who don’t I can almost guaranteeyou have seen something shot by it.  For the past 20 years we have seen breath taken images of places in space we didn’t even know existed thanks to the Hubble.  This telescope, has let us find numerous discoveries including Pluto’s two new moons.  For the top 10 list of what Hubble has discovered check out this link. 

During its time in space the telescope has had to be repaired and service five times the last being in 2009.  The last repair occurred in 2009 and should last for at least the next 5 years without having to be touched. 

For everything Hubble you can check out its official site.  Espcially check out the gallery! Here is just one I enjoyed seeing.

On a very sad note we saw deadly tornadoes across the south today.  I will make sure to do an update on what happened for tomorrows blog.

Have a good night! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Drought, Flooding, Severe Weather, Space, Travel, Uncategorized

From New Jersey to the Carolina’s Ida’s remnants have brought havoc for many days but we are finally seeing some improvement as the storm begins to head out to sea.  Some of the reports were up to 70 mph winds in Norfolk, half of the sand gone from the beach in Virginia Beach and waves up to 16 feet high.  The reason this happened is a nor’easter combined with the remnants adding an extra punch for the east coast with drenching rains, and high winds with flooding a major issue all along the coastline.  So far 6 deaths have been blamed from the storm related weather.  The clean up is continuing especially around the Carolina and Virginia where winds knocked down trees and even blew off roofs.  It was the same for major east coast cities including Washington DC, Baltimore and New York City.  Thousands have been without power from Wednesday through Friday although crews are beginning to see relief and are working to restore it. 

For tons of pictures of the storm and damage check out this link.

The news yesterday that water was discovered on the moon has been a major story all across the world.  Now the question is what’s next.  The lunar crash kicked up 25 gallons, and that is only what they could see from the plumes explained Anthony Colaprete, the principal investigator for NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite.  Some experts are now saying that the abundance of water could make it possible for astronauts have a base camp on the moon!  The crater helping to make this discovery was call the Lcross.  It intentionally crashed into the south pole of the Moon about a month ago.  The impact carved a hole 20 to 30 meters wide which is what kicked up the liters of water in the form of ice and vapor.  I wonder if we will be visiting the moon sooner than later?  It sure would be an interesting vacation!  There are some neat pictures here.

Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Science, Severe Weather, Space, Storms

It has been a couple weeks since I last looked at the U.S. Drought Monitor. Given that we have had nearly zero precipitation since then, you would think the drought situation would have gotten much worse. So far it hasn’t, but I expect this recent dry spell to show up big time in the drought calculation before the end of the month. So far we have only seen a slight increase in the moderate drought category. It certainly is dry and if it continues then we might have a slightly early fall color season. I have read in the past that a little extra stress on the trees causes them to turn a bit early.

Across the rest of the country, things are looking pretty good. Even the exceptional drought in south Texas is improving. The worst impact from drought continues to be in California, where environmental water restrictions implemented to protect the Delta Smelt fish, has caused crops to die off and unemployment to rise up to 40% in some central valley communities.

Special Note: I forgot to bring my digital pictures from my trip to Europe to post here in the blog today. Will have to wait until early next week.

Space News:

Now some follow up stories on exciting happenings in space exploration and travel. Many of you are probably aware that the Spirit Rover is stuck in some soft sand on Mars. Engineers on earth have been trying different extraction methods with a test rover here on earth. They seem to have a couple moves planned out but are still unsure if they will work because they can not simulate all of the conditions on Mars. After all, the red planet has about one third the gravity of earth. The first attemps to move the rover will be in October. Engineers are now admitting that the rover might be permanently stuck.  If so, no need to cry. Spirit has out-lived its life expectancy by several years.

Closer to home, there has been some trouble with recent lunar craft and the accompanying sicence experiments but good data is still coming in. A couple weeks ago the LCROSS orbiter unexpectedly burned up a significant portion of its fuel. Also around the moon there was some international cooperation. India’s Chandrayaan-1 paired up with the LRO from NASA in order to explore the surface and find water. Unfortunately it did not last too long. Chandrayaan-1 had been in orbit much longer and failed. The LRO continues to function normally and is returning data and images that suggest the presence of water on the moon. One thing nice about the incident is that it is very nice to see international cooperation in space.

Speaking of images, how about some eye-candy for all you space aficionados out there? Here is a link to a new composite image of the entire Milky Way galaxy. Also, a new high resolution UV image of the Andromeda galaxy is available.

In the arena of competitive prizes, it probably comes as little surprise that Team Armadillo has won cash in NASA’s lunar lander challenge. They have shown great dedication and engineering skill in winning the prize after faltering a couple times in the beginning.

Have a nice weekend! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Drought, Space

I like doing follow-ups. Most stories require at least one follow-up but it seems we get less and less of them (especially in political reporting). I like to follow space news not only for the scientific aspects of discovery and analysis (such as atmospheric properties of other planets) but also because of a natural sense of adventure. Many readers of the blog have told me they share that sense and enjoy frequent updates. On that note, acouple months ago I mentioned that Bigelow Aerospace had not been in the news recently. I checked the news section of their website and found the last story reported was from March of 2008. I was getting worried that the worldwide economic trouble had affected the company worse than others…that maybe they were falling out of the private spaceflight race. Then, just this week, I noticed some signs of life.

As a brief review, you can check the homepage of Bigelow. They are the company that has launched 2 inflatable space habitats and they are prepping the launch of a much larger unit capable of housing humans – basically a space hotel. I also found a newer article about the 10,000th orbit of Genesis II. Even more interesting is the news that a Bigelow official has talked to NASA about creating a lighter Orion crew capsule. NASA is creating a new crew capsule to take astronauts back to the moon. In order to reach the moon it has to be heavier and carry more equipment. Bigelow is trying to convince NASA to create an additional ”Orion-lite” capsule meant for low earth orbit. No doubt they are looking for a vehicle to reach their floating space hotels. As you know, Virgin Galactic is planning on taking private citizens to space, but only to the edge of space, not into orbit.

I think we will have to rely on private companies for future space exploration because government support – especially in the U.S. – is waning. The reasons for taking daring expensive missions to the moon or Mars are being outweighed by calls for more social spending. NASA will continue to get funding for AGW research and for robotic missions, but new manned NASA missions will likely remain a dream for a long time to come. Here is a recent forum discussion about NASA rejecting the Mars Direct proposal and even hinting that the future moon mission is in trouble.

Maybe we will have to rely on the former Soviet Union for cheap access to space. Excalibur Almaz Limited, a private space company has purchased several reusable return vehicles that were manufactured to service secretive Soviet space stations back in the 1970s. Apparently, the vehicles have been stored all these years and could be made operational. I am sure they would have to undergo significant testing in order get into orbit. Sitting around for 3 or 4 decades in storage cannot be good for a high tech piece of space equipment. On a side note, did anyone else know that the USSR had secret space stations in orbit during the 1970s? All I ever heard about was MIR.

In other space news, Kepler has seen its first exo-planets, and NASA is prepping a better ion engine for use in future space flights.

Have a nice Wednesday! Meteorologist Justin Loew.

Posted under Space

The good news….we have numerous rain chances over the next few days…

 the bad news…it doesn’t look like we will see an excessive amount of rain with the storms.

Considering that we haven’t seen more than .17″ here in Wausau we could really use precip in the area.  Looking at the stats to this point…

Month to date:    .17″   Normal is 2.51″   -2.34″

Since Jan 1st    13.57″  Normal is 16.98″    -3.41″

From those numbers you can see that most of the deficit for the year is in July alone!! 

A place that got alot of rain and caused a major accident is in Germany! Almost 300 cars were involved in an accident on the Autobahn. More than 60 people were injured, 10 suffering life threatening and 21 that are serious.  Check out this video.

A big story today is the anniversary of the first moonwalk, 40 years later we are still finding out more information.  I enjoyed reading this article and wanted to share it with you.  I have to say I am fascinated with space and the moon.  I actually went to Advanced Space Academy in Hunstville, Al when I was in high school.  We were able to do mock space walks and shuttle launches.  I can only imagine what the real deal is like!

Have a great night! Meteorologist Kristen Connolly

Posted under Space, Storms