Most of the east coast has been granted a summer reprieve, a taste of fall, as a cold front moved out the sultry mess that had been dampening the ground and spirits for the last...I don't even remember how long. Today is gorgeous, sunny but very low humidity and barely 80 degrees, a September-like day in late August. But, fall is not here and temps in the mid to upper 90's next week may be the hottest, nastiest stretch all summer. But, the sun is setting before 8pm so the summer heat will only last so long.
7 years ago today, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake rocked the entire east coast; that quake was centered a few miles from where I'm sitting and sure change our world. Thankfully, today, so far, has been quake free. Not true for the rest of the world: Tanaga volcano in the Aleutians had another 6.5 quake today and there are quite a few upper 4 to mid 5 quakes today, mostly around the Pacific rim.
The volcano list for the past week has 18 eruptive mountains on it, with several that have been around for the last few weeks gone (Etna, Krakatoa). Kilauea is on the list and lava is still dripping into the Pacific but the description compares the current quiet period to a calm time in 2007; that's a big change. Fuego in Guatemala is back to making noise and erupting and a name I haven't seen on the list in a few years in Japan has volcanologists there raising alerts and warnings (the name is too long for my brain to remember).
Once clouds cleared the Moon and Mars made a stunning spectacle in the southeast sky last night. Tonight the moon will be left of the red planet but the two will be close again. No clouds here should make it easy to see all four of the current evening planets. Gibbous moonshine will wash out all but the brightest stars making constellation patterns easier to see. Get out for a walk, today or tonight or both on the big planet, Earth.
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