No rain, no quakes and no heat for the second week of September here in central Va. An amazingly lovely week with temps dipping into the upper 40's and 50's overnight and 70's early and barely 80 by week's end. Friday was warm but a cold front moving through last night has cooled things back down and will only allow highs into the 70's for the weekend and week ahead. Monday and Tuesday are likely to be wet as the low at the end of the cold front will move from the gulf to the central Atlantic. 50's and 70's with dry conditions will make for a lovely end to summer.
The waning crescent moon has put on quite the show moving past Jupiter and then Venus through the constellations of winter this week. Venus is so bright you can see it's not round but close to quarter in the morning sky. The moon is new tonight at 10:11 EDT. It will reappear next week left of Saturn on Tuesday, near Mars on Wednesday and above and right of Antares in the head of Scorpio Thursday.
The quake list has calmed somewhat with very little red for the week but still the usual plate boundaries shift and rub against each other.
Nicaragua bursts onto the volcano list with two mountains, one rumbling the other raining ash and debris on nearby areas. The US and Indonesia each have 3 on the list, Soufriere Hills, Popo, Krakatau, and the Kamchatka peninsula all continue with the regular belching members.
Hope your chunk of the planet is not erupting or shaking and that atmospheric conditions make things lovely today on Earth. Get out and check it out.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Friday, September 7, 2012
Another Sultry Day and Then a Taste of Fall!
A cold front will push out the sultry air left behind by Isaac tomorrow and usher in a breath of cool, dry, fall-like air. Lows will drop into the low 60's for Sunday morning and then dip into the 50's for much of next week. Daytime highs will only be in the low 70's for most of that time. Fall is two weeks away but after a week of tropical, Isaac air, an early bit of fall will feel fine. No rain today was the first time without the wet stuff all week. That will likely change tomorrow as the front slide through.
Tomorrow is last quarter moon at 9:15am EDT so clear sky in the evening will not be flooded with moon light until the wee hours. When it does come up tonight it will be right underneath Jupiter and to the east (left) of Aldebaran in Taurus, with both hanging above Orion. These winter constellations are moving back into the sky, even if only in the middle of the night. Mars and Saturn have switched positions in the west at sunset with Mars hanging out in that spot for the rest of 2012 but Saturn will be left behind the sun from our view by September's end.
The planet is still quite shaky with lots of quakes in the upper 4's and 5's and a 7.6 quake hammered Costa Rica on Wednesday. Quite a few mid-ocean ridges are slipping around recently, and that has to mean push on the other end, somewhere. And, there are a lot of somewheres on the list these days. Central Va. is fortunately quiet.
A new volcano in the Aleutians at the top end of the Ring O Fire is one of many all along the ring. Indonesia, Kamchatka, Hawaii, Central and South America, even a seamount make for sizable list.
Today on this part of Earth was hot; tomorrow will be a slide to coolness. Get out and enjoy that cool.
Tomorrow is last quarter moon at 9:15am EDT so clear sky in the evening will not be flooded with moon light until the wee hours. When it does come up tonight it will be right underneath Jupiter and to the east (left) of Aldebaran in Taurus, with both hanging above Orion. These winter constellations are moving back into the sky, even if only in the middle of the night. Mars and Saturn have switched positions in the west at sunset with Mars hanging out in that spot for the rest of 2012 but Saturn will be left behind the sun from our view by September's end.
The planet is still quite shaky with lots of quakes in the upper 4's and 5's and a 7.6 quake hammered Costa Rica on Wednesday. Quite a few mid-ocean ridges are slipping around recently, and that has to mean push on the other end, somewhere. And, there are a lot of somewheres on the list these days. Central Va. is fortunately quiet.
A new volcano in the Aleutians at the top end of the Ring O Fire is one of many all along the ring. Indonesia, Kamchatka, Hawaii, Central and South America, even a seamount make for sizable list.
Today on this part of Earth was hot; tomorrow will be a slide to coolness. Get out and enjoy that cool.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
The September Muggies!!
September, starting in summer but ending in fall, kicks off with a warm, muggy day in central Virginia. After a summer of drought, the central US gets the drought buster in the remains of Isaac. That moisture is heading east this weekend and will likely dampen Labor Day for much of the east coast. After the rain, average September temps in the mid-80 and less humidity will be the story for the end of the week ahead. Get out and check out summer, only 3 more weeks!
The planet has been rocking with earthquakes for much of the past week. The San Andreas fault on the Mexico/California border rumbled with several quakes above 5 and hundreds of aftershocks, the Virgin Island edge of the Caribbean plate has also rippled the sea floor with dozens and dozens of quakes in the 2, 3 and even 4 range. Yesterday, a 7.6 magnitude quake shook sea floor east of the Philippines, setting off tsunami panic (only 20 inches high) and doing considerable structural damage on shore. Above 6 quakes have also occurred this week up near the north pole and near the equator in Indonesia. A very busy earthquake list; a list that claims to be shutting down or changing to a map on the USGS site. ???
The volcano list highlights the Ring of Fire, eastern and western, north and south, the ring is belching. A couple of new additions, one north of Japan and a seamount below the Pacific, ruffling the surface. And, lots of old steady standbys. Soufriere Hills is back on the list, the Caribbean plate seems edgy, and Popo is still erupting in Mexico. New earth still forming!!
Yesterday's second full moon of August, a blue moon in the new definition, was the last until the middle of the decade. It will be big and gibbous tonight washing out any stars not blocked out by cloud cover.
Get out there and enjoy Today on Earth!!
The planet has been rocking with earthquakes for much of the past week. The San Andreas fault on the Mexico/California border rumbled with several quakes above 5 and hundreds of aftershocks, the Virgin Island edge of the Caribbean plate has also rippled the sea floor with dozens and dozens of quakes in the 2, 3 and even 4 range. Yesterday, a 7.6 magnitude quake shook sea floor east of the Philippines, setting off tsunami panic (only 20 inches high) and doing considerable structural damage on shore. Above 6 quakes have also occurred this week up near the north pole and near the equator in Indonesia. A very busy earthquake list; a list that claims to be shutting down or changing to a map on the USGS site. ???
The volcano list highlights the Ring of Fire, eastern and western, north and south, the ring is belching. A couple of new additions, one north of Japan and a seamount below the Pacific, ruffling the surface. And, lots of old steady standbys. Soufriere Hills is back on the list, the Caribbean plate seems edgy, and Popo is still erupting in Mexico. New earth still forming!!
Yesterday's second full moon of August, a blue moon in the new definition, was the last until the middle of the decade. It will be big and gibbous tonight washing out any stars not blocked out by cloud cover.
Get out there and enjoy Today on Earth!!
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