Matthew Report

Hurricane Matthews and Its Effects

Several days after the devastating hurricane Matthew places in the Caribbean and the southeast coast of the United States are still feeling the effects. Many places are still flooded and there are thousands of power outages. Rivers have overflowed past their banks. Many have lost their homes from the floods associated with the rivers. North Carolina has stated to stay away from the water as it recedes back into the ocean.

Hurricane Matthew has devastated thousands over the past weeks. Its storms and floods have cost many people their lives and their homes. Matthew began as a tropical storm formed off of a tropical wave along the coast of Africa in late September. According to The Weather Channel, it then began to move westward in the Atlantic. Once it reached the Caribbean's, it was classified as a hurricane. It reached a high point on Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, when it became a Category 5. Matthew destroyed Haiti and Cuba starting on Oct. 4, leaving the people of these countries in disarray. It then proceeded to hit the Bahamas on Oct. 4-5 as a Category 3 and 4 hurricane. After that, Matthew took the east coast of the US. It moved along the coasts of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Then Matthew hit land on Oct. 8 in McClellanville, South Carolina. For more information on the Hurricane use the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O44N8xBI3bw.

With highs of 107 mph winds, Hurricane Matthew has affected many people along the east coast and in Haiti. The death total is constantly rising as the flooding is decreasing. There has been reports of thirty three deaths in the United States (Florida-twelve, South Carolina-three, Georgia-three, Virginia-one, and North Carolina-fourteen) and over one thousand in Haiti. The estimated cost of damage is six billion dollars while over seven thousand homes have been damaged and/or destroyed. Hurricane Matthew first started forming on September 5, 2016 and started “swimming” in the Atlantic Ocean on October 10, 2016. With Matthew, came flooding. People across the path of Matthew are in grave danger of Typhoid, a disease which affects water sources.Their food sources are dwindling and they need our help.

The chart below show the Hurricanes that can compare to Hurricane Matthew. All of these damaged North Carolina. The most intense of them all was Hurricane Hazel. Hurricane Matthew did more damage than most of these. These hurricanes devastated North Carolina by causing floods, destroying structures, and changing beaches for life.

Previous Hurricanes That Hit North Carolina

Storm	Category	Date of landfall	Year	Landfall intensity	Landfall location
Unnamed	3	August 19	1879	100	Cape Lookout
San Ciriaco	3	August 18	1899	105	Hatteras
Unnamed	3	September 16	1933	100	Ocracoke
Great Atlantic Hurricane	3	September 14	1944	100	Cape Hatteras
Hurricane Hazel	4	October 15	1954	115	North Carolina border
Hurricane Connie	3	August 12	1955	100	Portsmouth
Hurricane Lone	3	September 19	1955	100	Morehead City
Hurricane Hellen	3	September 27	1958	100	Offshore Outer Banks
Hurricane Donna	3	September 12	1960	100	Emerald Isle
Hurricane Diana	3	September 13	1984	100	Cape Fear
Hurricane Gloria	3	September 27	1985	100	Hatteras Island
Hurricane Emily	3	August 31	1993	100	Offshore Hatteras Island
Hurricane Fran	3	September 6	1996	100	Cape Fear

Posted by SNER

Lovely Post Matthew Weather

As is often the case after a storm, rain and wild wind is followed by brilliant blues skies and pleasant temperatures and low humidity. The remains of Matthew are off the Canadian Maritimes perhaps headed to Greenland. Tropical Storm/Hurricane Nicole lingers in the Atlantic and may directly impact Bermuda over the next couple of days. The summer of 2016 is not going away quietly but the fall and winter of  '16/'17 is trying to push it back to the southern reaches and announce its arrival in the northern hemisphere. The chill will win!
A very quiet day earthquake-wise on the planet and the volcano list for the week is filled with the usual crowd although a new name, Katla, (to me) has stirred up in Iceland. The moon is waxing and gibbous, brightening the evening sky and wiping out the dim stars; still Venus, Saturn and Mars (W to E) shine brightly in the west as we spin away from the sun. The Summer Triangle is bright overhead and the handle of the Big Dipper still arcs to bright Arcturus.
The bugs have slowed and you can wear enough clothes that they are not a problem so get out and check out your planet, Today On Earth.
ORG.

Matthew: Where Will It Go Next?

Hurricane Matthew is the news if you are on the east coast; and it could affect the entire coast...or not.  It's looking more like hammer the coast than not but storms are fickle and resist predictions.
Keep your eye on this storm, it will likely be a name not soon forgotten but retired from future use.
The evening sky was spectacular last night, from the western horizon: brilliant Venus, the waxing crescent moon, Saturn above Antares and still quite red, Mars. The summer triangle is overhead at dusk and Arcturus - follow the arc of the Big Dippers handle- is bright above Venus. Tonight the moon will be close to Saturn and in 3 nights Mars.
Check it out if clouds allow, today on Earth.
OldRockGuy

Hot & Rainy July and a New Dog!!

The sporadic "daily" blog returns to wind down July after a few days of intense heat and humidity and another gully washer storm last night. But, Breyer, a big Chocolate Lab, doesn't seem to mind the moisture, in fact, he is loving his new creek.  Like so many things that happen on the big planet, change and surprise often factor in and that was the case last Saturday.  A 60th birthday party had a handsome chocolate lab wandering about with some other dogs and it took a while but we finally realized that the dog was a neighborhood stray in need of a new home; whoa!! The new dog I was not actively seeking but more than open to had suddenly appeared. We discussed it and decide he would love coming to the tirehouse and Tuesday went back and he was waiting, climbed right in the car and it's like he's been here for years.  A day in the forest with a big brown dog is always a good day.
While muggy (6 2/3" of rain - for July - will add some moisture to the air), today is a little cooler than recent days and storm chances are down as the front hanging over the region has moved a little farther south.  Don't get too excited, we are still in the warmest part of the summer with more than half of that season to go, but a little relief is a welcome change. Last night's deluge dumped 1.8" inches here and we were not the hardest hit area.  The entire state is waaaay above average for rainfall for the year and rain tends to follow rain (not the plow); that's how the water cycle works. Moisture in the ground evaporates or is transpired by trees, clouds re-form and that water plops down again, rinse and repeat the weather guys say.  With more and more regions becoming more and more arid and aquifer levels dropping steadily worldwide, enjoy the moisture if you have it, millions are seriously lacking.
In other news, slightly above the surface, an errant Chinese rocket careening back to Earth made for a scary fireball for many in the western US two nights ago. Chunks of the rocket will no doubt be found soon as it is very unlikely the entire thing burned up on reentry; way to be responsible China!!  In less scary space news, the waning crescent moon occulted (covered) the red giant eye of Taurus, Aldebaran early this morning for the southern US - too early and cloudy for me.  The slimming crescent will be above Orion tomorrow morning for early risers.
Mars, Saturn are still dancing around in Scorpio and Libra in the south early in evening darkness as Jupiter slips lower in the southwest at the same time.  I haven't checked an earthquake or volcano list of late but guess there is plenty of shaking and earth exhaust happening on the plate boundaries of this old but still active planet.  So it's a little warm and muggy out there, get out on your planet and check it out, Today On Earth. I'll be taking this big brown dog; meet Breyer!!

Moon Dancing Through Scorpio

It's hot, it's humid, in reality it's pretty gross out there on these July days and even though we are a little farther from the sun than in mid-winter those long hours of direct sunlight will do that to July.  Take a chance and get out in the mugginess just after dark tonight and behold the gorgeous slide of our satellite through the scorpion in the sky and by the ringed world of Saturn and our bright, rusty neighbor, Mars. Mar's rival, Antares, the red giant heart of Scorpio completes the scene (well, Scorpio itself is spectacular in its own right), the dazzling display taking place in the south tonight (it was out there last night, too but it's hard to rewind all that).
In other Earth news…I'm out of the quake, volcano loop so I know there is shaking and erupting going on but fortunately not in the Central Va. zone. The real issues are the continuing insanity of religious whack jobs killing in the name of their god and the racial tensions roiling through this country.  Could we keep our believes to ourselves and try being nice to each other? There are over 7 billion humans on this relatively small planet, resources are strained and there is nothing but change on the way; we best figure out some ways to better get along or some of the changes will not be pretty.
Another Earth thought: recent events in West Virginia and the shock and surprise accompanying them avoid the geologic reality - if you live/build on a FLOOD PLAIN, at some point in the future it is going to flood (hence, the name flood plain).  I realize that living near waterways offers many advantages but that flat land beside the waterway IS GOING TO FLOOD!! How about some pictures to better explain this reality. Have a lovely day on Earth, but remember, the planet doesn't really care.
Flooded Flood Plain of the South Anna River

 But, it was a pasture...

Hot & Humid With Jupiter & Moon

We're not quite to the dog days of summer but it feels like it on the east coast today. A stalled front in the Carolina's, a Bermuda high off the coast and the air is tropical and loaded with moisture and our mild spring and early summer is a distant memory.  Relief is coming with a cool front on Saturday and drier, cooler air but that seems a long way off if you step outside for the next couple of days.  Summer is really here (hard to believe with 4th of July temperatures barely to 70)!!!
If you dare step out in the soupy air of early evening tonight you will catch a thin, crescent moon near the heart of Leo, Regulus. Tomorrow evening the moon, sliding about 12 degrees a day, will be below and west of Jupiter, above and east of the king of the planets on Saturday night (might even be cool enough to pleasantly gaze upon the set up by then).  Put your imagination to work and imagine the view of Jupiter that the space craft Juno is experiencing right now. Arriving on the 4th, the probe is beginning a tour that will hopefully last for months (the first couple of orbits will take almost 2 months each) and send back lots of new info about the enigma that is Jupiter.
Still lovely in the southeast, Mars, Saturn and Antares continue to move slightly about and will be visited by the moon about this time next week.  It's not that hot, get out and check out your solar system and galaxy - that hazy swath just east of the the planet/star trio is the Milky Way, catch it before the waxing moon gets much brighter, today on Earth.

The Full Moon On The Longest Day

The moon was directly behind the earth from the sun at 7:02 is morning and at that point, with the center of all three orbs in a straight line, technically Full. It will be quite large tonight, the shortest night of the year. That means that today is the SUMMER SOLSTICE for the northern hemisphere and there will be more sun visible than any other day. Today the sun (sol) stands still (stice); it has been rising and setting farther and farther in the northeast and northwest but that movement ceases today and will stop or stand still. That is what Stonehenge and many other human "temples" to the sun mark, the day the sun stops moving farther north, stands still for a day before beginning to "move" back to the south. If you go out and watch the sun set tonight and check again tomorrow it will set a tiny bit to the left (southwest) of where it goes down tonight.
All of this has little to do with the sun itself, it's Earth's fault and out planet is on quite a tilt in relation to it's orbital plane around the sun: 23 1/2 degrees of tilt (23.45 for sticklers). The solstice is because today is the day that the northern end of our planet is the most tipped toward the local star; that most tipped moment is a 6:34 this afternoon.  If you were hanging out at 23 1/2 degrees north latitude today, the sun would be directly over your head at noon local time and you'd be hard pressed to find a shadow. For any one at 38 north like I am, the sun will be 14 1/2 degrees from overhead at a little after 1 today (daylight saving time has pushed "noon" back an hour and in the 15 degree width of a normal time zone "noon" varies from place to place).  If you are in the southern hemisphere, today is the winter solstice and the longest night of the year kicking off your winter season.  We in the north will officially be in summer at 6:34 today.
If all of that is too confusing (or wordy…) just get out and enjoy today on your planet. Another coolish overnight is giving way to a warm day - the cool side of the high pressure has moved and our air will be coming from the south today, more so tomorrow with even more humidity and a front will slide down from the north and increase the chance of showers for tomorrow. Another will come through Thursday before clearing out and setting us up for another lovely weekend. But, that's days away and you have the first week of summer to enjoy, get out there and wander, today on Earth.
Happy Solstice!!

A Wild Storm & BEAR

A bear is a bit of a scary, powerful abstraction of an creature, until it's in your front yard headed toward the house; then it is an adrenal rush and quite real. My day on earth started with a smallish but still adult bear casually strolling through the front yard. It retreated when I hollered but came back toward the bird feeders until I opened the door and hollered again and then he trotted on down a path like perhaps he was not feeling wanted.
In weather news: a WILD, wind and rain storm line rolled through the Old Dominion yesterday evening leaving trees and branches down and power out in many locations. Cool temps and showers are in store for today but will move on and leave a lovely weekend. Enjoy.
The moon is hanging with Mars and Saturn in Scorpio tonight if you get a sky glance.
It's a wild planet, beasts are about, be wary, today on earth.

Bear in the yard!!

A Hot Weekend, HOT!!

The cool, dry air is gone and the ridge of sultry air that has been cooking the western 2/3 of the country has arrived on the east coast and it is hot. We will be jumping from the pleasant 70's and 80's into the upper 90's in one days time: today and as a bonus, tomorrow. But, we are just 9 days away from the summer solstice and a little heat is to be expected; we have had quite a cool, wet spring but, as I may have mentioned, there is nothing but change. The extreme heat will be short lived, Monday will drop back into the 80's here in Va. and forecasts call for it to stay there, if a little unsettled and stormy for next week. A little taste of summer is ok.
Last night the moon hung between Regulus and Jupiter and tonight our local satellite, moving about 12 degrees per day across the sky, will be almost to first quarter and now just east of the king of the planets. Mars and Saturn will dance with the moon late in the coming week but tomorrow the now gibbous moon will begin a three days move through Virgo, hanging with bright Spica Tuesday evening. It's hot and mosquito-y out there on late spring evenings but the moon and 3 bright planets with the constellations of spring (and summer) make it worth a look. So, it's a little warm, get out there on the big planet, today on Earth.

Canadian Air Visits the Southlands

A big trough in the jet stream has allowed cool, dry Canadian air to spill into the Old Dominion for a lovely mid-week and will hang around until the weekend. A thin, waxing crescent moon is in the southwest below Jupiter and Mars and Saturn are the bright red and champagne "stars" in the southeast as the late dark of late spring settles in this evening.
It's a shaky day along mid-ocean ridges with quakes on the divergent boundaries of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans. A 6.3 quake rumbled in Indonesia earlier today and central America was recently shaken, as well. The week old volcano list is pretty normal and Ring of Fire-ish with some outliers on Reunion Island, in the South Sandwich Isles and Etna is spitting liquid rock in Italy. A fairly average week on the third rock out from the big nearby star.
Hope you're ride is going well and that you get out and enjoy what ever the planet has in store for your location, Today On Earth.

Jupiter and the Gibbous Moon

A lovely April day winds down with the bright gibbous moon just to the west of Jupiter; hope you got out and checked it out.
Mercury is making a quick, guest appearance above the western horizon for the rest of the month. Get out and enjoy the night sky, today on Earth.

March Marches On

A fairly warm March winds down today with lamb-like temperatures but lion-like winds and a potential for storminess this afternoon and evening and into April Fool's Day. The month that takes us from winter into spring has been fairly dry (after a wet winter) and mild - in the top 10 warmest since record keeping started 100+ years ago. The planet is warming whether humans choose to "believe" it or not.
Da Nile, the Egyptian river coursing through much of America, continues to flood ignorant rhetoric into the realm of science: I don't "believe" in evolution, fracking doesn't cause earthquakes, clean coal, water thirsty cities in deserts, just give me a pill to make me healthy/thin/smart; Da Nile, Da Nile, Da Nile. If I don't like it, I'll just deny it and shout down who ever tries to help me understand. "It's not my fault!" "Gotta be somebody I can blame…"
Sorry, the current political idiocy... just had to get a little tirade in, refute the denial multitudes. "Just because 50 million people say a stupid thing, it is still a stupid thing."
Back to Earth, the large chunk of rock flying through space that cares nothing about its inhabitants but does evolve based on both life and geologic processes, and will continue to evolve (means: change).
The Aleutian volcano Pavlof (perhaps a bell rang) fired up big time early this week, ash cloud to the stratosphere, lava flow and big booms. The aviation warning has been lowered back from red to orange but wise pilots are likely avoiding that area and the huge clouds of jet engine crippling quartz grains. The new volcano list of 26 fire and ash breathing mountains wraps around the entire Ring of Fire with 3 fired up in South America, 7 in Central America - 3 in Nicaragua alone, 6 on and near Russia's Kamchatka peninsula and 4 in Indonesia. Japan, Philippines and PNG complete the ring and list. Subduction and melting all around the ring are in evidence this week, heed the warnings!
The earthquake list mimics the volcano list (the fracking/equake deniers might actually agree that subduction results in quakes and volcanoes although a scary percentage likely assign blame to an angry diety - tweeting blame on a phone they deny the science of) with no large quakes but quite a few in the Richter 5 range - a 3.8 quake in Oklahoma is a pretty good jostle - "not the fracking".
And, off the planet, a lovely pre dawn lit by the near last quarter moon (mathematically in about an hour) was a lovely sight having slid by Mars and Saturn over the last couple of mornings and now leaving the bright planets hanging alone above spectacular Scorpio. Jupiter dominates the evening sky, in the east early while the bright constellations of winter sink lower in the west each night.
None of those sky treats will be visible tonight as clouds have moved in ahead of a front that while warming the east coast today and tomorrow will also drop some much needed moisture. The weekend will be seasonable with some frosty morning next week reminding us that while it is spring steady warmth is still a month or more away. It is Earth and there will be change and disorder, get out and enjoy your planet, today on Earth.

Post Blizzard Dig Out

The Great Blizzard of 2016 has moved on after dumping feet of snow along the north eastern seaboard; several feet in many places. After one day of brilliant blue skies and bright sunshine the planet has given way to a little more typical, hazy Virginia winter sun. And, cold.
A bird alert: a Rufous Sided Towhee has just hopped into the bird scene going on outside the tirehouse; hadn't seen one of those in awhile!!  My sister mentioned she was seeing them down her way, guess it's Towhee time!  With all this snow, it is "feed the birds" time; the little feathered monsters are hanging on with everything in their world buried. Toss out the seeds and keep your cats inside.
Back to weather and snow - hard to say how much is around, only measures about a foot around here but the wild wind during the storm piled drifts much higher and also tumbled and broke the snow crystals, packing the snow more densely than the first day's gentle fluffiness. The sleet that fell here on Friday night also added a nice little ice layer to make the shoveling a multi-scoop operation: sweep away the fluffy top layer, pop the middle tumbled, broken, dense layer and finally slide under the sleet capped bottom powder zone to get near the ground; rest and repeat.
There is long term melting help coming, forecasts today call for temps in the low 40's and maybe a little warmer tomorrow with a chance of showers (likely rain but possibly ending as snow…), then cold again late week with serious warming by the weekend. The problem with temp forecasts with snow on the ground is that there is snow on the ground... and it never gets quite as warm as predicted. The atmosphere is mostly heated by the transfer of the sun's radiant energy absorbed by the ground, conducted into the lower atmosphere and then convects onward and upward. When the ground is covered with snow most of that radiation bounces back into space and doesn't heat up the air; it just never gets as warm as they think. We'll see!
If you do get out on Earth today, bundle up and be careful, it's slippery. But, it is time to get out the cross country skis or snow shoes or what ever trudging foot ware you own and go for it. It's a snow day, go play, Today on Earth!!

A Cold Perihelion

Today, the coldest day of this fall and winter season by far with lows in the teens and maybe with lots of sun getting to freezing, also happens to be the day for 2016 when the Earth is closest to the sun. Perihelion, the closest point in our elliptical orbit to our nearby star, about 6pm EST. But, how could it be so cold?
That has to do with a couple of other factors: our axis tilted 23 1/2 degrees from the plane of our orbit and the weather, that daily relationship we have with our atmosphere. While we are indeed 3 million or so miles closer to the sun than we are at aphelion, the far point in early July, we are severely tipped away from our star and not getting much direct sunlight nor was it shining on our part of Earth for very long today.  The weather factor, much influenced by El Nino and a big ridge in the jet stream for most of December (waaaay warmest ever) and November has done the old switch and let the polar air back into the deep south. Tonight will be even colder as the center of the arctic high pressure dome, with its light winds, settles itself over the mid-Atlantic.  Bundle up and/or snuggle up; it's cold out there.
So, today's lesson: OUR DISTANCE FROM THE SUN HAS ALMOST NO EFFECT ON THE SEASONS (or daily weather). It's all about the tilt as we orbit the sun.
And, while I always recommend a jaunt out on the planet, you better be bundled up, Today On Earth!