November - On & Off Earth

November 2024

On & Off Earth

I have a birthday coming up in November that, like friend and fellow columnist, Laura Schupp recently shared, is a number that ends in zero. I, however, am many revolutions of the sun ahead of her; she’s just a kid! Aside from my big day, this November is just chock full of big days: Day Light Saving ends, Election Day, Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving. I think we will all be most thankful if the election frenzy has calmed by the day we gather and give thanks for all the goodness we share in this country.

It should be a bit of a shock after September’s seven inches of drought busting rain that October, on average the driest month, would be bone dry, but it really isn’t. Extreme weather and wild weather swings have been the norm recently. Drought aside, we continue to remain rather lucky, having dodged this year’s hurricane onslaught. Neighbors, not far away, have had a rough hurricane season, remember and help them any way you are able.

Since climate, the average weather for an area, is measured in 30 year intervals, at 70, I have now had the privilege of seeing actual climate change. Ice skating on local ponds is so 30 years ago. Several big snows, every winter, hasn’t happened in quite a while; one every five or so years if we’re lucky but when we have them, they can be devastating (Jan 3, ’22). Tornado and fire seasons are year round for many spots, droughts and floods worthy of the, oft overused, word, epic.

In my 70 years, I have seen world population triple and atmospheric CO2 double. Houses and pavement have replaced trees and farms; change rolls on, seemingly faster than our willingness to adapt. As I have mentioned as a recurring theme in this column, there is only change and only by adapting or migrating, to deal with those daily changes, do all life forms on the planet stay alive. We are where we are… there is no going back!

There is change off the planet, too, perhaps more predictable than on Earth. Our star is officially in the peak of this 11 year cycle. That means there will be more CME’s (coronal mass ejections) from unstable, magnetically amped sunspots, some of which will come our way. Those blasts, directed to the poles by Earth’s magnetic field, overcharge Earth’s upper atmosphere. That energy is stored until we turn away from the sun at night. The atmosphere then releases the stored energy as the Auroras Borealis or Australis. I missed the latest round of Northern Lights visible locally. I hope you caught them, they are spectacular.

I, also, never spotted the comet and I tried! What I do continue to spot is the Evening Star, Venus; spectacular with the moon, November’s pairing on the 4th. The moon will be near Saturn on the 10th, Jupiter on the 17th and near Mars late on the 20th. The Full Beaver moon is on the 16th. The reliable Leonid meteor shower peaks early morning on 17th but a bright moon will wash out many of the faint shooting stars. The sun moves into Libra on the 1st and then into Scorpio on the 23rd.

November: it begins with a sugar hangover, then shocks us with both dazzling leaf color and our hour Fall Back time change (2am on the 3rd). It also allows our voices to be heard and counted; VOTE!! November shows us how delightful change can be, every day. Get out for a daily wander on our still lovely little planet. And, thank a veteran and an election worker. Their service should remind us all that we each need to play a roll if we want a better future here on our ever forward spinning world.

That's it..Today On Earth

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