Big quake on east of Caribbean plate
Mix in Melissa, news ain't so great
And, then there's my column...:
Today On Earth
This guy hit the window..hard
But, has since flown away!!
November 2025
On & Off Earth
After more than 9” of rain in July, that portion of the water cycle has mostly shut down around here. Over the last three months, only three inches of rain has fallen at my house and all of Louisa is now in the moderate drought zone on the state map. We are not alone; over 40% of the United States is currently at some level of drought. We will know by the time you read this if the forecast is accurate for a wet wind down to Rocktober.
My daily walks show signs of the drought but a forest and all the life within survives with systems evolved over millions of years to deal with deluge or drought. Unable to, as the old adage goes, see the forest for the trees, it took a recent drive into town to notice the effects of the current drought. The eye catching, fall color display has been joined with shades normally not seen: grays and browns. I am all too aware of an increase in tree mortality in my smallish plot but seeing trees all along the drive either dying or just dumping leaves without the usual color change is a troubling but harsh reality of an extended drought.
A big part of a ‘normal’ Hurricane Season is the tropical moisture it brings our way (be careful what you wish for!). Hurricane Melissa’s explosion in the hot waters of the Caribbean Sea, the third Category 5 storm of the current season may well dump more rain on Jamaica this week than we receive all year. To those of us well inland, hurricanes have been offshore news this year. Anyone visiting a beach washed by the Atlantic has seen the stark reality that a beach is a highly mobile ‘river of sand’. Stay tuned, Hurricane Season doesn’t end until November does.
November is a month that always begins with a Halloween sugar hangover and then shocks us into the coming reality of the limited sunlight season with a return to Standard Time at 2:00am on the 2nd. We welcome an end to political ads by voting on the 4th, Election Day. We remember and celebrate Veterans on the 11th. Thanksgiving Day is the 27th this year, when we gather with family and friends, mindful, amidst all the turmoil, there is much for which we have to be thankful.
November’s waning sunlight means long hours for sky gazing with fewer bugs and often clear, stable air. A bright, waxing gibbous moon will aid trick or treaters on Halloween night with a glowing, but not twinkling, Saturn off to the moon’s left. The moon’s movement will be easy to notice when the next night, it is even closer to the ringed planet, drawing ever closer as the pair slowly sink in the west. The Full Beaver moon is on the 5th and is another Super Moon, even closer to Earth than last month. The world’s coastal regions will be under Tidal Flood Warnings!!
In other off Earth, November sights, a waning gibbous moon slides above Jupiter on the 10th. The annual Leonid meteor shower occurs in a moon-less sky in the wee hours of the 17th. Venus still beams as the Morning Star but is pulling farther away from Earth and very low in the pre-dawn sky. The sun moves into Libra on the 1st and on into Scorpio for a quick visit on the 23rd. The moon revisits Saturn on the 28th and 29th.
Seasons; on Earth, we’ve got ‘em! The current one requires additional layers of clothing but still offers delightful temperatures and views. Get out on your planet and enjoy all the beauty of November.
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