Hi Everyone,

I hope this finds you well during these troubled times.

Normally at this time I would mention the results of the ALERT elections. However due to the constraints of the current crises, the ALERT election process is a problematic affair. Therefore, in view of the current COVID-19 emergency, we, the ALERT leadership, have chosen to defer the election process until we reach some form of normalcy which will allow the process as stated in the Bylaws of forming a Nominating Committee, that Committee issuing its recommendations and a formal vote being held, can be feasible.

Until then the current leadership will remain in place.

In 2007 when I rewrote the Bylaws and they were adopted, I never envisioned a set of circumstances such as the ones which we are now seeing and living. I doubt Mr. Roberts did either when he wrote his “Rules of Order”.

So unless he happens to attend the next meeting and says “point of order” and has a better idea, Capone’s Third Law comes in to play, which states “in an emergency situation sometimes you just gotta do whatcha gotta do to get it done.”

ALERT is in good hands.

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2020 Atlantic Hurricane Season Begins

The Atlantic Hurricane Season officially begins June 1. NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is predicting an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season this year. NOAA predicts a likely range of 13 to 19 named storms, of which 6 to 10 could become hurricanes, including 3 to 6 major hurricanes. NOAA provides these ranges with a 70% confidence. An average hurricane season produces 12 named storms, of which 6 become hurricanes, including 3 major hurricanes.

As mentioned last month, both Colorado State University and Accuweather are also predicting above normal seasons.

In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t really how many storms actually do form, what matters is where they end up arriving. A year with 28 storms that never reach land isn’t overly significant, where a year with only one named storm and it being a repeat of Katrina, Camille or Andrew is.

With the 2020 North Atlantic Hurricane Season beginning it is a good time to review our preparedness plans.

This has become an annual tradition which gets a little longer each year.
The source for much of this information is the late John Hope of the National Hurricane Center and later The Weather Channel.

While at the NHC, Hope developed a theory called the John Hope Rule. It consists of two parts. Part 1 states: “If a system is not a bona fide tropical storm before crossing the Windward Islands, or the Lesser Antilles, it will not survive the trek across the Eastern Caribbean Sea. If the wave is still present, formation in the Western Caribbean is possible.” Part 2 states: “If the structure of a wave or storm is good, never discount it or write it off”.

I call that “The Oops Rule” for when something shouldn’t have developed, but, it did anyway.

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Hurricane Impact & Hurricane Response

Alabama is impacted by hurricanes in three ways:

1. Direct Impact – Where the core of the storm or the rain / wind field actually strikes or passes through a portion of Alabama. Examples being Hurricane’s Fredrick, Opal, Ivan and Katrina.

2. Indirect Impact – where the core is not over Alabama, but the feeder bands are passing through and causing havoc. Rita’s feeder bands being a good example, which dropped 21
tornadoes over west Alabama in a 4-hour period.

3. Distant Impact – A storm is not even near Alabama, but affecting our weather. Such as with Olivia, a Pacific Hurricane which was off Western Mexico. Her moisture was captured by the jet stream, crossed the Sonora desert, the Arklatex region & dumped monsoon type rains on Alabama & Mississippi, causing flooding.

ALERT typically will activate during scenarios 1 & 2. ALERT’s coverage would concentrate on monitoring D-Star directly and using a liaison station to monitor HF offsite on 3.965 MHz or the backup 40-meter frequency of 7.243 MHz.

Then as the storm moves northward into the BMX County Warning Area the focus would then shift to the individual county Skywarn Nets, as we would do during a “normal” callout.

HF Gulf Coast Nets to monitor are:

Primary State ARES Frequencies & Nets for Gulf of Mexico & regular meeting times.

3.965 MHz Alabama Emergency Net Mike 4:00 PM Sunday*
3.940 MHz Florida Amateur Single Sideband Net 6:00 PM
3.975 MHz Georgia Single Sideband Net 7:30 PM
3.910 MHz Louisiana Traffic Net 6:30 PM
3.862 MHz Mississippi Section Phone Net 6:00 PM
3.873 MHz Texas Traffic Net 6:30 PM

* Note that this is also the frequency of the Alabama Traffic Net Mike, meeting daily at 6:30PM Central & Sunday’s at 8:00 AM Central and the Alabama Day Net, which meets daily at 10:00 AM Central Time.

Wide Coverage Nets

14.235 MHz Hurricane Watch Net As Needed
3.935 MHz Central Gulf Coast Hurricane Net 1:00 UTC

The Hurricane Watch Net is only activated when a storm is within 300 miles of a populated land mass. Normally you shouldn’t check into this net, but you only listen. Only check in if you have a legitimate need to do so. A legitimate need being emergency or priority traffic or if the NCS specifically calls for a station in Central Alabama, only then should you pick the microphone up. Occasionally, if there is a lull in activity, they may actually give a call for general check-ins. But, don’t be surprised if they don’t. Helping stations in the affected area is their primary concern.

Once upon a time a, which if I remember correctly was in 1988 when Gilbert, was rearranging Jamaica, the NCS asked “do we have any stations in the affected area, the affected area only?” Some fellow from Zero-land, piped in and very slowly drawled out “This is Kay Zero Que Arr Emmm, Homer over in Tulsa Oklahoma, just wanting to tell you fellers what a fine job, a fine job you fellers are doing. And, if I can be of any help, any help at all just let me know. This is Homer, K0QRM, over in Tulsa Oklahoma on frequency and standing by on the side.”

Fifteen distress calls probably could have been received and handled in the time it took Homer to ooze over “on the side”.

Learn from a bad example. Don’t do this.

Some Internet resources you should have in your toolbox include:

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ – The National Hurricane Center out of Coral Gables, FL

http://www.hwn.org/tools/streaming-audio.html – Hurricane Watch Net Streaming Audio.
Note that the audio feed is only active when the net is active.

http://derecho.math.uwm.edu/models/ & http://www.ral.ucar.edu/hurricanes/realtime/current/
– Hurricane Forecast Models

http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/TC.html – Satellite imagery and data – worldwide

https://www.hurricanezone.net/ – Storm centered satellite imagery

Many other resources, including coastal radar picket, Caribbean & Mexican radar,
charts and satellite imagery can be found on my website www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/
and clicking on “Tropics, Charts & Satellites”.

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Hurricane Tracking Gleams And Glints From Mark’s Crystal Ball

I’ve always enjoyed trying to second-guess the National Hurricane Center. It’s fun! Many times our forecasts agree, they have outguessed me an honorable number of times & every now and then, when Divine Providence intervenes, I have beaten them.

The following are some random hints and items I have stored in my dusty brain, which every now and then come into play as I gaze into my tropical crystal ball.

The first thing I will touch on is the name itself – “Hurricane” and its origin.

Some believe the name originated from “huracan” which was the Carib peoples of Northern South America term for “evil wind”. Others credit the Mayans of Central America and believe that is originates from “Hurakan”, the Mayan god of wind, storm and fire. According to the Mayan Creation Myth, Hurakan caused the Great Flood after the first humans angered the gods. According to the myth, he lived in the windy mists above the floodwaters and repeatedly called forth the earth until land came up from beneath the seas.

Whichever it’s origin, it is known that the names Hurican and Hurikan predate the appearance of Europeans on the horizons of what would become known as the “Americas”, stretching back into the dim mists of antiquity.

The Spanish word for “Hurricane” is “Huracan” to this day.

A couple of terms which you have undoubtedly heard of is “El Niño” & “La Niña”.

El Niño or more precisely the “El Niño Southern Oscillation” (ENSO), is a planetary-scale climate variation caused by interactions between the atmosphere and the Central and Eastern Pacific Ocean, which in turn affects the tropical climatology of the Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic Ocean.

El Niño refers to unusually warm ocean temperatures that occur every 2–7 years around Christmas time along Peruvian coast, extending into equatorial eastern and central Pacific Ocean, while La Niña refers to unusual cooler temperatures. A normal temperature is referred to as “neutral”.

Though many factors are used in making seasonal hurricane forecasts, El Niño & La Niña weigh heavily in the process.

The warm El Niño favors stronger hurricane activity in the central and eastern Pacific basins due to lower vertical wind shear, weaker trade winds and greater instability, while suppressing it in the Atlantic basin due to stronger wind shear tearing and shredding the thunderstorm columns of storms trying to form, stronger trade winds hampering large scale organization and greater atmospheric stability.

The cool La Niña does the opposite suppressing hurricane activity in the central and eastern Pacific basins, and enhancing activity in the Atlantic basin.

2020 is La Niña year, which is one of the reasons why 2020 is expected that we will have a vigorous tropical season.

Some other hurricane facts are:

The maximum number of tropical systems that the Atlantic Basin (which includes the Gulf and Caribbean) can simultaneously contain and support is four storms.

If major tropical systems get too close to one another they don’t merge as thunderstorms often do. The upper level winds associated with each storm counteract or buffets each other preventing this from occurring.

If you have a large storm and a smaller storm enters the influence or wind field of the larger storm, the smaller storm will tend to rotate counterclockwise around the primary storm in a process called the Fujiwhara Effect.

If the smaller storm is very weak, say a tropical storm versus a Category 4 storm, it is possible that the smaller storms circulation can be totally disrupted by the larger storm and then it can be absorbed into the larger storms circulation. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNjUSsqJgek&feature=relmfu as Typhoon Ma-On gobbles up Tropical Storm Tokage in 2011.

Tropical systems, for all of their tremendous energy, are totally without an engine or steering mechanism, but are at the mercy of the whims of the upper level winds. A tropical system can spin all it wants to, but unless the storms thunderstorm columns reach high enough to snag the upper level winds, and then act as a sail, the storm is going nowhere fast. If the upper level winds die down, the storm can drift aimlessly for days.

If the storm sits still long enough, it will begin to dissipate due to it stirring up the deeper cooler waters beneath it and it cooling the sea surface temperature below the 80 degree critical threshold needed to sustain a tropical storm. This is “upwelling”. The one exception to this rule is if it is sitting over the Gulf Stream, as the incoming current will continually replenish the warm water beneath the storm.

A well-formed storm will have a perfectly circular Central Dense Overcast or CDO, an area of thunderstorms surrounding the eye wall, with “feeder bands” of thunderstorms spiraling inward counterclockwise, parallel to the storm’s inbound horizontal winds, and “feeding” energy from the warm tropical ocean into the storm.

The winds being drawn into the eye, once arriving can only go in one direction – up – and in a well formed storm the system will be capped by high pressure, which helps evacuate these winds as they reach the stratosphere. This forms a false cirrus shield of clouds rotating in a clockwise fashion, as the winds are vented outward. If the storm has a tear drop shape or a long plume of clouds extending from the storm, this indicates heavy shearing, which will limit its growth, or shred the circulation. The storm will be veered by the shearing and try to deflect towards the direction of the plume.

A poorly organized storm can have a completely exposed center, with the cloud shield nowhere near the center. Until it starts “stacking up” it will remain a weak storm.

Intense, Category 3 or greater hurricanes will go through a process called an “eyewall replacement cycle”. In this case the eyewall contracts so small that some of the outer rain bands may strengthen and form an outer eyewall, causing the storm to weaken by robbing energy from the inner eyewall and will eventually choke it out completely and replace it, causing the storm to re-intensify.

This is a common occurrence. Less common is when you have a triple eyewall, as was the case with Typhoon June and Hurricane Juliette.

The fastest intensification from a Tropical Storm to a Category 5 Hurricane occurred with Hurricane Wilma in 2006, which in 16 hours went from 70 mph to 155 mph and then vacationed in the Yucatan.

The fastest intensification from a Tropical Depression to a Category 5 Hurricane occurred with Hurricane Felix, which took just 51 hours to bloom and then blessed Nicaragua with its presence in 2007.

Tropical systems cannot penetrate frontal boundaries. If a tropical system is threatening the coast, and you see that a front will be approaching the coast from the West, don’t worry about the coast, as it will either stall the storm, deflect it to the Northeast or as in the case of 2009’s Tropical Storm Danny, it can absorb a weak storm.

When looking at hurricane forecast model ensembles, such as http://derecho.math.uwm.edu/models/ & http://www.ral.ucar.edu/hurricanes/realtime/current/,
you can judge the “confidence” of the models by the grouping of the plotted tracks. If the plots are tightly grouped together, you can have “high confidence” in the reliability of the track and if the timing given by the plots agree, that also. The narrower the spread, the greater the confidence, and the wider the spread, the lesser the confidence. Some tracks will be obviously wrong, those you can dismiss. If the forecast tracks go look like they were written by a drunken spider, with paths going in every direction at once, that storm is heading nowhere fast.

Theoretically Tropical Storms will lose strength over land. The 1997 version of Danny (which came up I-65 reached Birmingham and then turned East heading along I-20 towards Atlanta, as if He knew what he was doing) forgot this and strengthened while over the swamps of South Carolina and then moved into the Atlantic as a rejuvenated system heading for New England. The theory at that time was that the swamps were so warm and humid that the storm “thought” it was over the sea. Now they say it was due to the effects a frontal system closely following the storm. I always preferred the first explanation, as it seemed more logical, if not niftier.

Storms named “Danny” and I are old companions, incidentally. In 1985 I accidentally managed to intercept Hurricane Danny a few hours after it struck Louisiana. I remember the feeder bands passing with heavy rain and gusts, and then it calming and clearing in between waves. “Looks like it can’t decide whether it’s coming or going” said the old guy at a truck stop where I was refueling. I also remember making a ham sandwich for an old dog at a rest stop. Old Shep looked hungry, so I fixed him one. He woofed it down, thanked me kindly and then disappeared into the mist.

If a storm strikes just West of Alabama, expect sorry weather. If it strikes just East of Alabama, expect dry weather and lowering humidity, as the storm drags the moisture away with it.

If a 120 MPH storm is moving North at 20 MPH the wind field around the eye will be effected as follows. The winds on the Eastern side combine and are in effect 140 MPH, while the winds to the West subtract and are in effect 100 MPH. This is the “fast moving hurricane rule”.

If the Eastern Pacific Basin is active, the Atlantic Basin will be quiet & if the Atlantic Basin is active the Eastern Pacific Basin will be quiet.

Category 5 storms have never occurred in both the Atlantic & Pacific Basins in the same year.

Hurricanes can cross Central America from either the Atlantic or Pacific Basins, enter the other Basin and restrengthen and be renamed. The last being in 1996 when Category 1 Hurricane Cesar which scraped Northern South America, crossed Central America & restrenghtened into Category 4 Hurricane Douglas.

Then there is the case of 1961’s Hurricane Hattie, which formed in the Caribbean, stuck Central America on Halloween, dissipated, then after reaching the Pacific, her remnants helped generate Tropical Storm Simone on November 1. Simone then turned Northwest striking Southern Mexico on November 2, dissipated and her remnants crossed Mexico, entering the Gulf of Mexico. These remnants in turn helped generate Tropical Storm Inga, which dissipated on November 8.

Alphabetical name position can’t be used as an indicator of possible storm strength. Andrew and Opal, both unruly guests, with names toward the opposite ends of the alphabet, are good examples.

Never underestimate the potential impacts of late season storms. Category 5 Hurricane Mitch was active from October 22 – November 5, 1998, with maximum sustained winds of 180 MPH. This storm struck Central America, Yucatán Peninsula & South Florida causing 6.2 billion dollars in damage and caused 11,000 deaths.
Remember that winds do not blow OUT of a hurricane; they are drawn INTO the storm in a spiraling motion. By factoring in the Coriolis Effect of the Earth’s rotation and the counter-effects of surface friction you can determine the general direction of any tropical storm or non-tropical low pressure center using the surface wind direction as follows:

Wind Direction Storm Center Location

South North West
Southeast West
East Southwest
Northeast South
North Southeast
Northwest East
West Northeast
Southwest North

Calm winds suddenly occurring during a hurricane indicates the eye is over you. The winds will return just as suddenly, often stronger in the opposite direction.

My sister’s family was living at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines in 1974, when Typhoon Bidang passed directly over. When the winds suddenly died down they knew they were in the eye. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and opening it she found a delivery van with the furniture she had ordered. The Filipinos crew unloaded everything, said “thank you” and drove off into the darkness as the rear of the eyewall appeared and began blowing at full force.

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NHC Hurricane Tracking Chart PDF’s

Here are handy hurricane tracking charts from the National Hurricane Center.

For the Atlantic Ocean: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/tracking_chart_atlantic.pdf
For the Pacific Ocean: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/tracking_chart_epacific.pdf

Someone once asked me “why do you bother tracking the Pacific ones?” For practice, so that when the Atlantic ones do appear you are already ahead of the game experience wise.

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Mark’s Almanac

Originally the fourth Roman Month, June at one time had 29 days, until Julius Caesar in a glow of inspiration added the 30th day.

What June was named for is uncertain. Some say it was named for Juno, wife & sister of Jupiter. Juno was the goddess of marriage and a married couple’s household, so some consider it good luck to be married in this month, which is why June has become a month for so many marriages.

The beginning of meteorological Summer is June 1.

Storm activity retains many of the characteristics of spring, but more and more the pattern takes on the summer pattern of pop-up thunderstorms.

Hurricane season begins, June 1, however June hurricanes are usually small and of minor intensity, occurring roughly once every two years.

The centers for June Tropical Cyclone activity are the extreme Western Caribbean, with the storm tracks striking the Yucatan or veering toward Western Florida & the Southwestern Gulf of Mexico, with other storm tracks aiming toward the Mexican mainland.

From 1851 to 2019 there have been 94 Tropical Storms and 33 Hurricanes, of which 19 impacted the United States. The most notable June hurricane was Audrey, one of the deadliest tropical cyclones in US history, which killed 416 as it devastated the southwestern Louisiana coast in 1957.

The center of maximum tornadic activity shifts northward over Kansas and Iowa. Activity in Texas and Oklahoma dies down. There is a 5% decrease in tornadic activity over the May average & by June 4th 50% of the years tornadoes have occurred.

Days continue to grow longer as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon increases from 78.5 degrees at the beginning of the month to maximum of 79.9 on Summer Solstice on June 21 and then lowering to 79.6 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight increases from 14 hours 14 minutes on June 1 to the maximum daylight of 14 hours 23 minutes at Summer Solstice on June 21 and then decreases to 14 hours 21 minutes on June 30.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

June 1 Sunrise 5:38 AM Sunset 7:52 PM
June 15 Sunrise 5:37 AM Sunset 7:59 PM
June 30 Sunrise 5:40 AM Sunset 8:01 PM

Looking towards the sky, The Sun, magnitude -26.7 is currently located in Taurus.

Mercury, magnitude 0.0, is at “Greatest Elongation” or as high in the western twilight as it will get, at 23.6 degrees above the horizon.

By the end of the month he will have slipped behind the western horizon and on the 30th will be at “Inferior Conjunction” or almost directly between the Earth and the Sun.
Venus is barely above the west-northwest horizon in the bright twilight, a mere 20 minutes after sunset.

Venus is closing in on the Sun and will disappear below the western horizon. She will reach “Inferior Conjunction” on June 3rd, when she passes less than one solar radius from the Sun’s northern limb.

She will then emerge as the Morning Star in the eastern dawn.

Earth, magnitude -4.0, as viewed from the Sun, is on the border of the Constellations Scorpius and Ophiuchus,

Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn shine in the southeast to south before and during early dawn.

Mars, magnitude +0.1, in dim Aquarius, is far to the left of Saturn as dawn begins. It has been slowly brightening and enlarging. In a telescope Mars is a little gibbous disk.

Jupiter, at magnitude -2.5, in Sagittarius the brightest, is on the right.

Saturn, magnitude +0.4 in Capricorn, glows pale yellow just to Jupiter’s left. They both rise now around midnight daylight-saving time.

Uranus is hidden in the glow of dawn.

Neptune, magnitude 7.9, in Aquarius, is in the east-southeast before dawn begins, in the vicinity of Mars.

The Moon will be at Perigee, or her closest point from the Earth on June 2 at a distance of 226,406 Miles.

June’s Full Moon is “Strawberry Moon” in Native American folklore. This will occur on June 5 at 2:12 PM CDT or 19:12 UTC. It is called “Strawberry Moon” for it signals the time to start harvesting strawberries, as it is peak strawberry ripening time. Other names are “Rose Moon” & “Honey Moon”.

There will be a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse on June 5. A penumbral lunar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the Earth’s partial shadow, or penumbra. During this type of eclipse the Moon will darken slightly but not completely. The eclipse will be visible throughout most of Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, the Indian Ocean, and Australia, but not North America.

The Moon will be at Apogee, or her farthest point from the Earth on June 14 at a distance of 251,404 Miles.

New Moon will occur June 21 at 1:42 AM CDT or 6:42 UTC. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

There will be an Annular Solar Eclipse on June 21. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is too far away from the Earth to completely cover the Sun. This results in a ring of light around the darkened Moon. The Sun’s corona is not visible during an annular eclipse. The path of the eclipse will begin in central Africa and travel through Saudi Arabia, northern India, and southern China before ending in the Pacific Ocean. A partial eclipse will be visible throughout most of eastern Africa, the Middle East, and southern Asia, but, not North America.

Summer Solstice will occur at 4:43 PM CDT or 21:43 UTC on June 20. The North Pole of the earth will be tilted toward the Sun, which will have reached its northernmost position in the sky and will be directly over the Tropic of Cancer at 23.44 degrees north latitude. This is the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

The June Bootids Meteor Shower will occur from June 26th until July 2nd. It peaks on June 27th. Normally the shower is very weak, with a Zenith Hourly Rate or ZHR of 1 or 2, but occasional outbursts produce a hundred or more meteors per hour. The source of the June Bootids is Comet 7P/Pons-Winnecke, which orbits the Sun once every 6.37 years.

The Moon, being one day before First Quarter will not pose a major problem.

The Moon will be at Perigee, or her closest point from the Earth on June 29 at a distance of 229,260 Miles.

4158 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of May 21, per NASA’s
Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

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This month’s meeting will be on May 9. The meeting will be done remotely as was last month’s meeting.

Details and instructions will be issued as the time nears.

Hope to “see” you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter

Wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/

Hi Everyone,

I hope this finds you well.

Many of you are currently homebound as we struggle with the spread and effects of Covid-19.

One interesting side effects of this, as they say, “hunkering down”, are the numerous reports of good HF band conditions and scores of stations being heard.

Is it a coincidence that with so many being stuck at home that radio propagation has suddenly come alive, or is it a case that the conditions have been there all along, but, operators have just been elsewhere, perhaps haunting social media instead?

So if you have HF capability and time, throw a CQ out into the ether. You never know what you may reel in.

Our next ALERT meeting will occur May 12.

I hope to “see” you there!

One final word before we continue. Though it has been occasionally discussed, ALERT does not have its own dedicated 2 meter repeater. We have never needed one as we by normal procedure seek out reports on other repeaters. When we deploy to the NWS, K4NWS does continuously monitor 220 MHz as a direct link to the ham station at the State EMA, and the Atlanta/Peachtree City NWS office has contacted us directly on 220. Also, for a while we thought about, and tried using a 440 MHz repeater as an ALERT frequency for in-house ALERT coordination. But, while we try to monitor 146.880 during severe weather, we may be anywhere on the 2 meter band, targeting affected areas.

So, ALERT cannot do what I am about to suggest.

While we are dealing with the restrictions caused by the pandemic, clubs have held online meetings using Zoom and other methods. If you are reading this and your club has a repeater, why not consider an on the air meeting?

This could give good exposure to your club, its purposes and its achievements.

It’s free advertising, certainly legal, as it’s basically a net and it might generate interest in hams who might not have had interest in clubs or meetings before. So, there could be a distinct membership boost.

It’s something to think about anyway!

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Yes Still Need A Ham License

With the strangeness of the times, there is a myth floating around, even among some “seasoned” amateurs, that “you really don’t need a ham license right now, after all were under a ‘national emergency’”.

It is true that the President declared a national emergency on March 13.

It is also true that there were already 31 national emergencies already in effect, including one dating back to 1979 in response to the Iranian Hostage Crisis during the Carter Administration.

So the question comes, has the normal communications infrastructure been damaged, compromised or collapsed? Are you in a dire emergency, where there are no other means of communications available to call for help?

If you are reading this you know the internet is working, the flickering across the room indicates that the TV is working; the phone keeps bugging you with telemarketer calls, so that’s working also. And since, (hopefully) you have no reason to call 911, then the answer is no and yes. No, we are not experiencing a communication emergency and yes you still need a ham license to transmit in a ham band.

Now one question arises as to how to get take a ham radio examination when “social distancing”
has been mandated.

One answer is just wait until all this passes, for it will surely end and take the test then.

Or, organizations could do as one club did and do open air testing in a tent, with proper distancing.

Another possible answer is, the FCC ruled on April 30 that “nothing in the FCC’s rules prohibits remote testing, and prior FCC approval is not required to conduct remote tests.” See: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-20-467A1.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3-Ggmt71lAnepf_oycJ6C09fPOOpECcaJP0WQx4C8J8nCsE7oQ-RShnPk

In fact the first virtual technician testing session has already occurred. See: https://qrznow.com/usa-conducts-first-all-online-ham-radio-exam/

So, as VECs gear up for online testing, look for opportunities and take advantage of those opportunities.

Some of us old timers will be heard moaning about this development. I also remember hearing moaning when the Volunteer Exam concept itself was proposed and adopted in 1984. “Everyone is going to cheat”. “Just get two buddies to sign a certificate and you are an instant ham. Why not certify your collie while you are at it?” “That’s one way to build an instant club.” “All this started when they started with those blasted KA calls…you know they are making way for those million CBers…um hmm you just wait and see.”

I guess the mystical lure of an Amateur Radio License just causes an uncontrollable urge to cheat in people. My thinking is some might, but most won’t. I also believe that those who do will quickly lose interest in the realm, since the commitment level is so abysmally low to begin with.

The only real problem I have with online testing is that there needs to be a system or pool of “Elmers” available to mentor the new hams. Don’t just throw them into the water and expect them to know how to swim.

The license just opens the door. The rest is learned by “on the job experience” with trial, error and trying again until you get it right. Having a friendly patient ham to help me through the rough spots was a gift from above. My Elmer, Jim K4UMD, helped me study, gave me my test, found a radio for me so I could get on the air and guided me in the do’s and don’ts of the hobby.

Hams new and old often find that ham radio communications can be a complicated little beast. So, if you hear someone struggling, or someone not doing something “exactly right”, help them out, don’t jump on them. And, don’t whine about how good licensing was in the “old days”.

After all, though you may not remember it, but someone called you a “dummy” for the test you passed also.

So remember how it was when YOU first started out, and be someone’s mentor today.

It will do you good and help you to.

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Starlink

On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union shocked the world by placing Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite into orbit. Ham radio operators worldwide tuned to its radio beacon on 20.005 MHz and 40.010 MHz to hear the “beep beep beep” of Earth’s “new moon”. Some believe it was sending back data about its orbital environment. Others think it just went “beep beep beep” to prove it was really there.

While its transmissions ceased 21 days later, due to its batteries being exhausted, amateur observers using powerful binoculars continued to track it across the sky until its reentry on January 4, 1958

In more modern times observers have enjoyed looking towards the sky as the International Space Station passed over. The station, which began with the launch of the first section in 1998, is the largest manmade object in space. It will become even larger in 2021 when the Russians will launch the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to dock with the station.

The brightness of the station as it passes over varies depending on the solar angle and the angle of the stations huge solar arrays.

If you have never seen the station, or it has been a while, information on when you can spot the station can be found at https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/

But, now we have another target, or set of targets to search for in the sky – the Starlink satellite constellation.

SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, which hopefully on May 27 will launch the first Americans into space from American soil since the end of the Space Shuttle program in 2011, has created the Starlink Satellites.

The goal of the Starlink Satellites is to provide high speed broadband internet to locations around the globe where internet access is unreliable, expensive, or unavailable. They are currently targeting areas of the Northern U.S. and Canada for high speed broadband internet access. They are hoping to make this global by 2021.

Launched 60 satellites at a time, new Starlink satellites are injected into a preliminary orbit of 174 miles, but each of the 60 satellites is equipped with an ion engine to slowly raise its orbit to an altitude of about 217 miles. For a period of time after launch they float across the sky like a brilliant string of celestial pearls and but as the days progress they spread out into their final orbits and become less spectacular.

For details on observing opportunities go to https://findstarlink.com/

Naturally not everyone is thrilled by this project.

In 1960 astronomers were worried about an experimental satellite NASA was about to launch called Echo 1.

Echo 1, would be a 100 foot metalized balloon, launched into low Earth orbit that would act as a passive communications satellite.

The balloon satellite would function as a reflector, not a transceiver. A signal would be sent to it, reflected by its surface, and returned to Earth.

Astronomers worried that Echo 1 would drift by when they were making long exposure photographs of deep sky objects. But, as things turned out, Echo 1 and its even larger sister, 135 foot Echo 2 launched in 1964 presented no problems.

Other large satellites, such as the Salyut, Skylab and Mir space stations caused no problems, and even the largest object in space, the International Space Station, has caused no troubles.

But, Starlink is another story. With 420 satellites already in orbit, the Starlink system will eventually consist of 12,000 satellites.

Starlink satellites have appeared as bright streaks across images taken by observatory telescopes, ever since SpaceX launched the first mission almost a year ago.

SpaceX in recent months has taken to addressing astronomer’s concerns directly, reaching out to the American Astronomical Society (AAS) to establish a line of communication.

As a result there will be changes made to the design of its Starlink satellites, as well as changes to how the satellites move in space, to help reduce the brightness and damage to astronomer’s images.

“SpaceX is committed to making future satellite designs as dark as possible,” the company said in a press release following a presentation to the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

How dim will they become? Only time will tell.

Until then though, we can have the fun of tracking the Starlink train and the ISS, which is scheduled to exist to at least 2028, and then either be partially disassemble and used for another Russian / European space station, or deorbited completely to crash into an ocean.

So catch them while you can.

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Mark’s Almanac

May is the fifth month & third month of the Roman calendar. May is named for the Greek goddess Maia, who was identified with, Bona Dea, the Goddess of Fertility, who was celebrated in May.

Since ancient times the first day of the month, “May Day” has been a time of celebration. In Rome it honored Flora, the goddess of flowers.

On May the fifth Mexican’s celebrate Cinco De Mayo, the celebration Mexico’s 1862 victory over Napoleon III’s forces at Puebla. This is not, as many assume, Mexico’s Independence Day, which is actually on September 16.

Rainfall decreases in May as the Azores-Bermuda High strengthens, expands Westward over the Southeastern US & begins rerouting storm systems northward.

The door opens to the Gulf of Mexico & Gulf moisture spreads northward over the continent.

The center of maximum tornadic activity also shifts northward over the Nation’s Heartland. May is the peak tornado month, with a 42% increase over April’s amount.

Eastern Pacific hurricane season begins May 15, and although the North Atlantic hurricane season has not arrived, occasionally a tropical system will form in the Gulf of Mexico. From 1851 to 2019 there have been 24 Tropical Storms and 5 Hurricanes, including an 1863 Category 2 storm, the knowledge of which is based on historical reanalysis by NOAA’s Michael Chenoweth and Cary Mock in 2013 and posthumously given the name Hurricane Amanda, named after, a Union ship the storm washed ashore. It made landfall near Apalachicola Florida.

60% of off-season Hurricanes occur in May.

Colorado State University has issued its outlook for the 2020 tropical season.

Their forecast predicts 16 named storms during the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30. Of those, researchers expect eight to become hurricanes and four to reach major hurricane strength of Category 3 or greater, with sustained winds of 111 miles per hour or greater.

A “Normal” season sees about 12 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 3 major hurricanes.

AccuWeather released its 2020 Atlantic hurricane forecast earlier. Their outlook also calls for an above average season with 14 to 18 tropical storms during the upcoming season, which runs from June 1 through November 30. Of those storms, seven to nine are forecast to become hurricanes; and two to four are predicted to strengthen into major hurricanes.

NOAA’s forecast is due at the end of May.

The Atlantic Hurricane names for 2020 are: Arthur, Bertha, Cristobal, Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gonzalo, Hanna, Isaias, Josephine, Kyle, Laura, Marco, Nana, Omar, Paulette, Rene, Sally, Teddy, Vicky and Wilfred.

Should they run out of names they will use the Greek alphabet for names, as they did with Tropical Storm Alpha in 2005.

Days continue to grow longer as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon increases from 71.6 degrees at the beginning of the month to 78.4 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight increases from 13 hours 31 minutes on May 1 to 14 hours 13 minutes on May 31.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

May 1 Sunrise 5:59 AM Sunset 7:30 PM
May 15 Sunrise 5:47 AM Sunset 7:41 PM
May 30 Sunrise 5:39 AM Sunset 7:52 PM

Looking towards the sky, The Sun, magnitude -26.7 is currently located in Aries.

At the beginning of the month Mercury is hidden behind the Sun. On May 4 he will pass directly behind the Sun or be in “Superior Conjunction”.

On May 9 he will be at his closest approach to the Sun, or “Perihelion” when he will be 28.8 million miles from the Sun.

On May 11 he reappears in the evening sky and will be steadily rising and by month’s end will be a -0.1 object 20 degrees above the Western horizon in Gemini.

Venus, magnitude –4.7, in north-central Taurus, is the dazzling white “Evening Star” in the west during and after dusk. She is now at her maximum brightness.

Venus is now sinking lower in the evening sky, at the first of the month she sets 90 minutes after twilights end.

In a telescope, Venus is a 28% sunlit crescent. Towards the end of the month she will be a dramatically thin crescent low in the twilight as she nears conjunction with the Sun.

Earth, magnitude -4.0, as viewed from the Sun, is in the Constellation Libra.

Mars, magnitude +0.4 in Capricorn, shines in the southeast before and during early dawn.

Jupiter, magnitude -2.3 in Sagittarius, shines brightly in the southeast before and during the early dawn.

Saturn, magnitudes +0.6 in Capricorn, shines in the southeast before and during early dawn.

Mars, Jupiter and Saturn form a trio with Jupiter, the brightest, on the right and Saturn glowing pale yellow 5° to Jupiter’s left.

Mars is ever farther to Saturn’s lower left, moving eastward against the stars away from the other two.

Uranus is hidden in conjunction with the Sun.

Neptune, magnitude +7.9 in Aquarius, is barely risen in the east as dawn begins.

4152 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of April 23, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

The Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower, an above average shower, peaks May 4 & 5. It is capable of producing up to 60 meteors per hour at its peak, but, most of the activity is seen in the Southern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, the rate can reach about 30 meteors per hour, which is still a decent shower. It is produced by dust particles left behind by comet Halley, due to return in a mere 42 years in the summer of 2061. The shower runs annually from April 19 to May 28. It peaks this year on the night of May 4 and the morning of the May 5. The nearly full moon will be a problem this year, blocking out all but the brightest meteors. But if you are patient, you should still be able to catch a few good ones. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Aquarius, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

The Moon will be at Perigee, or her closest point from the Earth on May 5 at a distance of 223,480 Miles.

Full Moon will occur May 7th at 5:45 AM CDT or 10:45 UTC. The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be will be fully illuminated. May’s Moon is “Flower Moon” in Native American folklore, because of the abundance of spring flowers. It has also been called “Corn Planting Moon” & “Milk Moon”.

This is also the last of four Supermoons for 2020. The Moon will be near its closest approach to the Earth and may look slightly larger and brighter than usual.

The Moon will be at Apogee, or her farthest point from the Earth on May 18 at a distance of 252018 Miles.

New Moon will occur May 22 at 12:39 PM CDT or 17:39 UTC. The Moon will located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky This is the best time of the month to observe faint deep sky objects such as galaxies and star clusters, as there will be no moonlight to wash out the evening sky.

Last month I mentioned the possibility of a bright comet arriving named Comet Atlas. Well as celestial things don’t always go as expected, Atlas has fragmented and the remains will never reach naked eye visibility.

There is, however, a new kid in town in the form of Comet Swan which is inbound and will make its closest approach to Earth on May 13 and brighten to magnitude 3.5.

Unfortunately, the Southern Hemisphere is expected to get the best view as Swan sails past Earth.

Swan will be at its brightest in the US towards the end of May but will only be visible extremely low in the Eastern morning sky.

But, if you happen to be in Australia or Chile in the next couple of weeks, then you are in luck as you will get a great view of a bright comet.

Last year, amateur and professional astronomers discovered about 50 new comets, and recovered 17 returning visitors. Not a single one was bright enough to be seen by the naked eye or by amateur equipment, except for interstellar comet 2I/Borisov which was visible only if you had dark skies and a telescope with a primary lens or mirror 16 inches across.

So, we are currently in a cometary drought.

The good thing is, all droughts do eventually come to an end. So who knows, the Fall may see the yet to be discovered Great Comet of 2020.

Perhaps we won’t be needing biohazard suits by then!

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Articles and suggestions for the Newsletter are welcome and needed. Share your knowledge and experience with us. If you like DX, tell us about it. Digital communications, whether FT4, FT8, Fusion, p25, D-Star DMR or CW, and yes dash dot CW is a digital mode, tell us about it. How does it work. What works best locally?

While I may tweak the article to flow smoothly in the newsletter, any topic that is weather or ham radio related is welcome!

This month’s meeting will be on May 12. The meeting will be done remotely as was last month’s meeting.

Details and instructions will be issued as the time nears.

Hope to “see” you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter

Wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/

Hi Everyone,

I hope this finds you and your loved ones well.

We find ourselves faced with one of the most challenging situations of modern history. We are at war with an enemy which we cannot see, and which we really have no clue as to whether we have been exposed to at some point or not. For as my Mom once explained concerning folk’s cleanliness or the lack thereof “people are nasty.”

Add to this a pollen season with its usual measure of misery and the world becomes a hypochondriac’s dream.

One almost becomes like the gent who read online that “if your heart skips more than three beats in a row, you will die”, and was of a habit of taking his pulse over and over just in case he was about to spring “the Big One.”

We go “Cough” and “achoo”. Is it the Corona virus or the sulfurous dust of a Southern Pine?

So what can we do?

We should avoid acting like a nut either by overreacting and pillaging Publix or underreacting and doing nothing. We should follow the recommended guidelines instead and maintain our distance.

If you are a hugger, refrain from hugging. If you are of the habit of getting “up close and personal” in someone’s face when you talk to them, whether innocently or not, don’t do that either. Mr. Spock’s “live long and prosper” sign can replace handshakes. Lots of folk are used to communicating by gestures anyway, especially in traffic. And, as Mom used to say “stay prayed up”, which, plague or no plague is sage advice anyway.

Together we will weather this storm together and come through to the other side.

Stay safe and stay well.

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National Weather Service Precautions For COVID-19

The National Weather Service has informed us, that out of caution to ensure that the NWS staff at each office is able to continue to support their mission to protect life and property, that the BMX office has been given direction to temporarily suspend non-essential visits (public, volunteers, tour groups, etc) to the forecast offices.

The impact to ALERT is that until further notice, any K4NWS callout or activation will be done remotely, and we will use NWSchat’s BMXEMACHAT room to coordinate communication with the forecast office.

This is similar to some office workplaces choosing to work remotely, to keep risks low, and is not a reason to panic.

As we enter the peak severe weather season for Alabama, this is a great opportunity to ensure that our home station PC and radio equipment is tested, working, and is ready in case we have an event where we can serve the NWS remotely.
.
There is a new chat room on the NWSchat (government chat) server, called BMXAlert, for ALERT’s operators to privately coordinate where needed.

We can also create temporary chats in NWSchat, so I would suggest calling it K4NWSCHAT if a temporary room is needed.

However, let’s please remember that we can also use the Weather.IM BMXSPOTTERCHAT option as well, which allows us to communicate with other Skywarn spotters and those who are unable to be approved for NWSchat access.

Don’t forget, we also have DMR, which can be used to help bring us together, as well as other ham radio modes.

I’ve completed a document about NWSchat, for ALERT’s current Operational Members ONLY (who would normally respond to call-outs by going to the National Weather Service).
https://alert-alabama.org/blog/?page_id=2267

Rooms to use during callout:

Required: Don’t forget to log into the Weather.im chat, BMXSpotterChat, to receive spotter reports from non-NWSchat-eligible users!!!

Required: BMXEMAChat
This chat room houses EMA and ALERT, and is not viewable by the media. This is the primary chat room for providing the NWS with storm reports from ALERT.

Required: BMXALERT (NEW!)
This is the new ALERT-Only chat room for coordinating ham radio operations privately. It may be a good idea to use the /nick command to describe you, your callsign, and your role or location.

Optional: BMXchat
This is the chat room for all NWS partners, including the media.
This chat room’s messages are automatically copied/rebroadcast into BMXEMAchat, so it isn’t necessary to log in here, unless there’s someone in particular you are trying to reach.

Optional: Other Chats
We have access to chats nationwide, in case you need to relate a report to a different office, are traveling, or any other valid NWS purpose.

Regards,
Casey Benefield, NZ2O
Public Information

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Mark’s Almanac

The Romans called April “Aprilis”, probably from the word “aperire”, which means, “to open”. This time of year being when buds open. It was originally the second month of the Roman calendar, before Roman King Numa Pompilius added January & February in 700 BC.

Freezing weather comes to an end as Birmingham’s average last freeze is April 1, while Tuscaloosa’s is March 26. The record for the latest freeze date is April 21, 1953 for Tuscaloosa and April 23, 1986 for Birmingham.

Snowfall is still possible though, as April 3, 1987’s 5 inches proves. The latest trace of snow was April 25, 1910.

April is less wet than March & rain becomes more localized and less widespread in nature. The sun heats the lower atmosphere near the ground and since the upper atmosphere is still cold, the warm air rises, reaches the dew point line, forms clouds & then it may rain. April is the first time in the spring season that favors local convective activity, which is why you have “April Showers”.

North Atlantic Tropical activity remains at a minimum. From 1851 to 2019 there has never been a Hurricane and only two Tropical Storms – Ana in 2003 and Arlene in 2017 which affected only shipping.

AccuWeather has released its 2020 Atlantic hurricane forecast. Their outlook is calling for an above average season with fourteen to eighteen tropical storms during the upcoming season, which runs from June 1 through November 30. Of those storms, seven to nine are forecast to become hurricanes; and two to four are predicted to strengthen into major hurricanes.

In a normal year, there are around twelve storms, six hurricanes and roughly three major hurricanes.

Colorado State University will issue its outlook in April and NOAA’s forecast is due at the end of May.

April is peak tornado month, with wide scale outbreaks possible. There are 2 ½ times the number of tornadoes as in March. 25% of the year’s tornadoes will have occurred by April 28.

From April 1950 to 2018, 8956 tornadoes were reported causing, as of 2018, 1772 deaths and as of 2013, 29,090 injuries.

As of 2017, Oklahoma leads the nation in killer violent tornados, having had 64, followed by Iowa with 54, Texas with 53, Kansas with 48 and Alabama 44.

As of 2015, Alabama ranks fourth in the number of April tornadoes, following Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. They along with Illinois belong to the “over 400 club” having had over 400 tornadoes since 1950.

As of 2017 Alabama leads the nation in F5 & EF5 tornadoes, having had 9, followed by Oklahoma and Kansas with 8, and two way tie for third between Iowa and Texas with 6.

As of 2016 Alabama leads the nation in tornado deaths with 633, followed by Texas with 552 and Mississippi with 477.

The counties most likely to be struck by violent EF5 tornadoes are Lawrence, Limestone, Morgan, Madison and Marion, all of which have been struck three times.

Tuscaloosa has been stuck by four F4 & EF4 tornadoes including 1932, 1975, 2000 & 2011.

The suburbs of Birmingham, including Oak Grove, Pleasant Grove, McDonald Chapel and Smithfield have been struck by two F4 & EF4 tornadoes in 1956 & 2011 and by two F5 tornadoes in 1977 & 1998.

My Grandfather, who passed away in 1958, once said “someday a big tornado is going to go right up Jones Valley and tear everything up”.

Indeed there is no logical or climatological reason why and an EF4 or EF5 tornado hasn’t struck or won’t strike the densely populated areas of Birmingham, including the high rises of downtown.

Whether it is due to “Divine Providence” or “random chance” otherwise known as “luck”, Birmingham has been spared.

When will that luck run out?

Some notable Alabama tornados in past Aprils include:

April 18, 1953 F3 Lee & Russell County 6 dead 195 injured
April 18, 1953 F3 Shelby County 8 dead 495 injured
April 15, 1956 F4 Jefferson County 25 dead 200 injured “McDonald Chapel Tornado”
April 18, 1969 F4 Montgomery, Bullock, Butler & Crenshaw Counties 2 dead 15 injured

April 3 & 4, 1974 “Super Outbreak” or produced at least eight tornadoes in Alabama, including four extremely intense and long-lived storms that swept the state killing eighty-six persons and injuring 949. The Huntsville area had an F3, F4 & an F5 tornado. The F4 tornado struck a half mile from where they were still digging out from an F3 tornado that had struck earlier in that day. Guin was literally wiped off the map, as was Xenia Ohio. The entire Eastern US and Southern Canada was affected during “The Day Of 100 Tornadoes”.

April 3, 1974 F5 Lamar, Marion, Winston, Lawrence & Morgan Counties 30 dead 230 injured
April 3, 1974 F4 Pickens, Tuscaloosa, Fayette, Walker & Cullman Counties 3 dead 178 injured
April 3, 1974 F5 Limestone-Madison 28 dead 260 injured
April 4, 1977 F5 Jefferson County 22 dead 130 injured “Smithfield Tornado”
April 1, 1998 F3 Russell County 2 dead 23 injured
April 8, 1998 F5 Tuscaloosa & Jefferson County 32 dead 259 Injured “Oak Grove Tornado”

April 25 – 28, 2011 Super outbreak was the largest and deadliest tornado outbreak on record,
with 358 tornadoes in 21 states and southern Canada. April 27 alone had 211 tornadoes. Of 348
people killed, 324 were tornado related, the other 24 being non-tornado storm related deaths, such as straight line winds.

Alabama was hit by two distinct waves of tornadoes, the first hitting during the early morning hours resulting in 52 injuries and the second in the afternoon and evening resulting in 238 deaths and 1946 injuries in a total of 62 tornadoes.

April 27, 2011 F5 Marion County 18 dead 100 injured
April 27, 2011 F4 Pickens, Tuscaloosa, Fayette, Walker & Blount Counties 13 dead 54 injured
April 27, 2011 F3 Marion County 7 dead 100 injured
April 27, 2011 F4 Greene, Tuscaloosa & Jefferson counties 65 dead 1500 injured
April 27, 2011 F3 Greene, Hale & Bibb counties 7 dead 50 injured
April 27, 2011 F4 Jefferson, St. Clair, Calhoun, Etowah and Cherokee counties 22 dead 81 injured
April 27, 2011 F4 Elmore, Tallapoosa & Chambers counties 7 dead 30 injured
April 3, 2012 F2 Tallapoosa & Chambers counties 1 dead 2 injured
April 28, 2014 F3 Limestone County 1 dead 30 injured

Always beware of the storms of April.

Days continue to grow longer as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon rapidly increases from 61.1 degrees at the beginning of the month to 71.3 degrees at the end. Daylight increases from 12 hours 32 minutes on April 1 to 13 hours 29 minutes on April 30.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

April 1 Sunrise 6:35 AM Sunset 7:08 PM
April 15 Sunrise 6:17 AM Sunset 7:18 PM
April 30 Sunrise 6:00 AM Sunset 7:29 PM

Looking skyward, at the beginning of the month Mercury, magnitude +0.0, is very low in the dawn.

Venus, magnitude –4.5, in western Taurus under the Pleiades, is the big, bright white “Evening Star” blazing high in the west during and after dusk. Venus doesn’t set until a good 2½ hours after complete dark.

Above Venus is the Pleiades Star Cluster, drawing closer to Venus by about 1° per day. On Friday evening April 3rd, Venus is right in the Pleiades’ left edge.

In a telescope, Venus is a trace less than half lit. She will continue to enlarge in size and wane in phase and will become a dramatically thin crescent in late May.

Not surprisingly, many people online have expressed concern over this “strange hovering ‘UFO’”.

Earth, magnitude -4.0, as viewed from the Sun, is in the Constellation Virgo.

Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, magnitudes, +0.8, – 2.1, and +0.7, respectively, are grouped low in the southeast in Sagittarius as dawn begins. Jupiter is by far the brightest and catches your eye first. Saturn is to the lower left of Jupiter and Mars is near Saturn.

Uranus, magnitude 5.8, in southwestern Aries, is disappearing in the western evening twilight and will dip below the horizon.

Uranus will pass directly behind the Sun on April 26.

Neptune is hidden in deep in the glow of sunrise.

4141 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of March 19, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

The Moon will be the closest to the Earth or Perigee on April 7, when she is 221,772 miles from the Earth.

Aprils Full Moon will at 9:35 CDT April 7 or 2:35 UTC on April 8

This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Full Pink Moon because it marked the appearance of the moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the first spring flowers. This moon has also been known as the Sprouting Grass Moon, the Growing Moon, and the Egg Moon. Many coastal tribes called it the Full Fish Moon because this was the time that the shad swam upstream to spawn.

This is also the third of four Supermoons for 2020. The Moon will be at its closest approach to the Earth and may look slightly larger and brighter than usual.

The Moon will be the farthest distance from the Earth or Apogee on April 20, when she is 252,564. miles from the Earth

New Moon will occur at 9:27 CDT April 22 or 2:27 UTC on April 23.

The Moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This phase occurs at 02:27 UTC. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

The Lyrid Meteor Shower which, runs annually from April 16 – 25, peaks on the evening of April 22 and morning of April 23. This is a minor shower, with only 12 to 24 meteors per hour. These meteors sometimes produce bright dust trails that last for several seconds.

This shower is produced by dust particles left behind by comet C/1861 G1 Thatcher, which was discovered in 1861.

The nearly new moon will ensure dark skies for what should be a good show this year. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Lyra, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

Evenings in early April offer an excellent opportunity to view the zodiacal light. Zodiacal light is a faint, roughly triangular whitish glow seen in the night sky which appears to extend up from the vicinity of the sun along the ecliptical plane. It is caused by sunlight scattered by space dust in the orbital plane of the Earth.

From the Northern Hemisphere, early spring is the best time of year to observe this elusive glow after sunset. It appears slightly fainter than the Milky Way, so you’ll need a clear moonless sky and an observing site located far from the city. Look for the cone-shaped glow, which points nearly straight up from the western horizon, after the last vestiges of twilight have faded away.

This is the time of year when the dim Little Dipper – Ursa Minor – juts to the right from the North Star, Polaris, which is the end of the Little Dipper’s handle, during late evening. The much brighter Big Dipper curls over high above it, “dumping water” into it. They do the reverse in the fall.

Now that it’s spring, the signature fall-and-winter constellation Cassiopeia is retreating down after dark. But for mid-northern latitudes Cassiopeia is circumpolar, never going away completely. Look for it fairly low in the north-northwest these evenings. It’s standing nearly on end.

One item of note is Comet C/2019 Y4 or known by its nickname, Comet Atlas. Comet Atlas is currently near Mars’ orbit and is moving inbound towards the Sun. It is possible that it could shine as brightly as a crescent moon in May.

If it keeps going at the rate it is increasing brightness, it could reach a naked eye visibility, magnitude +5, by May 1. Afterwards, its peak brightness is estimated to be between +2 to -6.

For comparison, Venus is at a visual magnitude of -4.48.

As a result, ATLAS could potentially be viewed with a trusty pair of binoculars or even with the naked eye. The last time a comet was visible to the naked eye was in 1997, when comet Hale-Bopp gave sky enthusiasts quite the treat for around 18 months.

Or, it could break apart and be a cosmic dud.

Only Time will tell.

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This month’s meeting will be on April 14 at 7PM via Zoom.

The room is scheduled for 6:30PM.

You won’t need a Zoom account to join on a PC, but it is highly recommend joining on PC.

Join: Click here 
https://meetingsamer9.webex.com/meetingsamer9/j.php?MTID=m3a58937a8c515f275e4bc7a71671e3eb 

You can also download and install the Cisco WebEx app on your mobile phone.

Or Telephone Dial:
408-418-9388
Use Meeting ID: 292 469 262
Meeting Password: 2020

I hope to “see” you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter

wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/

Hi Everyone,

The Birminghamfest is almost here, and I hope you can attend.

The Birminghamfest will occur Friday and Saturday March 6 & 7 at the Trussville Civic Center.

Four Saturday forums of particular interest will be:

9 – 10 AM Shelby County ARES by Terry Rowe KK4DLV EC Fireside Room 3
11 – 12 PM Weather Preparation by FOX-6 Meteorologist Wes Wyatt Fireside Room 3
12 – 1 PM ALERT by Johnny Knobloch KJ4OPX President Fireside Room 2
3 – 4 PM Jefferson County ARES by Ron King WX4RON EC Fireside Room 2

Amateur radio exams will be administered on Saturday from 9 AM to Noon in Fireside Room 1,

For more information go to http://birminghamfest.org/

Our next ALERT meeting will be on Tuesday, March 10 at 7PM at the National Weather Service Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport.

Hope to see you there!

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10 Ways To Extend Cellphone Battery Life During An Emergency

Cellphones are society’s primary means of communications. We all have them, use them, cuss them and depend on them. They are a lifeline and a vital link to the outside world. They are also fragile and are only usable as long as their batteries last.

The following are hints for cellphone care and usage during emergencies.

1. Try to keep it charged and carry a charger both with you and in your car. Frequently check the battery level.

2. If you have a weak connection, sometimes you can get a better connection by momentarily going to airplane mode, waiting a few seconds and then going back to normal. The phone will seek out and lock onto strongest signal.

3. Unless you are using WIFI for access, turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modes, as they will drain your battery. Sometimes however WIFI will connect when other means fail. For example, after the Moore Oklahoma tornado of 2013 my nieces house phone was out, but, the internet was still working, so WIFI was the lifeline.

4. Once your location, either by address, street / cross street, via map or your longitude & latitude has been determined, cut off location services, as this drains the battery.

5. Don’t play games, look at photos, listen to music or play videos.

6. Texting uses much less battery power than voice. Texting can also sometimes penetrate the “all circuits are busy” situations or make their way through faint connections, as they have such narrow bandwidth and data usage.

7. In an emergency, have one designated offsite contact person and talk to them only.

8. If there are others with phones, give the numbers of those phones to the contact person, so they will recognize the numbers if they see them and then completely power down all phones except for one. It will be the primary and the others are backups, with the batteries being conserved. “Completely” means “turned off”, not airplane mode.

9. Set a specific time when you will contact the contact person, “I’ll call you at 6:00 PM” for instance and then completely power down the phone. Turn it on again a couple of minutes before the designated time. You initiate the call; they are not the ones with the dying battery.

10. Keep calls as brief as possible.

Using these steps, assuming the battery is not old as dirt and worn out to begin with, this could lengthen the battery life for days beyond the norm.

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Birmingham NWS Spring 2020 Storm Spotter Courses

The Birmingham NWS office will present several online Basic Spotter Courses and a single online Advanced Spotter Course this Spring. These online classes allow individuals to complete the courses in the comfort of their own home or office with the use of https://www.join.me/
meeting site.

By attending any course, which runs about 1.5 – 2 hours, individuals or a group of individuals will become SKYWARN Storm Spotters.

Unless you are in need of or just want to attend a refresher Course, you do not need to attend more than one Basic SKYWARN Course, as the material covered is the same; however it is required you to attend at least one Basic SKYWARN Course before taking the Advanced SKYWARN Course.

These courses are two-way, meaning you will be able to interact with the meteorologist leading the training. You will be muted while training is in-progress, and unmuted when applicable (e.g., for questions); or, you can use the built-in chat feature.

The current online schedule is as follows:

Basic Class Tuesday, March 3 at 1:00 PM Use Session Code 412-237-985
Basic Class Thursday, March 5 at 6:30 PM Use Session Code 583-754-755
Basic Class Tuesday, March 10 at 6:30 PM Use Session Code 801-555-076
Basic Class Thursday, March 19 at 1:00 PM Use Session Code 726-373-081
Advanced Class Thursday April 2 at 6:30 PM Use Session Code 746-697-002
Enter the session code at https://www.join.me/

These classes will help you provide the NWS the vital “ground truth” information they need to verify radar indications, target their attention and help you relay reports in a clear manner to the NWS, either directly via the 1-800-856-0758 Storm Reporting Hotline, online at http://www.weather.gov/bmx/submit_storm_report or amateur radio.

This knowledge helps SKYWARN Net Control stations filter reports, by giving them knowledge of what reporting stations are trying to describe. This way they can tell if the report is a valid report, an invalid report by an overly excited operator or a valid, but, poorly described report, which without this knowledge would be mistakenly dismissed.

For further information on these classes visit: http://www.weather.gov/bmx/skywarnschedule

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The 21st Century Marquess of Queensbury Rules For Arguing On Social Media

Let’s discuss social media arguments. Whether we admit it or not, people love following social media arguments. Somehow it’s strangely addictive, watching random people ranting, raving and acting like lunatics towards each other, calling each other every name in the book, and a few that haven’t even been written yet over some topic, more times than not of absolutely zero importance, since the powers that be will never see their sage wisdom and fierce defense.

But, it is also an art that many have yet to perfect or at least understand. So, I thought I would do society a favor by enlightening them with the following guidelines.

As a side note, before we begin, the British are the undisputed champions of social media warfare. Seeing a chap replying to an insult with “a thousand pardons, Me Lord, for having dared to express an opinion” somehow makes our attempts at cat calling seem totally lame. Aussies on the other hand have ways of insulting each other that just leaves one shaking their head asking “why can’t I think of stuff like this bloke?”

But, though our version of warfare is mediocre, here are some hints that will help you in this less than chivalrous task.

1. First a serious word of caution. Be careful when sharing personal information, opinions, biases or jokes that, just twenty years ago may have been perfectly acceptable. Remember that what you post online never really disappears from cyberspace and that we are all leaving a digital footprint the size of Greenland. So don’t post things that will haunt you five years from now. Or will cause a riot at work today.

2. When commenting “you’re an idiot” or “I wholeheartedly agree” please be sure to indicate which person you are agreeing with or who you are insulting. You may be commenting on the third comment posted in the thread, but, your comment may end up being the forty fifth comment posted. No one will know who you are referring to or who you are agreeing with, and so you may end up looking like a nut or agreeing with one, which puts you in league with nuts, or nutty cause.

Example:

“Steve – Ed you, like your opinion are utter rubbish.”
“Ed – Steve you, my dear fellow, are a complete waste of skin.”
“Doris – it’s such a pretty day!”
“Wilbur – that’s the absolute truth!”

Which one is Wilbur agreeing with, Steve, Ed or Doris?

Another example:

In the middle of a heated argument, Joe writes a lengthy reply specifically to Bob calling Bob every name in the book, saying he’s the reason his kids are ugly and that he is a miserable lout.

Bob replies “why are you attacking me? I agreed with you.”

Bob was telling the truth, he did post in agreement, but, he did not specify who he was replying to and Joe just assumed the worst.

This was a true story, by the way.

3. Check the dates on the conversation. You make be joining an argument that faded into disinterest in 2006, and no one will ever see your comment or care. The person who made the post you are arguing with will never see your reply if 14,230 comments have already been made. Your posting the 14,231st comment is just a waste of your time.

4. If you can’t defend a point without using every foul word known to man, then you need to be quiet and just let someone who is capable of communicating on an educated adult level handle the debate.

5. Though it’s hard to admit it, sometimes the other guy is actually right. Admitting so doesn’t make you look bad either, at least to reasonable folk. Who cares what the unreasonable ones think?

6. “Never argue with an idiot, they will only bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.”

7. Some arguments and people just aren’t worth the trouble. Don’t wear yourself out “swatting at gnats”. Just scroll on by.

8. Remember some folk post garbage because they are having a garbagy day. On other days they aren’t “that way” at all.

9. Sometimes the best way to win an argument is to say nothing in reply, and just leave the other guy hanging, waiting and waiting for a reply that never comes, while continuing to comment to others, indicating that neither he nor his comment is worthy of acknowledgement.

10. A quick “to the point” comment is the best, while long drawn out “sermons” like the one you are reading, are seldom read.

11. By not retaliating, but, “killing them with kindness” instead, you can make the other guy look like dumb, while you look like the smartest, kindest guy on the planet. It’s called the “bless his heart, he can’t help it” maneuver.

12. Don’t be surprised if you find out that the “know it all” opponent you have been arguing with for three solid hours is really a 13 year old up past his bedtime.

13. Even the most educated person on the planet is ignorant on some subjects. Instead of insulting them, explain it to them instead. If they reject it you’ve lost nothing, if they accept it, you have gained an ally and friend.

14. Don’t feed the trolls by acknowledging them, it only encourages them. The same is true of people interfering on the air. Ignore them.
15. Whether you are winning or losing, know when it’s time to leave the argument.

16. Anything you say, no matter how truthful or carefully worded, WILL be declared wrong and you an “idiot” if the majority is against you to begin with. For example conservatives will be pounced on on liberal sites and liberals pounced on on conservative sites. Wisely pick your field of battle or don’t whine when you receive the hail of negative, insulting comments. In other words, don’t step in an anthill and not expect to be bit.

17. You can “play” with or “gaslight” folk by publicly thanking all those people who are private messaging you with their encouragement, support and humor. Your opponent won’t know that you are lying like a dog and will either feel outnumbered or at least confused, which is good at any rate.

18. Criticizing spelling or grammar while ignoring the substance of the debate usually just succeeds in making you look bad, especially if you misssspell a wurd while sarcastically “educating” the other person and pointing out their “ignorance”.

19. Keeping your emotions under control usually makes the other guy look like the nitwit.

20. Not everyone knows that typing in ALL CAPS means YOU ARE SHOUTING!!! So don’t be too touchy if they do.

21. Finally, if you know that by replying you are going to end up in an argument, but, don’t want the pain, then just don’t reply. As the old saying goes “cabbages don’t get hit by lightning”.
Just lay low.

So there you have it.

In the British Parliament chamber the room is divided down the middle by two red lines running the length of the hall which members are not allowed to cross during debates. The lines are exactly two sword lengths apart. A throwback to when debates were not always conducted in a “gentlemanly manner.”

Today we can just whale away at each other on a keyboard.

Oh, as an added bonus, I’ll throw this in. If the situation should occur, be aware that the lady you might be flirting with online could really be a guy in a pool hall in Jersey City named Gus, who just won a bet with the guys by stringing you on.

It happens.

Have fun!

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Mark’s Almanac

Originally called Martius, March is the third month & first month of the Roman calendar. March is named for Mars, the god of war, and was the start of the military campaign season.

The beginning of “Meteorological Spring”, which is based on changes in temperature and precipitation, not the solar angle, is March 1

March is a wet month. Most floods occur in March and rainfall averages around 6 inches.
Tornadic activity sharply increases in March with there being an increase of 2.2 times the number of tornadoes over the February amount. The focal point for this tornadic activity is the Gulf States.

March is the hail maximum for the Deep South. This is due both to the number of thunderstorms & due to the freezing level still being near the surface. This allows hail to form at lower altitudes and reach the ground intact, as opposed to summer months, when the freezing level is higher and near surface level temperatures are higher melting the hail into liquid before impact.

North Atlantic Tropical activity remains at a minimum. From 1851 to 2019 there has been only one Hurricane to occur. A 100 MPH unnamed Hurricane which affected the Lesser Antilles in March 6- 9, 1908. Some sources also cite a pre-Civil War Tropical Storm also occurring, but others do not.

South Atlantic Tropical activity doesn’t have a sharp peak as the North Atlantic season does in September, however currently March has a thin lead in activity, as from 1957 – 2019 there have been 11 identified Tropical Systems, including the only known South Atlantic Hurricane – Hurricane Catarina which struck Brazil March 28, 2004.

Brazilian authorities at first were unwilling to admit that Catarina was a hurricane, for up until that time is was considered impossible for the South Atlantic to generate a tropical system, due to wind shear, cold sea surface temperatures and the lack of storm systems from which a storm could develop. With extensive damage from an impossible storm looking at them, they finally reluctantly agreed that maybe NOAA’s opinion was right.

Meanwhile, back in Alabama…

Killing frosts are gone and the last average frost is on March 16.

March is a snow month for Alabama & there is a 45% chance of snow up to one inch, and an 8% chance of one inch or more.

The good news is that there is hope on the horizon as Spring will arrive at Vernal Equinox on March 19 at 21:50 UTC or 4:50 P.M. CDT.

The Sun will shine directly on the equator and there will be nearly equal amounts of day and night throughout the world. This is also the first day of fall, or Autumnal Equinox, in the Southern Hemisphere.

Remember to get the eggs out, as it is said that you can stand eggs on their ends at the hour of equinox.

Days grow longer as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon rapidly increases from 49.0 degrees at the beginning of the month to 60.7 degrees at the end. Daylight increases from 11 hours 28 minutes on March 1 to 12 hours 30 minutes on March 31.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

March 1 Sunrise 6:16 AM Sunset 5:44 PM
March 15 Sunrise 6:58 AM Sunset 6:55 PM
March 31 Sunrise 6:36 AM Sunset 7:07 PM *Daylight Savings Time

Why the sunrise is later midmonth as opposed to the first and the last of the month is due to a combination of the quirks in the Earth’s orbit, it’s axial tilt and it being near equinox affecting the length of day based on sunlight as opposed to the measurement of time based on the Earth’s rotation.

Daylight Savings Time begins at 2 AM on March 8. So remember to “spring forward” one hour. This, of course means I will lose one hour of “beauty sleep”, which is something I desperately need.

I don’t particularly care for Daylight Savings Time. I share the same opinion I found on the “Republic Of Lakotah” website:

When told the reason for daylight saving time the old Native American said…
“Only a white man would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket and sew it to the bottom of a blanket and have a longer blanket.”

Saint Patrick’s Day is Tuesday March 17, and you better participate by wearing a Touch O’ The Green or you will be plagued by leprechauns and gnomes. Not a pleasant experience, I can assure you.

Looking towards the sky, at the beginning of the month Mercury is hidden deep in the sunrise.

He will emerge into the morning sky and by March 23 will reach his highest point in the sky in 2020 or Greatest Western Elongation, when he will be 27, 8 degrees above the eastern horizon,

There will be other Elongations as the year progresses, but, this will be the highest one.

He will reach his furthest distance from the Sun, or Aphelion on March 26, when he will be 43.4 million miles from our parent star.

Venus, magnitude –4.3, is moving from Pisces into Aries and is the big, bright “Evening Star” shining in the west during and after twilight.

She doesn’t set until more than two hours after the end of twilight.

Venus will reach her furthest distance from the Sun, or Perihelion, on March 19, when she will be 66.7 million miles from the Sun,

On March 24 she will reach her highest point in the sky or Greatest Eastern Elongation, when she will be 46.1 degrees above the western horizon,

In a telescope, Venus is growing larger and appears gibbous, being about 61% sunlit. She will continue to enlarge in size and wane in phase for the next three months — passing through “dichotomy”, or the half-lit phase, in late March and becoming a dramatic thin crescent in May.

Earth, magnitude -4.0, as viewed from the Sun, is in the Constellation Leo.

Mars, magnitude +1.1, above the handle of the Sagittarius Teapot, glows in the southeast before and during early dawn, He is located to the upper right of bright Jupiter.

Mars is slowly creeping toward Jupiter, by about half a degree per day.

Jupiter, magnitude –2.0, in Sagittarius, shines much brighter and whiter to the lower left of Mar in and during the early dawn.

Saturn, magnitude +0.7, in Sagittarius, is low in early dawn, lower left of Jupiter.

Uranus, magnitude 5.8, in southwestern Aries, hides in the vicinity of Venus right after dark.

Neptune is lost in the sunset and will pass behind the Sun on March 8.

4126 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of February 13, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

March’s Full Moon will occur on March 9 at 6:48 AM CDT or 11:48 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as “Worm Moon”. So called because the rains disturb the earthworms & they are seen wiggling around after the rains.

This moon has also been known as the Full Crow Moon, the Full Crust Moon, the Full Sap Moon, and the Lenten Moon.

The Moon will be at her closest distance from Earth or perigee at 221,906 miles on March 10.

New Moon will occur on March 23 at 10:28 AM CDT or 3:28 UTC March 24. The Moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere.

The Moon will be at her greatest distance from Earth or apogee at 252,705 miles on March 24.

Or perhaps I should be saying “Earth’s Primary Moon”, for the Earth’s gravitational field has temporarily captured Near-Earth Asteroid 2020 CD3, also known by the designation C26FED2, making it a temporary moon of the Earth.

2020 CD3 was discovered February 15, 2020 by astronomers Theodore Pruyne and Kacper Wierzchos as part of the Catalina Sky Survey, who spotted it and eliminated the possibility of it being a spent rocket booster, as proved to be the case with object J002E3, which discovered in September 2002, was thought to be an asteroid but proved to be Apollo 12’s third stage.

The Apollo-Saturn S-IVB third stages of Apollo 8, 10, and 11, passed by the Moon and are in solar orbits, while the third stage of Apollo 12 is in weird orbit that is sometimes a solar orbit and sometimes a distant Earth orbit.

The third stages of Apollo 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17 were purposely crashed into the Moon to study the Moon’s interior using seismometers left by the previous missions.

Based on its preliminary orbit, 2020 CD3 may have been captured by the Earth around 2017–2018, and is expected to remain in Earth orbit until April 2020. It has a 47 day oval orbit that mostly is far outside the Moon’s orbit,

Don’t expect to see this second moon however, as the car sized rock is currently a faint 20th magnitude object, and heading away from the Earth.

This is the second temporary satellite of Earth to be discovered. Near-Earth Asteroid 2006-RH120, was discovered in 2006, and was in Earth orbit from September 2006 to June 2007.

It is possible for asteroids to be captured and enter a stable orbit and become a permanent moon, as is the case of the moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos.

Celestial carnivores are emerging from hibernation. After dinnertime at this time of year, five carnivore constellations are rising upright in a ragged row from the northeast to south. They’re all seen in profile with their noses pointed up and their feet (if any) to the right. These are The Great Bear, Ursa Major in the northeast, with the Big Dipper as its brightest part, Leo the Lion in the east, Hydra the Sea Serpent in the southeast, The Lesser Dog, Canis Minor higher in the south-southeast, and The Greater Dog, bright Canis Major in the south.

Sirius, shining at magnitude −1.46, the brightest night time star, blazes high in the south on the meridian, in Canis Major by about 8 or 9 p.m. Using binoculars, you will find a fuzzy spot 4 degrees south of Sirius, directly below it when the constellation is directly South. Four degrees is somewhat less than the width of a typical binocular’s field of view.

That dim little patch of gray haze is open star cluster Messier 41, a small gravitationally bound group of 100 stars about 2,200 light-years away, and moving away from us at 869 miles per second. Sirius, by comparison, is only 8.6 light-years away.

Canopus, shining at magnitude -0.72, making it the second-brightest star after Sirius, lies 36° almost due south of Sirius. That’s far enough south that it never appears above the horizon if you are above latitude 37° N, such as southern Virginia, southern Missouri and central California. Luckily we lie south of that latitude, with our horizon lying, in the case of Central Alabama, around latitude 33°.

Canopus is located in the southern constellation Carina, The Keel, part of the defunct constellation Argo Navis, the ship of Jason and the Argonauts who searched for the Golden Fleece.

The constellation of Argo was introduced in ancient Greece. However, due to the massive size of Argo Navis and the sheer number of stars that required separate designation, Nicolas Louis de Lacaille divided Argo into three sections in 1763, including Carina, the Hull or Keel, Puppis, the Poop Deck, and Vela the Sails.

In the 19th century, these three became established as separate constellations, and were formally included in the list of 88 modern IAU constellations in 1930.

Canopus, 313 light years away, crosses low above the horizon, due south just 21 minutes before Sirius and is worthy of a peak.

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This month’s ALERT meeting will be on March 10 at 7PM at the National Weather Service Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport.

If for some reason you cannot attend the meeting in person, you can still participate via telephone. The NEW teleconference number is 1-866-231-8384 & and the conference code is
2056215645#.

Hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter

Wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/