Hi Everyone,

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

The Birminghamfest will occur Friday and Saturday March 1 & 2 at its new home at the Trussville Civic Center. For more information go to http://birminghamfest.org/

Three Saturday forums of particular interest will be:

10 – 11 AM Weather Preparation by FOX-6 Meteorologist Wes Wyatt Fireside Room 3
11 – 12 PM ARES – Statewide by David Gillespie W4LHQ AL SEC Fireside Room 2
12 – 1 PM ALERT by Casey Benefield NZ2O President Fireside Room 2

Our next ALERT meeting will be on Tuesday, March 12 at 7PM at the National Weather Service Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport.

Hope to see you there!

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Non-Amateur Radio Options For Emergency Preparedness

This topic may seem like an odd subject to discuss, as the Newsletter has always promoted Amateur Radio as the go to approach for Emergency Communications and Preparedness. The Newsletter was originally designed as an outreach to ALERT members and prospective members, but, over the years has it has evolved and is reaching an ever broadening readership, both, Amateur and Non-Amateur. The following applies to both groups, either as information to the unlicensed or as a resource for hams addressing the problem that will be covered.

In the February 2018 Newsletter I wrote an article titled “The Strangers Among Us” covering the increasingly frequent practice of Preppers and others purchasing ham equipment, most notably $20 Baofeng UV-5R handie talkies to “put in my bug out bag” or for buddies to use covertly in the woods for hunting, and other activities, all without bothering to obtain an Amateur Radio License.

On Social Media forums dealing with Amateur Radio or Emergency Preparedness, those getting these radios seem genuinely surprised and sometimes irritated when a ham tells them “you do know you need an FCC license to use this, don’t you?”

To play devil’s advocate for a moment, if you look at advertisements on Amazon, EBay, Wish or other online retail sites, unless you read the comments section, if they have one, there is not a single reference to any licensing requirement. So, it’s entirely possible that many, if not most people do not realize that an FCC license is required.

Others simply don’t care. “In an emergency, who cares?”, “just another buck in the governments wallet”, “they just want to be able to track you”, “my beeswax, not yours” etc, etc.

I and others try to explain things to them, my usual spiel being variations of:

“Why bother getting a license?

Legality aside, ham radios aren’t just a “key the mic & talk” situation. By going through the process you learn how to communicate effectively. You learn about where you will have the best results range and propagation wise, both frequency and location wise. You learn how to build and repair antennas for instance. You learn how not to interfere or hamper emergency communications, causing more harm than good. Plus, and this is based on actual experience, if you are in trouble and try to talk on one, hams don’t know whether to believe you are really needing help or just another unlicensed person squirreling around with a stolen Radio. My group learned this the hard way after dispatching EMTs to a vacant field based on a realistic sounding bogus call. Plus part of “Preparation” is practicing. As with any type of equipment or skills, you want to learn what will or won’t work now, before the SHTF, not after, when everything has crapped out and time is critical and you end up wondering why nothing seems to be working as advertised. Learn now, practice now. Think of studying for one as just another way of preparing. The more knowledge you have, the more you stack the deck in your favor if the SHTF. As to the “I don’t want the government to track me” thinking I sometimes hear, believe me, they already can easily do that by websites visited, credit & debit cards used, social media posts and by Facebook groups frequented. So, that cat is already out of the bag. By getting a license and getting involved you may be surprised at how many hams share your same interests and will help you out setting things up. Not preaching at you, just explaining. Come join us. It’s fun and we need you! http://www.arrl.org/getting-licensed“

Some seem interested, some don’t. Some indicate appreciation, and at any rate I haven’t been cursed out – yet.

Fortunately most can’t figure out how to program the radios anyway and the radios end up being forgotten in a dusty backpack, with the batteries corroding and leaking everywhere. But, there are always a few “helpful folk”, sometimes hams, which walk them through the process of using CHIRP and other methods to program and use these unlicensed radios. Which to me maybe isn’t best thing for them to be doing, for if the ones they help do end up “bootlegging it up” on the ham bands without a license, they have at the least “enabled them” and at the worst they have “aided and abetted” them.

Amateur radio, if you learn how to legally and properly use one, is the best, most versatile means of emergency communications available. However, if one isn’t interested or willing to follow the proper and sensible means of getting into the realm, there are other radio services available, that are effective and do not require a license.

If you or someone you know wants to have two way radio communications capability, but, have no interest or intention of getting a license, the following “common man” (meaning they don’t cost a fortune) options are available to you.

The first is by no means a secret.

CB Radio

The Class D Citizen’s Radio Service or “Citizens Band” has a much checkered past. Hams hated it from the start, since the band was culled out of the 11 Meter Ham Band, which covered 26.960 to 27.230 MHz.

But, the main reason many hams looked down on the service was the operating procedures or lack thereof of the operators.

“Key down, key down, key down, Unit 147 Roundman, Unit 147 Roundman, Unit 147 Roundman in Central Alabama, Central Alabama, Central Alabama, ghost talkin’, ghost talkin’, ghost talkin on the eleven meter business band QRT and standin’ by on the side Woooooooooooooooooooooo.”

Hearing this nonsense, which was often accompanied by an annoying echo mic that made people sound as if they are standing in the bottom of a well, with a signal bleeding over half the radio spectrum, hardly inspired respect. Not to mention “Freebanding”, the practice of illegally using frequencies outside of the CB Band.

Fortunately there is much less of this foolishness now than in the “old days”.

In the early days these problems didn’t exist.

The original concept was for CB to be for short range communications, sort of the “poor man’s business-band radio” (even today the current fees for Business Band licenses are in the three digit range), and CB regulations were structured similarly to those regulating the Business Band radio service, and a $20 license was required.

Until 1975, officially only channels 9-14 and 23 could be used for “interstation” calls to other licensees. Channels 1-8 and 15-22 were reserved for “intrastation” communications among units with the same license. Channel 9 was reserved as the emergency channel, similar to Channel 16 in the VHF Marine Band. After the inter-station/intra-station rule was dropped, channel 11 was reserved as a calling frequency for the purpose of establishing communications; however, this was withdrawn in 1977.

During this early period, it was common for a town to adopt an inter-station channel as its “home” channel. This helped prevent overcrowding on Channel 11, enabling a CBer to monitor a town’s home channel to contact another CBer from that town instead of a making a general call on Channel 11.

At first the system actually worked.

During the 1960’s very little activity was heard on the CB band. This I know because one Christmas, when I was 7 or 8 years old, I was given some Channel 14 walkie talkies (no one called them HT’s back then) which I and my brother played with. These, sets, while being crystal controlled for transmit, had very wide open receivers, receiving anything in the 11 Meter band, because they were basically junk radios. During the brief time we used them, I heard only one other station come through the ether.

Ten years later, in 1976, I found one of the pair in the closet and out of curiosity popped a 9 volt battery in and thought the receiver must have been shot, as there were dozens upon dozens of people doubling, tripling, cussing and screeching on top of each other.

The CB Boom was booming.

Two factors made the CB Boom the disaster that it was. One being that it was the fad of the day which suddenly plopped two million people into 23 channels, soon to be increased to 40, stretching from 26.965 to 27.405 MHz. This seemingly drew every lunatic on the planet. The second factor was that the boom hit just as the sunset cycle was heading towards its peak. So not only did you have to deal with the local nut cases, you had a few hundred thousand intimate friends from California dumping in on you via the ionosphere as well.

Why the FCC chose a DX band for a short range communications service is beyond me. They finally lifted the 155 mile distance limitation in 2017, while maintaining the power limitations of 4 watts on AM and 12 watts for SSB

But, to be fair, even back then, though it didn’t seem as such, more operators than not wanted and tried to operate in as “proper a fashion” as they knew how, as many were or later would became hams. I had a CB, still do in fact, and I observed the rules, trying to emulate the hams I heard on my scanner and followed the “try to be the example you want to see” theory.

Though there are still many stations on CB, the days of the Boom are long over.

Today if you are near a city, at times the band can still resemble the days when it was the “Wild West Of The Radio Dial” as it was during those peak days of the 1970’s, when it was muddled maelstrom of muck.

However, if you are away from a city, what CB activity you may actually hear is much more “tame” being comparable to 2 meter operations. So for unlicensed base to base, mobile to base or mobile to mobile operations, CB is a viable affordable option. CB was heavily used by emergency relief teams after Katrina, and I have always said, hams should have a CB in their “tool kit”. Especially when travelling.

FRS – Family Radio Service

The Family Radio Service, or FRS, is an unlicensed, simplex only, FM UHF personal radio service used by families, children, and campers to communicate. I also hear businesses use them, as they view it as an unlicensed low cost Business Band.

The FRS consists of 22 channels in the 462 MHz and 467 MHz range, all of which are shared with General Mobile Radio Service. Channel 1 is the default “calling channel”.

FRS radios are limited to 2 Watts on channels 1-7 and 15-22 and 0.5 watts on channels 8 – 14. Many FRS radios have provisions for using sub-audible PL tones to filter out unwanted chatter from other users on the same frequency, and add some degree of privacy.

https://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/FRS/GMRS_combined_channel_chart

FRS radios must use only permanently attached antennas, though there are also table-top FRS “base station” radios that have whip antennas. This limitation intentionally restricts the range of communications, allowing greatest use of the available channels by the community.

FRS manufacturers generally, and I might add, perhaps deceptively, exaggerate the radio’s range.
Under perfect conditions, hill top to hill top or over open water, 35 miles or more is possible. However, under normal conditions, with line of sight blocked by buildings or trees, FRS has an actual range of about 0.3 to 1 mile.

I have used these in State Parks and while hiking and they do a very decent job.

These inexpensive radios are the most commonly seen radios out there. I see them displayed at department stores, drug stores and of course online.

Hams should have one or two of these in their “RF Arsenal” also.

“
MURS – Multi-Use Radio Service

Established in 2000, the Multi-Use Radio Service is a low power, short range, unlicensed personal radio service in the 150 MHz band. The FCC defines it as “a private, two-way, short-distance voice or data communications service for personal or business activities of the general public.”

MURS radios are rated at 2 watts. Antenna height is limited to 20 feet above structure or 60 feet above ground, whichever is the greater.

MURS is authorized five channels that were previously in the Industrial/Business Radio Service and were known as the “color dot” frequencies in Part 90 of the FCC rules.

MURS Designated Frequencies

MURS 1 = 151.8200
MURS 2 = 151.8800
MURS 3 = 151.9400
MURS 4 = 154.5700 “Blue Dot”
MURS 5 = 154.6000 “Green Dot”

These radios are more expensive than CB or FRS Radios. But, still within my “common man” (I could afford them) definition.

GMRS General Radio Mobile Service

In the discussion of FRS radios, the General Mobile Radio Service was mentioned.

The GMRS is a land-mobile FM UHF radio service designed for short-distance two-way communication. GMRS shares the same frequencies as the FRS but can use higher power, 5 watts on Channels 1 – 7, as opposed to the FRS 2 watts, 50 watts on Channels 15 – 22 as opposed to the FRS 2 watts, and though there are none in the Birmingham area, repeaters are allowed.

This service DOES require a license.

Any individual in the United States who is at least 18 years of age and not a representative of a foreign government may apply for a GMRS license by completing the application forms 159 and form 605, either on paper or online through the FCC’s Universal Licensing System. Though no exam is required, there is a $70 fee for the 10 year license.

A GMRS individual license extends to immediate family members and authorizes them to use the licensed system and they are allowed to communicate with FRS users on those frequencies that are shared between the two services. GMRS individual licenses do not extend to employees, or non-family members. Non-family members must be licensed separately.

Licensees are entitled to communicate among themselves for personal or business purposes

In any case, each GMRS station must be identified by transmission of its FCC call sign at the end of a transmission or a series of transmissions, and at least once every 15 minutes for a series lasting more than 15 minutes. The call sign may be spoken or sent with CW. A repeater handling properly identified transmissions of others is not required to send its own station identification.

As we close, I will remind you that this article was not written to discourage people from getting a ham radio license, but, rather to help those considering communications methods by giving them options to consider.

If you are not willing to go through the licensing process, but, want a method of talking between vehicles or a base camp. Ham radio is probably not for you. But, CB would be.

If you are not willing to go through the licensing process, but, wish to talk to your kids in the mall, the woods or talk to your fishing or off-road buddies, then FRS maybe for you.

If you are not willing to go through the licensing process, but, want to have “tactical” communications for “reenactments” or for prepper groups operating in the backwoods, then MURS might be for you.

If you are a ham radio operator in Emergency Communications then having CB, FRS, MURS and even GMRS might be an option you want to include, as it gives you more RF options to choose from.

In the Bushcraft world there is a principle called “The Fire Triangle”. It states you can’t have a fire unless you have the three parts of the triangle, which are fuel, heat and oxygen.

In radio communications we have our own “RF Triangle”. Besides having equipment, to communicate successfully you need to know when, where and how to use your equipment.

“When” can depend on the solar cycle, time of day propagation wise or the most likely times people are going to be on a radio, for instance chances are better during commuting as opposed to 3 AM.

“Where” can depend on what your target is. Ordinarily if you want to reach Ottawa you won’t be able to do so on 2 meters, likewise talking to a town a county few miles away may not be possible on 160 meters.

“How” depends on the type of equipment, both radio and antenna you are using and what mode you are using. Plus proper operating procedures, as otherwise should you try using ham radio without at least rudimentary knowledge of how to do so you might as well be talking into a pine cone.

People venture into ham radio for many reasons. Whether it’s for Emergency Preparedness, to augment outdoor adventures, to talk to distant lands or to experiment with technology old and new, they are all valid reasons to get into the hobby.

A ham radio license does not make you a “radio expert”. It’s the first step in the journey. You will, if you are wise, never quit learning. 41 years ago I began this journey. I certainly don’t claim to know it all and am still learning daily.

Many times when one looks back on life they see things they would if they could, have done differently or not at all. Looking back, getting into ham radio was one of the wiser things I have done.

If you venture into the hobby, I think you will find this true for you also.

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Birmingham NWS Spring 2019 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 Thursday, February 28 at 6:30 PM Use Session Code 639-949-245
Basic Class Tuesday, March 5 at 6:30 PM Use Session Code 139-919-548
Basic Class Thursday, March 7 at 1:00 PM Use Session Code 935-889-029
Basic Class Thursday, March 14 at 6:30 PM Use Session Code 161-839-700
Basic Class Tuesday, March 26 at 1:00 PM Use Session Code 554-206-449
Basic Class Wednesday, March 27 at 6:30 PM Use Session Code 267-377-880
Advanced Class Thursday April 4 at 6:30 PM Use Session Code 804-008-842

Enter the session code at https://www.join.me/

The on-site will be at:

Lee County
Basic Class
Wednesday, March 6 at 1:00 PM
University Campus Safety & Security
543 West Magnolia Avenue
Auburn, Alabama

Please e-mail to register:
ljl0003@auburn.edu

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

If you don’t mind travelling to North Alabama, you might consider NWS Huntsville’s training classes also.

For further information on these classes visit: http://www.weather.gov/hun/skywarn

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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 2018 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 – 2017 there have been 10 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 20 at 21:58 UTC or 4:58 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.

For other locations go to http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php and input the locations and dates you are interested in.

Daylight Savings Time begins at 2 AM on March 10. 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 find on the “Republic Of Lakotah” website:

When told the reason for daylight saving time the old Indian 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 Saturday 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, Mercury (magnitude 0.0) is still near his highest point in the evening sky. Look or him low in the west as twilight fades. At the first of the month he is the brightest object near the horizon, but, is fading and falling fast. By mid-month he will be lost in the Sun’s glare and will pass between the Sun and Earth, or be in Inferior Conjunction, on March 14.

But Mercury dwindles in brightness by about half this week, from magnitude –0.8 to 0.0. Still, there’s nothing in that part of the sky that’s nearly as bright to confuse it with (except airplanes!)

Venus (magnitude –4.1), rises well before Sunrise. In a telescope Venus is dazzling white and gibbous.

Mars (magnitude +1.1, in Aries) still glows high in the west-southwest at nightfall and sets around 11 p.m. In a telescope he is a tiny reddish blob.

Jupiter (magnitude –2.0, in Virgo) rises well before dawn.

Saturn (magnitude +0.6, in Sagittarius or as my Mom would teasingly say “Shaggytaurus”) rises well before dawn. On March 28, Saturn will be 0.1° North of the Moon.

Venus, Jupiter and Saturn are all nicely arrayed this month. As dawn gets under way Venus shines in the low southeast, and Jupiter is the bright dot three or four fists at arm’s length to its upper right. Look for Saturn, much fainter, about sixth to a third of the way from Venus to Jupiter. The line is lengthening; all three planets move a little farther away from each other each morning.

Jupiter appears twice as Venus large in apparent diameter, but its surface brightness is some 50 times dimmer.

That’s mostly due to Jupiter being seven times farther from the illuminating Sun.

The effect of the distance is deceiving, as Venus and Jupiter have similarly bright albedos or reflectivity. Jupiter’s cloud tops reflect an average 52% of the sunlight that hits them, while the clouds of Venus reflect 65%. Pictures of Jupiter are rarely displayed in a way that shows this similarity; websites and magazines usually prefer to increase the darkness and contrast of Jupiter to emphasize details in its clouds.

Uranus, magnitude 5.8, at the Aries-Pisces border) hides below Mars.

Neptune is lost in the sunset, and will pass behind the Sun on March 6.

3917 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of February 21, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

The Moon will be at her greatest distance from Earth or apogee at 252,520 miles on March 4.

New Moon will occur March 6 at 10:02 UTC or 4:04 AM CST. 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 closest distance from Earth or perigee at 223,308 miles on March 19.

March’s first Full Moon will occur on March 2 at 2:43 PM CDT or 19:43 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes “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.

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° south of Sirius, directly below it when 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, 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°. So give Canopus, which crosses low above the horizon, due south just 21 minutes before Sirius does, a peak.

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This month’s ALERT meeting will be on March 12 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 teleconference number is 1-877-951-0997 & and the participant code is 741083.

Hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database

Hi Everyone

Our spring tornado season is just around the corner and now is the time to review your plans and procedures for those storms to come.

Take this time brush up on your skills. Don’t wait until the sirens sound. For by then it may be too late.

In preparing, you should ask yourselves these questions:

Is my family shelter (and everyone should have one) ready?
Is my equipment, both antennae & radios working?
Are the batteries charged?
Are my communications channels still functional? Including RF, Internet & telephone resources.
Can I reliably receive weather watches and warnings?
If you are on the NWSChat, is your password up to date?
Is your training and knowledge fresh, or do you need to do a quick review?

Are you prepared both at home and at work?

In preparing, remember that keeping yourself and your family alive and intact during and after the storms is your number one priority.

Here’s hoping that your February will be peaceful and safe.

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The Woes Of Forecasting Winter Weather

“Kind of missed it didn’t they?”, “I survived Snowmageddon 2019, ha, ha, ha” “I’m gonna give Spann and Dice a piece of my mind.” “What am I going to do with 18 gallons of milk…gee thanks a lot.”

Though I love meteorology, but, right now is one of those times I’m glad I’m NOT a meteorologist. It’s bad enough to be blamed on soaked weddings, wind-blown field goals and soap operas interruptions, but, these “heinous acts” pale in comparison to reaction when winter weather forecasts stray off the charts.

Whether it is due to the disruptions they cause or the “touchiness” of the subject in general, a missed winter weather forecast seems to take on a life of its own, and grief upon grief is piled on the forecasters.

The fact not appreciated by the general public is just how hard predicting winter weather in Alabama can be.

It is a complex process with many factors that can “throw a monkey wrench into the works” at the worst possible times.

One consideration is that there are so many variations in the types of winter weather possible, largely due to our latitude and our proximity to the Gulf of Mexico and the moisture it contains.

In the Northern states it is much simpler situation, for ignoring the frigid temperature threat, snow is the primary concern, with occasional ice storms.

One thing not realized is snow is not snow is not snow. In other words there are many different types of snow. The nature of the air mass triggering the snowfall, dry or moist, dictates the moisture amount available which in turn determines the structure of the snowflakes or pellets and the effect they can have. Therefore a Western snow is different than a Midwestern, Northern or an Eastern snow. Similarly a European snow is different than Western US snow. For example French World Cup Alpine skier Jean-Claude Killy, who dominated the sport in the late 1960’s, had to spend several weeks in advance of a competition practicing and getting acquainted with the texture and quirks of Aspen Colorado snow. The snow of the Rockies was different than the snows of the Alps.

The snow types in these areas have one common factor – they are generally dry, or have low moisture content, where an Alabama snow is generally moisture rich. Because of this an Alabama snow usually borderlines on an ice storm.

That’s just snow. But, our winter weather may be rain, thunderstorms, cold rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain, or a combination of two or more of these. For example, I remember one evening it was raining in Eastern Alabama; we had tornadoes touching down in Central Alabama and were receiving reports of snow in Tupelo heading towards Columbus and the Alabama border all at the same time.

So, you not only have the challenge of predicting if precipitation will occur, but, also how much, where, and what type or types will be seen.

Add to this the variables of where the fronts are located, the height of the freezing level, where the moisture pool is and the ever present question of how fast and hard these elements move toward or away from each other in this bumper car battle of the sky, and it becomes like forecasting the behavior of suds in a washing machine.

These factors are sensitive to the slightest changes in temperatures and tracks. For instance a
small change in temperature can mean the difference between snow, rain or another precipitation type. While a slight change in the low pressure track will change the areas that are expected to receive precipitation and the precipitation type. Some may get snow, ice or nothing at all.

Variations in local the microclimate, such as terrain, forestation and mountain ranges, can have a significant impact on the high and low temperatures and also the precipitation probability and expected accumulation.

Then there is the question of moisture itself. A small difference in the moisture amount will have a big difference in the accumulation of inches of snow. For example, a 1/10th of an inch of liquid equivalent can produce 1 inch of snow while 4/10ths of an inch of liquid equivalent can produce 4 inches of snow. For a rain forecast, this difference is not that apparent but with snowfall accumulation it is very apparent.

So with all of these variables, and some probably yet to be discovered, the fact that every now and then a forecast will go awry is not remarkable. While, the fact that the forecasts are accurate the majority of the time should be.

But, this is where the rule I call the “Ninety-nine Minus One Equals Zero Rule” comes to play. You can “get it right” 99 times in a row and it goes unnoticed and unappreciated, but, let you miss it once and that miss is what everyone remembers.

To quote Shakespeare “The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.” – Marc Antony

No one remembers the numerous times when the snow forecast is spot on. Everyone remembers people being stranded in an unexpected winter wasteland or when doom was forecast, but nothing happened at all.

Since winter precipitation is far less common than “up North”, we are less prepared in general, both individually and as a community, so the problem is amplified.

For instance, people here don’t know how to drive in clear weather, let alone snow. Northerners laugh at Southerners inability to drive through snow, and then they try to barrel through not realizing that under that pretty fluffy inch of snow is a quarter inch thick sheet of ice, and off the road they go too.

Then you add to that that we seem to the Bread & Milk Panic Capitol of the World, (but, in reality we are far from alone, as explored in the article “Tales Of Bread & Milk” featured in the February 2017 Newsletter), and it makes for an even more muddled mess.

So if you are one of the many being tempted to tweet torment on forecasters, far and wide, many of whom weren’t paid for a month, but, stayed selflessly at their post, try practicing a little patience, understanding and dare I say, common sense, and perhaps just be glad you aren’t one of them just now.

To the forecasters who are reading this, as Bugs Bunny would say “meh, it happens”.

No one may tell you, but, we do appreciate what you do and the dedication you show and have shown.

Don’t let the naysayers get you down.

There will be warmer days.

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Mark’s Almanac

February, or Februarius, as the Romans called it, is named after the Latin term februum, which means “purification”. Ancient Rome celebrated the Februa purification ritual on February 15, which was Full Moon on the old lunar based Latin calendar.

February was not originally included in the Roman calendar, which began in March, but was added, along with January by Numa Pompilius around 713 BC, and until 450 BC was considered the last month of the year.

February was originally 29 days long, but one day was taken and added to August, so the that Emperor Augustus’s month would be equal to Julius Caesar’s month of July. Now only Leap Year has 29 days, the next of which will occur in 2020.

In the Southern Hemisphere February is the equivalent of August. But, for us, February is a cold month with more snow falling in February than in any other month.

Statistically speaking, there is a 70% chance of snow flurries, and a 57% chance of snow up to one inch. There is a 13% chance of over one inch, and a 3% chance of 4 inches or more.

There is hope on the horizon though, as the worst of winter weather is usually over by February 15.

North Atlantic Tropical activity is at a minimum. From 1851 to 2018 there has been only one Tropical Storm to occur, 70 MPH Tropical Storm #1, which affected Florida on February 2 & 3, 1952.

Days grow longer as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon rapidly increases from 39.5 degrees at the beginning of the month to 48.6 degrees at the end. Daylight increases from 10 hours 35 minutes on February 1 to 11 hours 26 minutes on February 28.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

February 1 Sunrise 6:44 AM Sunset 5:18 PM
February 14 Sunrise 6:33 AM Sunset 5:31 PM
February 28 Sunrise 6:17 AM Sunset 5:43 PM

For other locations go to http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneDay.php and input the locations and dates you are interested in.

Looking towards the sky, at the beginning of the month we find Mercury passing behind the Sun, or in “Superior Conjunction”, and then he begins moving into the Western Sky in the afterglow of sunset.

Mercury will reach Perihelion or his closest approach to the Sun in his elliptical orbit on February 25, when he will be 28,537,000 miles from the Sun.

Mercury will appear half lit, or at “Dichotomy”, similar to a first quarter moon on February 26.

On 26 February, Mercury reaches his highest altitude of 18°E above the horizon in the western evening sky, also called ”Greatest Eastern Elongation” and then begins sinking lower into the Sunset.

Venus, magnitude –4.3, rises above the east-southeast horizon well before the first glimmer of dawn. Together with Jupiter, they dominate the southeast by the time dawn begins to brighten.

In a telescope Venus is dazzling white and slightly gibbous.

Mars, magnitude +0.8, in Pisces left of the Great Square of Pegasus, glows high in the southwest at nightfall and sets around 11 p.m.

Mars passes into the constellation Aries on 13 February, and the same day is a degree north of Uranus. More on this a little later.

In a telescope Mars appears as a tiny gibbous blob.

Jupiter, magnitude –1.9, in Virgo rises in the east-southeast well before the first glimmer of dawn with brilliant Venus nearby. Jupiter will be 50 times dimmer than Venus’s due mostly to Jupiter’s 7-times-greater distance from the illuminating Sun.

Jupiter rises from the dawn about four hours in advance of the sun, mid-month.

Saturn, magnitude +0.5, is low in the eastern morning sky in Sagittarius emerging from the glow of dawn. About 30 minutes before sunrise, use binoculars to look for it just above the horizon far to the lower left of Venus.

Saturn will pass just South of the Moon on February, passing with a half diameter of the Moon.

Uranus, shining at a borderline naked eye brightness of +5.8 at the Aries-Pisces border, is well up in the southwest right after dark.

Uranus is visible in binoculars if you know where to look for him. But, how do you find that magical spot?

Mars is going to help us locate him this month, as Mars will pass just South of Uranus on February 12, passing within 0°58′ of each other.

From Birmingham, the pair will become visible at around 6:05 PM as the dusk sky fades, 54° above the south-western horizon. They will then sink towards the horizon, setting 5 hours and 8 minutes after the Sun at 10:36 PM.

The pair will be a little too widely separated to fit comfortably within the field of view of a telescope, but will be visible through a pair of binoculars.

Neptune, shining at magnitude +7.9 in Aquarius, is very low in the west-southwest right after dark

3890 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of January 24, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

New Moon will occur at 9:04 AM CST or 15:04 UTC on Monday, February 4, as 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 Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on February 4, when she will be 252,622 miles from Earth.
Full Moon will occur Tuesday, February 19 at 9:53 AM CST or 15:53 UTC.

February’s Full Moon is “Full Snow Moon” in Native American folklore, since the heaviest snows usually fell at this time of year. Since the harsh weather made hunting difficult, some tribes called it “Full Hunger Moon”.

The Moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on February 19, when she will be 221,681 miles from Earth.

The February sky is alit with bright stars. Orion the Hunter is overhead, along with his faithful hunting dogs, Canis Major & Canis Minor, the Large & Lesser Dogs. In Canis Major is the blue star Sirius, The Dog Star, which 8.6 light years away, is the brightest star in the night sky.

February and March are the best times of the year for seeing the Zodiacal Light. In the evening away from city lights and after twilight has faded you might see a faint, roughly triangular, whitish glow near the sunset point. This is Zodiacal Light, which is formed by the sunlight reflecting off millions of minute particles of cosmic dust aligned with the Earth’s orbital plane.

Another sight, much more common is the Earth Shadow. At sunset, on very clear days, as the sun goes farther below the horizon, you will see what appears to be a layer of gray cloud rising along the eastern horizon. This is actually the silhouette of the earth’s shadow being cast against darkening sky, sometimes with a pinkish glow along the edge. It fades as twilight fades into darkness.

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The Birmingham Hamfest http://birminghamfest.org/ is now only five weeks away, Friday and Saturday March 1 & 2 at its new home at the Trussville Civic Center. For more information go to http://birminghamfest.org/

This month’s meeting will be on February 12 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 teleconference number is 1-877-951-0997 & and the participant code is 741083.

Hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter

wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all had a good Christmas and have a Happy New Year. Santa was good to me and I hope he was to you also.

2018 was an active year for ALERT with new members and new opportunities. I’m looking forward to 2019 and seeing what adventures the New Year will bring.

A brief rundown of the regular ALERT schedule for the first seven months is:

January 8 Regular Meeting
February 12 Regular Meeting
March 1 & 2 Birmingham Hamfest / ALERT & NWS table & Skywarn Forum at the
Trussville Civic Center
March 12 Regular Meeting / Nominating Committee Formed
April 9 Regular Meeting / Nominating Committee Report
May 14 Regular Meeting / ALERT Elections
June 11 Regular Meeting
July 9 Regular Meeting / New Officers Take Office / Dues Due $$$

ALERT appreciates your efforts and participation in responding to callouts, serving in the various ALERT offices, and for supporting our organization, both on and off the air.

YOUR ALERT & The NWS thanks you!

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Proposed Amendment 7

To all Operational and Supporting ALERT Members,

The following proposed Amendment to the ALERT Bylaws was passed unanimously by
the ALERT Board of Directors and is presented for your consideration.

The membership at large will vote on this Amendment at our next regular meeting on January 8.

The Amendment is as follows:

Amendment 7

ARTICLE III

Section 1.
Membership in ALERT is available to all eligible according to the ALERT Bylaws, without regard to race, creed, color, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, disability or any other legally protected status of the applicant.

Section 2.
Those wishing to join ALERT may do so by submitting a completed membership application, with appropriate dues to the ALERT Membership Officer.

Section 3.
The application shall then be presented to the membership at the next regular meeting for approval. Applicants will become a member upon approval of a majority of the voting membership present at the meeting.

Section 4.
If there are dissenting votes, the vote will be tabled and the application and objections will be reviewed by the Board of Directors in executive session, and based upon the results of this review, the application shall either be summarily approved or disapproved by the Board of Directors.

. . . .

This Amendment clarifies the membership process and provides for certain protections for both
ALERT and for prospective members wishing to join ALERT.

When considering this Amendment we looked at the membership processes of several of our sister organizations to help guide us and maintain a “commonality” in line with other kindred organizations. Organizations which we looked at included the Birmingham, Shelby County, Tuscaloosa County, Montgomery and Blount County Amateur Radio Clubs. The Amendment is a melding of these concepts.

Over the years the process of informally voting members into the organization has become a custom, though not specifically mentioned in the bylaws or in any way binding. This Amendment helps make things “official”.

This Amendment provides protection for ALERT in the extremely rare case of someone of “questionable character or reputation” attempting to join ALERT. Examples of this being someone who has been banned from other organizations due to their disruptive behavior, criminal activity, or someone unable to discuss things in a civil manner, without becoming violent, “getting in people’s faces” or invading one’s personal space.

Debate is certainly welcome, and I’ve seen some good ones in the past, but, they were always within the bounds of gentlemanly decorum.

In the British Parliament the Labour Party sets on one side of the chamber and the Conservative or Tory Party sit on the other. They can yell and call each other anything but a child of God to their hearts content as long as they don’t step over two red lines running the length of the chamber. The red lines are exactly two sword lengths apart. This dates back to a time when this was a prudent precaution.

We’ve never had to paint lines on the conference room floor at the NWS, and I feel confident that it is not in our future.

I would think being habitually under the influence at meetings or being an obvious lunatic would be sufficient grounds for denial.

Examples of the latter being talking to invisible “friends”, discussing blowing up people, places and things, or being given to suddenly howling and snapping for unexplained reasons, which are circumstances we might wish to avoid.

Cases for actually banning someone from membership would be extremely rare. “I just don’t like em”, “he’s a creep, he called me a no-code weather whacko on 88”, “she has Chihuahuas, that ought to tell you something about her”, or “I heard a rumor from my cousin’s uncle Joe that his aunt Flo says he’s been a sot ever since she divorced him in 1982 for running around with that floozy Wilma down at the truck stop” would not be sufficient reasons for denial.

In other words, it has to be an exceedingly good reason.

An actual threat to physical, organizational or facility security would be a valid reason, as would the recommendations and wishes of the NWS.

Nothing specific has triggered this Amendment. We are merely updating our procedures to
reflect 21st century standards, circumstances and situations.

We want, need and welcome new members.

Thank you for your consideration.

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WINTER DRIVING

With the beauty of winter comes the storms of bad winter and the cold weather that follows. Many fear the effects of the cold blustery days, but with a little preparation and some easily learned skills our chances of avoiding common mishaps and staying safe greatly increase in our favor.

Our primary means of transportation is our vehicles. One common trick of the trade you can use is first what the British military calls “first parade check.”

This involves approaching the vehicle at a 45 degree angle so each wheel can be seen. You are looking for anything under or by the tires or anything hanging down like the exhaust or a brake cable.

Are there any spots on the ground telling you that you might have a leak? If so, is it antifreeze, oil or brake fluid?

What condition are your tires in? One of the things my Dad taught me was to always carry jumper cables, a tire pressure gauge and an air pump in the car. Check the air pressure and compare it to the chart usually pasted by the driver’s side door or in the cars owner’s manual. Look for cuts, bulges, threads and the tread depth or lack thereof. Make sure you have a jack and spare or emergency tire and know how to change a tire.

Also, make sure you have covers on your tire stems. Water can get into them, freeze and deflate your tires.

Next lift the hood and check all of the fluid levels including oil, brake fluid, windshield washer fluid and radiator fluid. If you have room in your car or truck carrying an extra supply of these is a good precaution.

Next start the engine and look for any signs of leaks, smoke or unusual noises. A loose fan belt will squeak, a high pitched whistle is a vacuum line and a blown exhaust system will sound like a drag racer.

With the engine running check all the gauges and look for warning lights and anything out of the ordinary. When was your last oil change, by the way?

Always keep the vehicle gas tank filled up. This is smart in any season, as if an emergency occurs and you have to move fast, whether to the Emergency Room or out of town, trying to find an open gas station at 3 AM may not be as easy as you think. Also if a disaster has struck and there is no power, gas pumps will not work.

I will note that there is an inner city counter theory which advocates keeping a bare minimum of fuel so that if your car is stolen it can’t go very far. But, I prefer the former rule rather than the latter.

In addition to being ready for an emergency trip, a full tank helps dilute deposits in the fuel tank that could clog filters and cause starting problems.

Gas mileage will normally be worse during the winter, due to warming up the car, traffic delays and poor traction.

Running the car to warm it up is popular, but, could be temptation for those wanting a “free set of wheels”. So either have a spare key and lock the car or just keep a very obvious eye out.

Have a windshield scraper and when you use it be sure to hit all of the windows and don’t just make a “port hole” to peek out of. You want and need maximum visibility.

Make sure the wipers are in good shape and you have windshield wiper fluid. Don’t turn the windshield wipers on if they are frozen to the windshields as it can destroy the blades. Wait until the glass is defrosted.

Batteries, even new ones, have a hard time in cold weather as there are extra demands on it due to running the heater, defroster and the increased use of headlights. Short trips can drain a battery as it doesn’t have sufficient time to recharge.

Finally, check all of your lights, including the turn signals, which are increasingly unused, as people seem to be adopting ESP instead.

Do You Have A “GHK” or “Get Home Kit”?

A “Get Home Kit” is a collection on items you keep in your car to help you get home in case of an emergency, remembering that emergencies, as we are increasingly seeing, come in all shapes and sizes.

The first part of the kit deals directly with the car’s health. In my experience, most car emergencies (excluding accidents) usually involve the tires, battery or cooling system. Anything beyond this, I’ll need a tow truck.

My kit contains the following:

For flats I have an air compressor, a tire repair kit, and a can of Fix-a-flat.

The compressor is handy for slow leaks, or as a temporary fix to get you to a tire shop or to a safer location. Just “pump that puppy up” and go on your way. It also cures the “my spare was flat” problem. Usually the spare hasn’t been damaged, it’s air has just leakes out over months or years.

Sometimes you can plug a puncture with a tire repair kit, so it is included. You basically ream the hole out with the tool supplied, apply a plug with epoxy, inflate the tire and drive on.

If there is a nail in the tire, I know not to pull it out & I also know that tire sidewall damage is not repairable.

Tire mechanics I am told hate Fix-A-Flat, but, since they aren’t the ones stranded on the side of the road, you are, carry a can.

For battery failure, either my own, or to help someone, I have jumper cables, and a battery terminal cleaning kit. (I have the silver one that looks like a giant suppository).

Other items include:

A Tool Kit, which includes a hammer, screw drivers and wrenches. If you can only carry one wrench, make sure it is one that will fit the battery terminals.
Flares
A reflective vest, rain poncho and cap or hat
Antifreeze, brake and transmission fluid
A charged cellphone & a power cord to recharge it.
GPS
AAA Card
Flashlight, with spare batteries
Cash in small bills. Some have a false sense of security having a hidden $100 bill. This idea is a mistake. For if you can’t usually make change for a $100 bill, you shouldn’t assume anyone else can either.

The second half of my kit is what I consider a “minimal survival kit”, which is largely based on a concept called “the 5 & 10 C’s Of Survivability”, developed by Dave Canterbury, of “The Pathfinder School” in Jackson Ohio.

The fundamental idea is that there are vital objects carried and used by explorers, pioneers and indigenous tribes, throughout history from the Ice Age to today which cannot be easily made in the field, either due to lack of resources or a requirement for specialized knowledge of how to manufacture them or specialized equipment one would normally not carry. Keeping these items on hand dramatically improves your survivability.

For example, consider a knife. How easily could you forge one in the field? Or can you make rope whenever you need it?

So with these thoughts in mind let’s detail the “C’s”, which you should have.

The 5 C’s of Survivability

COVERING

For preventing hypothermia or hyperthermia, your first line of defense is to dress appropriately for the weather expected.

In the car I have a hoodie, a rain jacket, an umbrella, a couple of fleece blankets, a tarp, which can be used as a ground cover or quickie shelter, and a Mylar “space blanket”. Cheap, scratchy wool blankets are available at Harbor Freight. Wool has the quality in that it will retain 80% of its insulative value even when wet.

Remember that you can die within three hours if you do not protect your body core temperature. And, it doesn’t need to be freezing to do so. Just get wet in 40 degree weather, and you will be in serious trouble.

CONTAINER

I carry two small water bottles and a larger one as reserve, and a metal cup to use for filtering and purifying water. I can do so by either by boiling or by treating water chemically with purification tablets.

CUTTING TOOL

From cutting boxes to working with wood & cordage a knife is indispensable.

I always carry a decent inexpensive folding knife, which since I didn’t sink a fortune into, I’m not afraid to work with it. I might be hesitant to use it if it were a higher priced one. I didn’t say abuse it, for I believe in “taking care of the equipment that will take care of you”.

I do have larger and better ones I reserve for hiking and camping.

This is not a “Tarzan” or “Rambo” knife, as the blade is only three inches long. But, that’s long enough, for you will find a larger blade is too unwieldy for fine work & carrying a 19 inch Bowie knife strapped on can make the police become just a little suspicious.

COMBUSTION

For lighting candles, pilot lights or campfires, to quote Major Mykel Hawke, author of “Hawke’s Green Beret Survival Manual”, “just carry a doggone stinkin lighter”.

Though I don’t smoke, I always carry a Zippo & Bic lighter, which I never tell folk about, as people are great to buy the “coffin nails”, but, somehow always forget that they will need a way to “blaze up”. I have found that lighters, once discovered and borrowed, except for the big bulky 10 inch ones, will be lost by the end of the day.

Why two, you may ask? Because of something called the “two is one and one is none” rule. If you have only one lighter and lose or break it, you are without options. If you have two, you have one to fall back on.

Zippos are wind proof, nearly water proof and has survived 5 wars and since Clint Eastwood used
them in Gran Torino and Dirty Harry, you know they are totally macho and cool.

The Zippo’s only fault is fuel volatility. The fuel will evaporate whether you use it or not. How quickly depends on how often it is used and ambient humidity. I find the fuel lasts usually two weeks maximum. So I am careful to keep it fueled.

The backup is the Bic, which has much longer shelf life, but, is cold sensitive and doesn’t like to get wet. Also, if stored in a pocket and something in the pocket presses the fuel lever, all your fuel will leak out without you knowing it.

It is possible to ignite a fire with an empty Bic, as I have done so, but, it is not easy.

Also, in my kit I carry a backup magnesium bar with a Ferrocerium rod and some UCO “Stormproof Matches”. They have a much larger phosphor head as a regular match. They will burn like a torch for 15 seconds and if dowsed, if quickly blown on, they will reignite.

Firecraft is more than just striking a match & you have a warm fire. It requires the correct material, in the correct order using the correct techniques. Take the time to familiarize yourself with this art.

CORDAGE

For securing items & strengthening items, carry paracord, rope, twine, etc. This helps facilitate building shelters & securing cargo and equipment. 550 and 1100 paracord is the recommended standard.

The other 5 C’s of Survivability

These are the modern items to enhance survivability, and include:

CANDELING

Carry a good flashlight or two, along with extra batteries. This includes a LED headlamp for hands free operation.

COTTON BANDANA

Any cotton material, 3×3 feet, can be used for a head cover, cleaning, filtering water, or used as a bandage or a sling. A thin cotton shemagh is surprisingly warm. Just try not to look like a terrorist if you use one.

COMPASS

Carry a good quality compass for navigation and learn how to use it. Remember that a GPS can have battery failure, have “rain outages” and that the satellites, which are constantly shuffling around in a low Earth orbit, can travel out of range. However a compass is a reliable tool.

In choosing a compass, look at several and test them. If they won’t quickly and correctly point to North in Walmart, they won’t work in the field either.

Use the compass as your primary navigation tool, backed up by the GPS.

Google maps and other apps usually die as soon as the cell signal is lost, and definitely if the battery dies and IPhone compasses can be wildly inaccurate.

Also, learn the forgotten art of how to use a map.

CARGO TAPE

Also known as Duct tape, it can be used for repairs, making things, bandaging things and thousands of other uses. It can be used as a very short term candle and the adhesive is antiseptic.

CANVAS NEEDLE

While it is suggested that you carry a heavy duty canvas needle for repairs, sewing, and other uses, I carry a miniature sewing kit, with a variety of needles, for sewing clothing or if I had to, for sewing ME.

To these 10 C’s I would add:

COMMUNICATIONS & SIGNALLING

Carry and keep a charged handie-talkie & cellphone. Also, have a way to signal rescuers, audibly and visually. My kit includes a 130 decibel Storm World Whistle and a signal mirror.

With cellphones if you seem to have no signal or connectivity, try texting, for low these low bandwidth signals often can worm their way through crowded circuits while voice communications is impossible.

Have a 2 meter rig in your car. I also have a CB in the SUV.

A whistle has a much greater range than a human voice, and it is said that a signal mirror is credited with 80% of rescues in wilderness search and rescue scenarios.

A few other items I’ll throw in are a small first aid kit, an extra pair of glasses, small binoculars, sun glasses and a backpack to carry this all in should I have to hike home.

This may sound like a lot, but it actually can fit in a small box.

This covers everything from mechanical breakdowns to having “hole up” in or near your car, or having to abandon the car and hike into your neighborhood, even should the roads become impassable, or landmarks left unrecognizable by a disaster.

Remembering that we spend over a third of our lives AWAY from home, this idea is a practical one.

Finally, my preparedness philosophy is as follows: I believe that we should be a like Noah, (especially since we work for NOAA), and, be in a state of preparedness. But, then after having prepared, we should go about our lives, have some fun and live life. Not being nutty or weird, but just knowledgeable and prepared.

We can’t prevent disasters from happening. But, we can help reduce the impact they have on our little corner of the world.

“A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them;
the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.” – Proverbs 22:3

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Mark’s Almanac

January is named for the Roman god Janus, the god of gates and doors, and so openings and beginnings.

January receives more sunlight than December, but the equilibrium between incoming solar heat and the heat radiated into space by the northern snowfields does not peak until late January and early February, six weeks after winter solstice. So the weather continues to cool, with January 8 – 20 being the coldest part of the year.

Typically in January there is a 53% chance of up to one inch of snow & a 25% chance of over one inch of snow.

With the exception of the southern tip of Nova Scotia, all of Canada and roughly one half of the Continental US, or “CONUS”, are now covered with snow. Canada’s Hudson’s Bay is frozen, as is the ocean water between Baffin Island and Greenland.
http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/ims/ims_gif/DATA/cursnow_usa.gif

Birmingham January climatology per Intellicast is monthly rainfall 5.45” inches and snowfall 0.7”. Average high temperature is 53 degrees and the average low 32 degrees. Record high of 81 degrees occurred in 1941 and a record low of -6 degrees in 1985.

Barometric pressure is highest in January.

Days grow longer as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon steadily increases from 33.5 degrees at the beginning of the month to 39.2 degrees at the month’s end. Daylight increases from 9 hours 59 minutes on January 1 to 10 hours 33 minutes on January 31.

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

January 1 Sunrise 6:52 AM Sunset 4:50 PM
January 15 Sunrise 6:51 AM Sunset 5:02 PM
January 31 Sunrise 6:44 AM Sunset 5:17 PM

Looking skyward, Mercury, magnitude –0.4, is getting lower in the dawn. Look for it just above the southeast horizon about 40 minutes before sunrise. It’s lower left of brighter Jupiter, which in turn is lower left of even brighter Venus. Mercury and Jupiter move farther apart every day.

Mercury will sink below the horizon by mid-month and will reach Aphelion or his farthest distance from the Sun of 43,689,000 miles on January 12.

He will pass behind the Sun on January 29.

Brilliant Venus, magnitude –4.7, in Virgo, rises as an eerie “UFO” above the east-southeast horizon more than two hours before the first light of dawn. By the time dawn arrives, Venus is the brilliant “Morning Star” dominating the southeast. In a telescope, Venus is almost half sunlit.

The planet Venus reaches greatest eastern elongation of 47 degrees from the Sun. This is the best time to view Venus since it will be at its highest point above the horizon in the morning sky. Look for the bright planet in the eastern sky before sunrise.

How long can you track Venus in the morning sky into the day?

A conjunction, or close approach of Venus and Jupiter will be visible on January 22. The two bright planets will be visible within 2.4 degrees of each other in the early morning sky. Look for this impressive sight in the east just before sunrise.

Venus will pass exceedingly close, within 0.1 degrees, South of the Moon on January 31.

Earth, magnitude -4.0, in Sagittarius, as viewed from the Sun, will be at her closest approach to the Sun, or Perihelion at 11:19 PM CST on January 2. The distance from the Sun’s center to Earth’s center will be 91,403,554 miles.

Mars, magnitude +0.4, in Pisces, shines highest in the south in late twilight and sets by 11 or so. In a telescope he is a small gibbous disk.

Jupiter, magnitude –1.8, in Ophiuchus, shines in the east during dawn, lower left of brighter Venus.
Look for Mercury down to Jupiter’s lower left. Look closer to Jupiter’s lower right for orange Antares.

Saturn is hidden behind the glare of the Sun and will pass behind the Sun on January 1.

Uranus, magnitude 5.8, at the Aries-Pisces border, is highest in the south shortly after dark.

Neptune, magnitude 7.9, in Aquarius, is lower in the southwest right after dark.

Ultima Thule is a distant object in Sagittarius, 1 billion miles past Pluto, which was discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2014.

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft, which passed Jupiter in 2007 and Pluto in 2015, will perform a historic flyby of Ultima Thule on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day — the farthest planetary flyby in human history.

New Horizons will reach the Ultima Thule at 11:33 PM CST on December 31, passing within 2175 miles of the mysterious object, which is roughly 1⁄60 the diameter of Pluto and 6 light hours from Earth.

At 10:30 AM CST, January 1, NASA will hold a press briefing to show off whatever images and information the spacecraft has managed to send back of the irregularly shaped object.

The Quadrantid Meteor Shower will occur January 3 & 4. This is an above average shower producing
between 40 to 100 meteors per hour radiating from the constellation Bootes, in the area near the end of the handle of the Big Dipper and the head of Draco the Dragon.

This shower is a quirky shower in that its particle stream is very narrow. Therefore, the peak time is only a couple of hours, and that peak varies each year. According the International Meteor Association the peak will occur at 8PM CDT on January 3, which will put the stream close to the, if not below the northeast horizon. But, as will all things astronomical, the timing may slip, so one should keep looking through the night, and even if the radiant point is below the horizon, they will still be zipping overhead and will appear longer.

The moon will be a thin crescent and should not interfere with what could be a good show this year.

This shower is believed to be produced by dust grains from burnt out comet 2003 EH1, which may also be the remainder of comet c/1490 Y1, which was lost to history after a prominent meteor shower
was observed in 1490, possibly due to the breakup of the comet.

The Quadrantid meteors take their name from an obsolete constellation, Quadrans Muralis, found in early 19th-century star atlases between Draco, Hercules, and Bootes.

In the 1800’s astronomers were naming and renaming constellations, often “stealing stars” from existing constellations, and naming them for whatever, or whoever suited them. Quadrans Muralis was removed, along with a few other constellations, from crowded sky maps in 1922 when the International Astronomical Union adopted the modern list of 88 officially-recognized constellations.

The Quadrantids Shower, were “re-zoned” to Bootes after Quadrans Muralis disappeared, but kept their name possibly because another shower was already widely-known to meteor watchers as the “Bootids”, which peaks in June.

New Moon will occur January 5 at 7:28 CST or 1:28 UTC January 6. 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.

There will be a Partial Solar Eclipse on January 6. A partial solar eclipse occurs when the Moon covers only a part of the Sun, sometimes resembling a bite taken out of a cookie. A partial solar eclipse can only be safely observed with a special solar filter or by looking at the Sun’s reflection. The partial eclipse will be visible in parts of eastern Asia and the northern Pacific Ocean. It will be best seen from northeastern Russia with 62% coverage.

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on January 8, when she will be 252349 miles from Earth.

January’s Full Moon is “Wolf Moon” in Native American folklore. Coincidentally, January was called “Wulf-Monath” or “Wolf Month” by the Saxons. So called because this full Moon appeared when wolves howled in hunger outside the villages. It has also been called “Old Moon” and “Moon After Yule”.

Full Moon will occur Sunday January 20, 11:16 PM CST or 5:16 UTC January 21.

This is the first of three Supermoons for 2019. The Moon will be at its closest approach to the Earth and may look slightly larger and brighter than usual.

A Total Lunar Eclipse, an eclipse occurring when the Moon passes completely through the Earth’s dark shadow or umbra will occur during this Supermoon on January 20 CST. The Moon will gradually get darker and then take on a rusty or blood red color. The eclipse will be visible throughout most of North America, South America, the eastern Pacific Ocean, western Atlantic Ocean, extreme western Europe, and extreme western Africa.

Timing for Birmingham is as follows:

Penumbral Eclipse begins at 8:36:29 PM January 20
Partial Eclipse begins at 9:33:54 PM January 20
Total Full Eclipse begins at 10:41:17 PM January 20
Maximum Eclipse at 11:12:14 PM January 20
Total Eclipse ends at 11:43:15 PM January 20
Partial Eclipse ends at 12:50:39 PM January 21
Penumbral Eclipse ends at 1:48:02 PM January 21

The total duration of the eclipse is 5 hours, 12 minutes.
The total duration of the partial phases is 2 hours, 15 minutes.
The duration of the full eclipse is 1 hour, 2 minutes.

I expect social media to go into overdrive about the Wolf/Blood/Supermoon and all of its dire prophetic implications.

The Lunar magnitude will drop from -12.6 pre eclipse to 1.195 at totality or maximum eclipse.

At 7:58 AM January 21 the Moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth, when she will be 222,044 miles from Earth.

3869 planets have been confirmed beyond our star system as of December 13, 2018, per NASA’s
Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

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This month’s meeting will be on January 8 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 teleconference number is 1-877-951-0997 & and the participant code is 741083.
Hope to see you there!
Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter

wd4nyl@bellsouth.net

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database

Hi Everyone,

As we approach the Christmas Season we see the kaleidoscope of fall colors as the world transforms around us. Whether it is due to us having more moisture than last year, the Fall storms having not knocked down the leaves or perhaps it’s just my imagination, this year’s colors seem more vivid than they have been in recent years past.

Make sure to enjoy the colors while they last, for soon they will be but a fleeting memory as the landscape goes into hibernation. Make sure to make some good memories that last!

One memory you can make is your memory of attending the ALERT Christmas Party which will occur Tuesday December 11th at 7PM during our regular meeting time, following our Fall Board of Directors which will be at 6PM.

There will be food, non-alcoholic drinks, desserts and goodies. Come have Christmas dinner with your ALERT family!

We hope to see you there!

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Emergency Contact Information Form

The following form was originally created for outdoor recreational use, for someone hunting, hiking or camping to leave with a trusted contact person, whether a friend, Park Ranger or other authority to let them know where you are going, when you should return and any other pertinent information.

It is was written with the knowledge that no one will ever be looking for you if no one knows you are lost or overdue to begin with.

I remember my young “I’m grown, I don’t need to tell folk where I’m going” days. But, after I actually DID grow up I realized what a dumb attitude that was to have.

This form can be copied and pasted into a Word document and then easily modified for individual uses and needs and is designed to provide critical information to rescuers and first responders.

I encourage everyone to make it their own, modify it to suit you and your family’s needs and keep it with your vital records and with a trusted contact person.

It could save your life some day.

Emergency Contact Information

Name: ___________________________________________________

SEX: (M/F) Height: _______________ Weight: _______________ Age: _______________

Ethnicity: _____________ Hair Color: __________ Eye Color: _________ Blood Type: _______

Known Allergies: ______________________________________________________________________

Known Medications: ____________________________________________________________________

Health Issues: _________________________________________________________________________

Distinguishing Marks: ___________________________________________________________________

Known Languages: _____________________________________________________________________

CONTACTS:
Telephone (Home) ___________________________ Telephone (Other) __________________________

Spouse, Next Of Kin or Primary Contact: ____________________

Telephone: _____________________ E-Mail: _______________________________

Telephone: _____________________ E-Mail: _______________________________

*Destination Details: _____________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________

Expected Arrival Date: ______________ Expected Arrival Time: _____________

Expected Return Date: ______________ Expected Return Time: _____________

Local Police Telephone: _____________________ Park / Other Services: ______________________

Local Rescue Services: ______________________ Other / Misc: ______________________________

<ATTACH A PHOTO>

When including the “NAME”, also include the “nickname” or whatever name they are commonly called. If they are named “Leonard” but have been called “Crawdad” since age five note this on the form, as this may evoke a response when calling them by their “proper name” may not.

This is especially true in the cases of children.

According to survival and search and rescue expert J Wayne Fears one problem rescuers have encountered with children is that they have been taught all their lives (and rightly so) “don’t talk to strangers, even if they call your name.” So there have been cases where rescuers walked right past a lost child who was hiding in the bushes who heard strangers calling their names, in this case rescuers, but, were afraid to say anything.

Another somewhat related problem was with adults who were lost and wanting to be found, but, started thinking too much about the grief they were going to have to deal with at work and at home for “having gotten themselves lost” and so they would hide from their rescuers.

As to “HIEGHT”, “WIEGHT”, and “AGE” be honest. In my mind’s eye I am a tall, buff, young clone of Tom Sellick, but, the flabby old wrinkled body I see in the mirror tells a slightly different tale.

The rest of the information is self-explanatory, and in any case as I say you can modify this in any way you choose.

Finally, when it comes to the photograph to attach, use a current one that actually looks like you look.

Leave the photo shopped “Glam shots” out. Now I didn’t say use one that makes you look like a gargoyle, like the DMV does, unless of course you actually do look like a gargoyle.

Just keep it realistic where you actually look like your Wanted poster.

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Mark’s Almanac

December was the tenth Roman Month, from whence it gets its name, “decem” meaning “ten”. Among many Native American tribes it was called “the Moon of Clacking Rocks”, as it was the time when they prepared and manufactured stone tools, implements and weapons, since the growing season was over, and bad weather prevented them from hunting.

December is the cloudiest month of the year, with only 40 to 60% of possible sunshine poking through the clouds. It is also the stormiest month of the year for the Continental US & the Gulf of Mexico. By “stormy” meaning large-scale storms, not necessarily the tornadic storms that they bring, even though we are still in our Second Tornado Season.

A region of heavy rainfall usually forms from Texas to Northwest Florida to Tennessee and Arkansas. Cold waves bringing rain, snow, ice and occasionally tornadoes, sweep across the region.

Average precipitation in Birmingham is 4.47” of rainfall and 0.1” of snowfall.

December can be cloudy and cold, and, then it can swing into spring like warmth, luring plants to bloom early, only to have the frosts and freezes return and the plants are “nipped in the bud”.

Hurricane season is now “officially” over, however Mother Nature sometimes throws a surprise in to make life interesting.

From 1851 – 2017 there have been 17 Tropical Storms and from 1822 to 2017 there have been 8 Category 1 hurricanes, but, none have ever struck the United States.

Two notable December hurricanes are:

Hurricane Alice of 1954, which is the only known Atlantic hurricane to span two calendar years and one of only two named Atlantic tropical cyclones, along with Tropical Storm Zeta of 2005, to do so.

Alice developed on December 30, 1954 from a trough of low pressure in the central Atlantic Ocean in an area of unusually favorable conditions. The storm moved southwestward and gradually strengthened to reach hurricane status. After passing through the Leeward Islands on January 2, 1955, Alice reached peak winds of 90 mph before encountering cold air and turning to the southeast. It dissipated on January 6 over the southeastern Caribbean Sea.

The last December hurricane to occur was Hurricane Epsilon during the 2005 season, the year in which we ran out of hurricane names. The year also featured Tropical Storm Zeta, the latest forming Tropical Storm which formed on December 30, 2005 and lasted until January 7, 2006.

Days continue to grow shorter as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon steadily decreases from 34.6 degrees at the beginning of the month to 33.0 degrees at Winter Solstice on December 21 and then the angle begins to lift reaching 33.4 degrees on New Year’s Eve,

Daylight decreases from 10 hours 6 minutes on December 1 to 9 hours 56 minutes at Winter Solstice and then increases to 9 hours 58 minutes on December 31

Sunrise and Sunset times for Birmingham are:

December 1 Sunrise 6:33 AM Sunset 4:39 PM
December 15 Sunrise 6:44 AM Sunset 4:41 PM
December 21 Sunrise 6:47 AM Sunset 4:44 PM
December 31 Sunrise 6:51 AM Sunset 4:50 PM

The Average High & Low Temperatures are:

December 1 High 60 degrees Low 38 degrees
December 15 High 56 degrees Low 35 degrees
December 31 High 53 degrees Low 33 degrees

Record High 80 degrees in 1951
Record Low 1 degree in 1962 & 1989

Looking towards the sky, at the beginning of the month Mercury is hidden deep in the glow of sunrise. He then begins emerging into the eastern sky and reaches his highest point above the horizon or “Greatest Western Elongation” on December 15, when he will be 21.3 degrees above the horizon.

Look for the planet low in the eastern sky just before sunrise.

On December 21 he will be sitting side by side with Jupiter.

Venus, magnitude -4.7, in Virgo near the star Spica, rises as an eerie “UFO” above the east-southeast horizon a good two hours before the first light of dawn. As dawn arrives, Venus is the brilliant “Morning Star” dominating the southeast.

In a telescope Venus is a shrinking but thickening crescent, waxing from 20% to 25%. For the sharpest telescopic views, follow her up higher after sunrise into the blue sky of the morning sky.

Mars, magnitude – 0.1, in Aquarius, shines high in the south at nightfall and sets around midnight.

Jupiter is hidden behind the glare of the Sun.

Saturn, magnitude +0.6, in Sagittarius, is very low in the southwest in twilight and sets around the end of twilight.

Uranus, magnitude +5.7, near the Aries-Pisces border is high in the Southeast by early evening.

Neptune, magnitude +7.9 in Aquarius is high in the south in the early evenings.

3838 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of November 15, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

New Moon occurs December 7 at 07:20 UTC or 1:20 AM CST when the Moon will 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 Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on December 12, when she will be 251765 miles from Earth.
The Geminid Meteor Shower peaks on December 13-14. Geminids are one of the year’s best meteor showers. It is my favorite meteor shower. It’s a consistent and prolific shower, and usually the most satisfying of all the annual showers, even surpassing the more widely recognized Perseids of August. This shower typically produces 50 or more multicolored meteors an hour, or about one every minute.

As a general rule, the dazzling Geminid meteor shower starts around mid-evening and tends to pick up steam as evening deepens into late night. No matter where you live worldwide, the greatest number of meteors usually fall in the wee hours after midnight, or for a few hours centered around 2 a.m. local time. If you’re game, you can watch the Geminid shower all the way from mid-evening until dawn.

The first quarter moon will set shortly after midnight leaving dark skies for what should be an excellent early morning show.

The Geminids are produced by debris left behind by an asteroid known as 3200 Phaethon, which was discovered in 1982. The shower runs annually from December 7-17. It peaks this year on the night of the 13th and morning of the 14th.

Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Gemini, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

If it should prove cloudy you can see the meteors live via VHF radar at http://www.meteorscan.com/meteor-live.html

This site updates every 60 seconds. In a typical meteor event the trace starts high in frequency, towards right of graph and rapidly drops to the radar carrier frequency as the meteor decelerates in the atmosphere, increasing in strength as the ionization increases as the meteor burns up. This creates a spiked or triangular shape. If the image looks like a forest of spikes and triangles it’s space junk reentering and if looks like a toothy saw blade it is picking up terrestrial signals via tropospheric ducting or sporadic E propagation as terrestrial signals are reflected off of clouds of ionized gas 55 to 100 miles up.

The blue region you will see is the baseline atmospheric noise.

Or you can listen to the meteors as they enter at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OBOKtrmdEU

What you will hear are signals being received in Washington DC as they are being reflected by the meteors ion trails. The reflected signals are actually analog TV stations in Canada on Channel 2, around 55.24 MHz, or based on availability and propagation on Channel 3, around 61.260 MHz.

Last but not least is the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar https://fireballs.ndc.nasa.gov/cmor-radiants/

This is 3 station HF / VHF meteor radar operating at frequencies of 17.450, 29.850 and 38.150 MHz near Tavistock, Ontario Canada, which records an average 2500 meteoroid orbits or tracks per day.

As the shower is in progress an object will be ever so slowly moving from the South towards Taurus the Bull.

On December 16, if one looks between the V shaped Hyades star cluster, which makes up the face of Taurus the Bull and the Pleiades star cluster, which looks a tiny version of the Big Dipper, one should see a greenish blob, which will be 3.5 magnitude Comet 46P / Wirtanen.

Wirtanen, (pronounced WERE – tuh – nun) was discovered on January 17, 1948 by Carl Wirtanen at the Lick Observatory. Since then, it has been observed on every approach except for its 1980 passage, when it was drowned out by the glare of the Sun.

This comet is a “short-period comet” with a 5.4 year orbit around the Sun. At its farthest extent its orbit reaches Jupiter, whose gravitational field as altered the comets orbit, such as in 1972 and 1984, when the planet gravity accelerated the comets speed, which decreased the comets orbit from 6.65 to 5.87 years in 1972 and then from 5.87 years to 5.50 years in 1984.

On its closest orbital approach to the Sun it comes close to Earth’s orbit, but, usually while the Earth is at another point of her orbit, which is why this approach or “apparition” is unique, as the comet will be very close, comet wise, to the Earth, at 7.7 million miles, or 30 Lunar distances.

The comet will have just made its closes approach to the Sun four days earlier, so it will be at near peak brightest.

With the comet passing just after a First Quarter Moon which won’t overly interfere, its brightness and it being the 10th closest comet in modern times means should it reach magnitude 3 which theoretically will be visible even in the city, which allows only 3rd magnitude and brighter objects to be seen. If it doesn’t reach magnitude 3, then you will need to go to a dark sky away from city lights as these darker skies allow objects of magnitude 6 to be visible.

In the most optimistic scenario, it could remain at naked eye brightness for several weeks as it cruises higher in the night sky, being visible most of the night.

That’s the good news. Here’s the bad. Comets can be too close to the Earth to be impressive. If they are too close the light is too diffuse, like an out of focus light. One source says it will be about as bright as the faintest star in the Big Dipper. Adding to the misery is with this comet the “coma” or head of the comet will be pointing directly at the Earth, so the tail will be mostly invisible.

But, still, it’s a comet and they don’t happen every day, or night, so give it a try.

I will say that comets are more binocular objects than telescope objects, as light gathering power is far more important than magnification.

7 x 35 binoculars are better than 10 x 50’s, but, both should work well.

If all goes well and it doesn’t rain for a week, as has been known to happen, this will be the sixth or seventh comet I will have seen. These include Comets West, Halley, Hale-Bopp, Hyakutaki, Catalina and perhaps Comet Ison.

1976’s Comet West, a gem of beauty, benefited from a power failure which darkened the Western half of Birmingham, an occurrence about which I did not complain. In the case of Comet 2013’s Ison, I saw an object that looked as it should have looked, when it should have been there, located where it should have been located in the fading dusk. But, was it the comet or a distant jet contrail pointing directly away from the set Sun mimicking the comet? It didn’t move, which makes me think “comet”, but, was it?

Not being sure, I count it as a “maybe”.

Winter Solstice will be December 21 at 22:23 UTC or 4:23 PM CST. The South Pole of the earth will be tilted toward the Sun, which will have reached its southernmost position in the sky and will be directly over the Tropic of Capricorn at 23.44 degrees south latitude. This is the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of summer in the Southern Hemisphere.

The Ursid meteor shower, a minor meteor shower, which runs annually from December 17-25 will peak on the night and morning of December 21 – 22 producing about 5-10 meteors per hour. It is produced by dust grains left behind by comet Tuttle, which was first discovered in 1790.

This year the glare from the Full Moon will hide all but the brightest meteors. If you are extremely patient, you might still be able to catch a few good ones.

Best viewing will be just after midnight from a dark location far away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Ursa Minor, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

The Moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on December 24, when she will be 224,352 miles from Earth.

’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’’

Christmas

Christmas is my favorite time of the year.

Christmastime is a time of wonder & mystery. A time of bright lights, shining trees and the time of hide and seek, as presents are hid from inquiring minds and fingers.

A time when one’s mind and memories drift back to days of childhood, and Christmases now long gone by. Remembering friends and family, some here, some now gone & longing that they were near once again, as it was once upon a time not so long ago. And, it is a time when, if we allow ourselves and don’t choose to “Grinch out” and be sour pusses, we can become kids once again.

Most importantly though, it’s a time to remember that the true “reason for the season” occurred in a manger, long ago on that first cold and chilly “Silent Night.”

So as you go about your Christmas preparations remember the magic that was there when you were a child & don’t let that magic die. Make it magic once again

For Christmas truly is “the most wonderful time of the year”.

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Remember that this is YOUR newsletter. Articles and suggestions for this newsletter are welcome and needed. Please consider sending an article, preferably amateur radio, meteorological or EMCOMM related.

Thanks!

This month’s meeting will feature the ALERT Christmas Party on December 11 at 1PM at the National Weather Service Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport.

Hope to see you there!

Mark / WD4NYL
Editor
ALERT Newsletter
Wd4nyl@bellsouth.net