Hi everyone,

I hope all is going well & that you are finding a nice cool spot out of the pre-summer heat and showers.

The biggest ALERT news of the month concerns our recent elections. At our last meeting the ALERT elections were held for the 2016 – 2017 term.

The Officers for 2016 – 2017 are:

President: Dale Chambers KD4QHZ
Vice-President & Membership: Roger Parsons KK4UDU
Secretary: Justin Glass N0ZO
Treasurer: Johnny Knobloch KJ4OPX
NWS Liaison: Russell Thomas KV4S

Per the ALERT Bylaws our new Officers will assume their positions at the July 12 meeting.

Thanks to all of our new officers for their service to our organization!

One thing which will remain the same is our newsletter. I will continue on as the Editor-In-Chief, and hopefully will be able to provide interesting items for your enjoyment.

I will also continue as the Net Manager of the ALERT Sunday Nite Net. If you have not checked in to our net I invite you to join us. We meet at 7PM Sunday on 146.88 MHz PL 88.5 hz.

I hope to see you there!

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Why I Joined ALERT

This feature, which I hope will become a regular feature, will give members an opportunity to share their stories of why they are members of ALERT. Why did you become a member of ALERT? What lessons have you learned?

Our first story is from Ronnie WX4RON

My name is Ronnie King and my call sign is WX4RON. Here is ‘my’ story: I initially joined ALERT in 2011 after renewing my license in October of 2010. I was trying to get involved in as many ham radio groups as I could because i was new to the Jefferson county area as a resident and as a ham, living in Hoover, starting in August 2009. I had Joined The BARC, the SCARC and I think that I joined the SSARC also.

However, I stayed on with ALERT because I liked the group of hams from many clubs who had partnered together to make the Organization known as ALERT. I liked the staff at the NWS / BMX Office and as I became familiar with all of these people, it was evident to me that we all had the same common goal: the safety and survival of our communities. I was impressed with the skills and cohesiveness displayed from everyone involved in ALERT and the NWS / BMX office so much that I wanted to become an active part of this group.

It has been my privilege and Honor to be a part of ALERT for the past 4 years roughly. Thank you everyone for allowing me to be there / here.

(Editors Note: Thank you Ronnie for your input and for your leadership as President these last three years. We wish you well.)

Who will send our next story?

I hope it will be YOU!

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Atlantic Hurricane Season Begins

The Atlantic Hurricane Season officially begins June 1. NOAA has released their seasonal prediction, which calls for a “near normal” season with 10 – 16 named storms, 4 – 8 hurricanes and 1 – 4 major hurricanes.

Shortly before his death at age 86, Colorado State University Professor William Gray and his designated successor, Dr. Phillip Klotzbach also predicted a “near average season” with 13 named storms, 5 of which could become hurricanes, 3 possibly being category 3 or higher.

Forecasts by the UK Met Office issued May 12, is calling for a slightly above average season with 14 named storms, which is above the 1980 – 2010 average of 12 storms. This would include 8 hurricanes, not counting Hurricane Alex which formed out of season in January.

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

This year our tropical season forgot to read the calendar, as we already have had two named storms – Hurricane Alex, which was the first January storm since 1938 and Tropical Storm Bonnie, which is currently heading for South Carolina.

With the “official” 2016 North Atlantic Hurricane Season beginning it is a good time to review our preparedness plans.

Hurricane Impact & Hurricane Response

Alabama is impacted by hurricanes in three ways:

1. Direct Impact – Where the core of the storm or the rain / wind field actually strikes or passes through a portion of Alabama. Examples being Hurricane’s Fredrick, Opal, Ivan and Katrina.
2. Indirect Impact – where the core is not over Alabama, but the feeder bands are passing through and causing havoc. Rita’s feeder bands being a good example, which dropped 20
tornadoes over west Alabama in a 4-hour period.
3. Distant Impact – A storm is not even near Alabama, but affecting our weather. Such as with Olivia, a Pacific Hurricane which was off Western Mexico. Her moisture was captured by the jet stream, crossed the Sonora desert, the Arklatex region & dumped monsoon type rains on Alabama & Mississippi, causing flooding.

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

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

HF Gulf Coast Nets to monitor are:

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

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

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

Wide Coverage Nets

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

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

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

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

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

Some Internet resources you should have in your toolbox include:

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

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

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

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

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/trop-atl.html – Storm centered satellite imagery

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

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Hurricane Tracking Gleams And Glints From Mark’s Crystal Ball

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Never underestimate the potential impacts of late season storms. Category 5 Hurricane Mitch was active from October 22 – November 5, 1998, with maximum sustained winds of 180 MPH. This storm struck Central America, Yucatán Peninsula & South Florida causing 6.2 billion dollars in damage and caused 11,000 deaths.

Remember that winds do not blow OUT of a hurricane; they are drawn INTO the storm in a spiraling motion. By factoring in the Coriolis Effect of the Earth’s rotation and the counter-effects of surface friction you can determine the general direction of any tropical storm or non-tropical low pressure center using the surface wind direction as follows:

Wind Direction Storm Center Location

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

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

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

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NHC Hurricane Tracking Chart PDF’s

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

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

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

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2016 Tropical Cyclone Names

The 2015 North Atlantic Basin Tropical Cyclone names are Alex, Bonnie, Colin, Danielle, Earl, Fiona, Gaston, Hermine, Ian, Julia, Karl, Lisa, Matthew, Nicole, Otto, Paula, Richard, Shary, Tobias, Virginie & Walter.

Note that the names are used on a six-year rotation & that this list will return in 2021. Only names of catastrophic or damaging storms are retired. This is why you will never have another Andrew, Betsy, Camille, Fredrick, Gilbert, Ivan, Katrina or Opal, to name a few ne’er-do-well storms.

If so many storms occur that the list is depleted, as occurred in 2005, the storm names revert to the Greek alphabet. In 2005 five Greek Alphabet storms occurred the last being Tropical Storm Zeta, which formed on December 29, 2005.

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Mark’s Almanac

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

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

The beginning of meteorological Summer is June 1.

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

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

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

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

Looking skyward, at the first of the month Mercury is low in the Eastern horizon at sunrise and will reach His highest elevation, 24.2 degrees from the Sunday June 5.

Venus is hidden in the glare of the Sun.

Mars is shining at magnitude -2.0 at the head of Scorpius in the Southeast, nearly as bright as Jupiter, high in the Southwest.

At the first of the month Mars will be the largest and brightest until July 2018, forming a triangle with
the red star Antares to the lower left of Mars and Saturn to the left of Antares.

If you have a telescope, take a closer look. The rings of Saturn are easily seen, as is the ruddy disk of Mars. The Red Planet is just finishing winter in its southern hemisphere, so look for the bright polar cap of the Martian South Pole.

Jupiter in Southern Leo border is high in the South at twilight, shining at magnitude -2.2. The telescope you used to peek at Mars and the rings of Saturn will reveal the cloud bands of Jupiter and the nightly dance of His four largest moons, Europa Callisto, Ganymede and Io, the most volcanically active world in our solar system.

Saturn, shining at magnitude +0.1 just above the head of Scorpius, as mentioned forms a triangle with Mars and Antares. He will make his closest approach to Earth on June 2nd. His rings are tilted 26.1degrees from edgewise, making for a beautiful display in telescopes. While viewing the rings you may notice an object nearby. This is largest moon, Titan, which having an atmosphere twice as thick as Earth’s and stable hydrocarbon seas, lakes and rivers filled with liquid ethane, methane and dissolved nitrogen, also holds the distinction of being the only other moon, besides the Earth’s Moon, having had a spacecraft land on its surface. The European Space Agency’s Huygens probe landed on Titan on January 14, 2005 near the Xanadu Region, a highly reflective area on Titan’s leading hemisphere

Uranus is veiled by the glow of dawn.

Neptune, magnitude +7.9 in Aquarius, is low in the East-Southeast before the first light of dawn.

New Moon will occur June 4 at 9:59 PM CDT. 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.

June’s Full Moon is “Strawberry Moon” in Native American folklore. This will occur on June 20 at 6:02 AM CDT. It is called “Strawberry Moon” for it signals the time to start harvesting strawberries, as it is peak strawberry ripening time. Other names are “Rose Moon” & “Honey Moon”.

Summer Solstice will occur at 5:34 PM CDT on June 20. The North Pole of the earth will be tilted toward the Sun, which will have reached its northernmost position in the sky and will be directly over the Tropic of Cancer at 23.44 degrees north latitude. This is the first day of summer in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

Mark June 25 on your calendar and think about Christmas. Why? Because this is how Christmas, which is six months away, feels like in Australia and Brazil on December 25.

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

3268 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of May 19, per NASA’s
Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

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This month’s meeting will be on June 14 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,

I hope this finds you doing well & that you have been enjoying these spring days.

Our May 10 ALERT meeting will feature our annual elections.

If you are a paid up Operational or Supporting Member, which is a member interested in Amateur Radio, Skywarn or Emergency Communications, but doesn’t have a ham license (yet), you may vote in the 2016 – 2017 ALERT leadership elections.

The officers will assume their positions at the July meeting.

July is also when ALERT dues are due. Remember, if you wish to respond to ALERT callouts or serve as an officer you MUST be current with your dues.

Also, there will be a Board of Directors meeting proceeding the regular 7 PM meeting at 6:30.

I hope to see you there!

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Introducing The NWS Enhanced Data Display

One of the more interesting tools or in my case toys for weather analysis is the experimental NWS Enhanced Data Display or EDD. This tool is apparently one of the frequently visited, yet least advertised products that the NWS has made available.

Ranking the 7th most popular GO.USA.gov links, the NWS EDD http://preview.weather.gov/edd/
is described as an “Experimental GIS-centric meteorological display interface that can display a wide range of data including observations, forecasts, radar, satellite, hazards, weather model data and much more.” “…an effort by the NWS’s Weather Ready Nation’s (WRN) Pilot Project in Charleston, WV to be a “one-stop shop” to view and display numerous past, present, and future weather-related datasets important in the delivery of weather decision support services to support the NWS mission to save life and property, and promote the nation’s economy.”

So what exactly is the EDD and what can you do with it?

The EDD is designed to allow users to tap into various forecast products generated by various NOAA and other government entities.

It features an interactive map which you can drag and zoom and if you point the cursor to any location in the continental US or CONUS, the local forecast will appear.

You can add various layers to the map including radar, satellite, hazards, forecasts, observations, upper air balloon soundings, local storm reports and more.

You can choose interfaces allowing you to narrow down the information for various purposes, including hazmat, aviation, hydrology, marine, emergency management or tropical interests.

One of the more interesting tools is the “Travel Weather Forecast”. This feature is accessed by clicking the “slippery road” traffic sign in the upper right corner. A window appears and by adding your start point (by right clicking on the map) and adding the destination in the same manner it will automatically plot the shortest route and give you a very detailed weather forecast at various intervals along the way, along with the estimated time of arrival to these points.

If you are addicted to weather as I am, you can spend hours playing with this tool.

The only cautions I would give are that this is an experimental product. Occasionally a “bug” might rear its ugly head. Also, this site processed lots of data. If you have a slow internet connection, it will operate slowly.

New features are added as the NWS tweaks this site. So check the site frequently for new options.

Another kindred product is NowCOAST, http://www.nowcoast.noaa.gov/
described as a “one-stop” website to real-time coastal meteorological, oceanographic, and hydrologic observations from a variety of Internet sites within and outside of NOAA, along with NOAA forecasts.

Though primary aimed at marine interests, it a valuable resource, and well worth investigation.

Incidentally the primary sites I use during severe weather are:

For the regional real-time conditions, to see what is happening “upstream” I use the Storm Prediction Center Mesoscale Analysis page http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/mesoanalysis/new/viewsector.php?sector=18
which features access to very detailed real-time data, including CAPE values, shear, helicity and much more.

For Dual-Pol Radar I use http://weather.cod.edu/satrad/nexrad/index.php?type=BMX-N0Q-0-6 which has access to radar products, such as the correlation coefficient and differential reflectivity products and hydrometeor classification, which the local site http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/radar.php?rid=bmx&product=N0R&overlay=11101111&loop=no
currently does not. I use the local site as my backup site, and to obtain the range or distance of the storms I’m tracking.

Also, I monitor and utilize the NWSchat system https://nwschat.weather.gov/live/?nomap which ALERT members, once approved for access, can use to relay valid storm reports to the NWS forecast office.

Give these sites a try. I think you will be glad that you did!

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Mark’s Almanac

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

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

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

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

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

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

Eastern Pacific hurricane season begins May 15, and although the North Atlantic hurricane season has not arrived, occasionally a tropical system will form in the Gulf of Mexico. In 110 years there have been 14 named storms.

Looking skyward, Mercury is fading away in the sunset. On May 9, beginning shortly after sunrise Mercury will begin moving across the face of the Sun in a rare transit – a planetary version of an eclipse. Transits of Mercury are rare events, with on average only 13 transits per century. By some weird coincidence of orbital mechanics and celestial billiards, these transits occur within days of May 8 & November 10.

Timings are as follows:

6:51 AM Sunrise in Birmingham
7:14 AM Transit Begins
10:58 AM Maximum Transit, just below the center of the Sun
2:41 PM Transit Ends

Do NOT try to view this with a naked eye. Use a solar filter or a “pinhole camera” as one would use with a solar eclipse. Construction details may be found at: http://www.exploratorium.edu/eclipse/how-to-view-eclipse

One thing to consider is that Mercury will be a small speck on the surface of the Sun. In other words, don’t expect a dramatic display.

The next transit will occur on November 11, 2019 & in 2039.

Mercury and Venus are the only planets that can produce a transit. The last transit of Venus was in June of 2012 and the next will occur in December 2117, when I will be 159 years old.

Venus is lost in the glare of the Sun.

Mars, in the legs of Ophiuchus above Scorpius, rises around 10 or 11 PM. He is highest in the South around 2 or 3 AM to the right of dimmer Saturn and above the twinkly orange star Antares and shines at magnitude -1.3.

His closest approach to Earth will occur May 22. He will be the brightest of the year, appearing as a reddish bright star like object, which refuses to twinkle. Since planets usually don’t twinkle like stars.

Be prepared for the usual Facebook meme that usually circulates around the time of closest approach, which will say, “Mars will appear as large as a full moon” or “we will be treated to two full moons in the evening sky”. As the saying goes “it ain’t gonna happen”.

Jupiter in Leo, dominates the Southern Sky in the evening, at magnitude -2.3. Very conspicuous, one might wonder “what is that?” Sometimes He has caused UFO reports.

Saturn, at magnitude +0.3, has moved into the legs of Ophiuchus. He rises about a half hour after Mars, with Saturn, Mars and Antares forming a triangle in the sky.

Uranus is hidden in the glow of the Sun.

Neptune is very low in the East-Southeast at the beginning of dawn.

The Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower, a minor shower, will peak May 5 & 6 with 30 meteors per hour.

It is produced by dust particles left behind by Comet Halley. A New Moon will ensure a decent show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Aquarius, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

New Moon will occur May 6 at 2:29 PM CDT. This is the best time of the month to observe faint deep sky objects such as galaxies and star clusters, as there will be no moonlight to wash out the evening sky.

Full Moon will occur May 21th at 4:15 PM CDT. May’s Moon is “Flower Moon” in Native American folklore, because of the abundance of spring flowers. It has also been called “Corn Planting Moon” & “Milk Moon”.

Since this is the third of four full moons in this season, this will be a “Blue Moon”.

Beware of Internet rumors of this being the last Blue Moon for centuries or millennia or ever. They actually occur on average every 2.7 years. The next one will be on January 31, 2018.

1966 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of April 28, per NASA’s
Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

Last but, not least, World Naked Gardening Day will occur May 7.

Make sure to wear sunscreen, as some places are best not sunburned.

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

If for some reason you cannot attend the meeting in person, you can still participate via telephone. The 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,

I hope this finds you doing well.

Just a brief reminder, that at our upcoming April 12 meeting the Nominating Committee will issue its recommendations for the upcoming ALERT elections in May. Nominations from the floor will be allowed the night of the elections in May.

I hope to see you there!

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Help Wanted!

We need articles for this newsletter.

Some topics might include:

How you became interested in ALERT.
Interesting moments you have experienced during callouts or Skywarn Nets
Experiences you have had with storms.
Officers thoughts and comments.
Meeting minutes.
Operator “hints and kinks” (they call them “hacks” now, though why I don’t know).
Your thoughts and suggestions concerning emergency preparedness.

Remember this is YOUR newsletter, not mine.

Your help will be appreciated.

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Did You Know?

Tornado forecasting was once banned in the US?

Before 1950, the “Weather Bureau”, as the National Weather Service was called from 1889 to 1970, was strongly discouraged and at other times forbidden to use the word “tornado” in weather forecasts, because of a fear that predicting tornadoes might cause panic.

Per the Storm Prediction Center “This was in an era when very little was known about tornadoes compared to today, by both scientists and the public at large. Tornadoes were, for most, dark and mysterious menaces of unfathomable power, fast-striking monsters from the sky capable of sudden and unpredictable acts of death and devastation.

As the weather patterns which led to major tornado events became better documented and researched, the mystery behind predicting them began to clear–a process which still is far from complete, of course.”

On July 12, 1950, the Weather Bureau revoked the ban, stating: ”Whenever the forecaster has a sound basis for predicting tornadoes, the forecast should include the prediction in as definite terms as the circumstances justify.”

The first documented successful tornado forecast by meteorologists was on March 25, 1948 by Air Force Captain Robert Miller and Major Ernest Fawbush, who after noticing striking similarities in the developing weather pattern to others which produced tornadoes, including the Tinker AFB, OK, tornado several days before, advised their superior officer of a tornado threat in central Oklahoma that evening. Compelled from above to issue a yes/no decision on a tornado forecast after thunderstorms developed in western Oklahoma, they put out the word of possible tornadoes, and the base carried out safety precautions. A few hours later, the second tornado in five days directly hit the base.

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Mark’s Almanac

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

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

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

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

From April 1950 to 2014, 8304 tornadoes were reported causing, as of 2013, 1770 deaths and 29,090 injuries.

As of 2011, Alabama ranked fifth in the number of April tornadoes, following Texas, Oklahoma, Illinois & Kansas, all belonging to the “over 400 club” for April since 1950.

As of June 2013 Alabama and Oklahoma are tied as having the most F5 & EF5 tornadoes, both having had 7 F5 or EF5 tornadoes. In fact until the May 20, 2013 Moore Oklahoma EF5 tornado, Alabama lead the nation in the most violent tornadoes.

Some notable Alabama tornados in past Aprils include:

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

April 3 & 4, 1974 “Super Outbreak” or produced at least eight tornadoes in Alabama, including four extremely intense and long-lived storms that swept the state killing eighty-six persons and injuring 949. The Huntsville area had an F3, F4 & an F5 tornado. The F4 tornado struck a half mile from where they were still digging out from an F3 tornado that had struck earlier in that day. Guin was literally wiped off the map, as was Xenia Ohio. The entire Eastern US and Southern Canada was affected during “April 3, 1974 F5 Lamar, Marion, Winston, Lawrence & Morgan Counties 30 dead 230 injured

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

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

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

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

Beware of the storms of April.

Looking towards the sky, Mercury, Venus, Uranus and Neptune are hidden behind the Sun. And, hypothetical Planet Nine, is just plan hidden, having yet to be seen.

Mercury will emerge into the evening sky early in the month and on April 18 will reach his highest point in the Western sky, being 19.9 degrees above the horizon. Look for him just after the glow of sunset fades away.

Mars, shining at magnitude -0.5 at the head of Scorpius rises about midnight and glows yellow orange in the south, to the right of dimmer Saturn. He is closing in on his closest approach to Earth, which will occur in May. It is already large enough to show surface detail in a 3 inch telescope, during good seeing conditions. By may it will quadruple in brightness and nearly double in diameter.

Be prepared for the usual Facebook meme that usually circulates around the time of closest approach, which will say, “Mars will appear as large as a full moon” or “we will be treated to two full moons in the evening sky”.

This is both a physical and an optical impossibility.

Unless, of course Mars or Earth slips out its orbit and goes sailing by the other, which in the case of the latter planet, would give us something to worry about….for a little while anyway.

Jupiter, near the hind foot of Leo the Lion shines high in the southeast after dusk and shines highest in the south at magnitude -2.4 at midnight.

On March 17 an amateur astronomers saw a flash in the clouds of Jupiter as a small comet or asteroid, a few hundred feet in diameter struck the planet. This isn’t the first time such a strike has been observed. He was struck in 1994 by fragments of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, and was struck again by other objects in 2010 & 2012.
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Saturn shining at magnitude +0.4 in the legs of Ophiuchus rises around midnight, 10 degrees lower left of Mars. By dawn they will stand in the south, with Saturn on the left, bright Mars on the right and the fainter Mars colored star Antares, at magnitude +0.96, twinkling below them making a triangle.

Antares, or Alpha Scorpii is 550 light years away and is the fifteenth brightest star in the night sky.
Its name is derived from the Greek Άντάρης, which means “equal to Ares”, with the similar red hue. Ares was the Greek god of War, the counterpart of Mars, the Roman god of war, or in other words, basically the same dude.

A red giant star, like similar star Betelguese in Orion, both are expected to explode in a supernova that could be as bright as the full moon and be visible in the daylight.

The last supernova in our galaxy was 400 years ago, and we are 300 years overdue for one.

Will these explode within our microscopically small lifetimes? Or will it occur 10,000 years from now, when the nations and events of the 21st century will be a mere footnote in the histories of whatever civilizations may exist?

Only time and the silent darkness of space will tell.

April’s New Moon will occur April 7 at 5:24 AM CDT. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies and star clusters, as there will be no moonlight to wash out the evening sky.

April’s Full Moon was known as “Full Pink Moon” in Native American folklore as it marked the reappearance of pink wild ground phlox. This will occur April 21 at 11:24 PM. This moon was also called by various tribes, the “Sprouting Grass Moon”, “Growing Moon”, “Egg Moon” and “Fish Moon”, as this is when shad swam upstream to spawn.

The Lyrid Meteor Shower which, runs annually from April16 – 25, peaks on the evening of April 22 and morning of April 23. This is a minor shower, with only 12 to 24 meteors per hour. These meteors sometimes produce bright dust trails that last for several seconds.

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

Unfortunately, this year a nearly Full Moon will drown out all but the brightest meteors.

1962 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of March 24, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

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This month’s meeting will be on April 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,

The Birmingham Hamfest http://birminghamfest.org/ is at the end of this week, March 4 & 5 at the Zamora Shrine Temple.

This will be a Friday & Saturday affair, Friday 4 – 7 PM and Saturday 8:30 AM to 4 PM.

ALERT will have a table Saturday and an ALERT forum 12 – 1 PM Saturday in the mystical Knights Of Mecca Room.

This month’s ALERT meeting on March 8th will feature the selection of the two person Nominating Committee for the upcoming elections in May.

Please plan on attending this meeting & don’t be shy about volunteering to serve on the Committee or to make yourself available for a leadership role. We need some of our newer members to step up and become active members of ALERT’s leadership. All it takes is a willing heart and once elected a commitment to faithfully fulfill your duties of office to the best of your abilities.

We need you to be actively involved in ALERT’s leadership and to help us build a strong ALERT organization for the future.

Your time has arrived.

Your ALERT needs you.

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10 Popular Tornado Myths

1. “A mountain will protect you from a tornado.”

This is a common myth in the Jefferson / Shelby County areas, as most major tornadoes do seem to prefer the areas northwest of the foothills of Appalachians, of which Red Mountain and Shades Mountain are. But, this is a false assumption.

The tornado will go up the side of a mountain, shorten and widen, and then go down the other side and lengthen and tighten in size, often with a higher wind speed, similar to an ice skater increasing her speed by pulling her arms in. This is called “vortex stretching.”

Why does Jefferson County get visited by more severe tornadoes and Shelby County seems to have been largely spared?

The best theory is that the Jefferson County is closer to the core of the Dixie Tornado alley, while Shelby on the eastern edge. The other theory is Shelby County has plain “lucked out” and that that lucky streak will end, either due to odds or the Dixie Alley shifting eastward.

2. “A river will protect you from a tornado.”

On May 7, 1840, a tornado touched down in Louisiana 20 miles Southwest of Natchez Mississippi, which lay on the opposite shore. The storm moved on an odd path paralleling the Mississippi, defoliating trees on both shores. The three to four hundred yard wide funnel followed the Mississippi, reached Natchez and Vidalia Louisiana, destroying the central and norther portions of Natchez.

A contemporary report stated “the air was black with whirling eddies of walls, roofs, chimneys and huge timbers from distant ruins…all shot through the air as if thrown from a mighty catapult.” “Reports have come in from plantations 20 miles distant in Louisiana, and the rage of the tempest was terrible. Hundreds of (slaves) killed, dwellings swept like chaff from their foundations, the forest uprooted, and the crops beaten down and destroyed. Never, never, never, was there such desolation and ruin.”[

The “official” death toll was 317, with 269 being killed on 60 flatboats on the Mississippi. But, the unofficial toll was believed to be much higher.

If the Mississippi could not deflect a (post review) F5 tornado, the Warrior River won’t either.

3. “A Tornado is more likely to hit a mobile home park.”

It isn’t that mobile homes magnetically attract tornadoes. It is the same tornado hitting the same neighborhoods would find that fixed structures are anchored better and are more
aerodynamically stable that their mobile counterparts. So the houses, may survive while the tumble trailers tumble away.

One oddity I saw with the damage from 2004’s Hurricane Charley was that it flattened a well-constructed subdivision, but, left the trailer park next door untouched.

4. “You should open a window to balance the pressure inside your house so it won’t explode due to the low pressure.”

Tornadoes are quite adept at opening the windows on their own, with limbs and 2×4’s, forget the windows, and take shelter instead.

Houses are not air tight, and don’t explode, rather are blown away from the outside.

One oddity with the Pratt City 1998 F5 tornado is that there were two houses sitting a couple of dozen feet apart. The house one the left had roof and walls blown away, but, the dishes and napkins on the dining room table were untouched. The house on the right had the roof and walls undamaged, but, every stick of furniture was sucked out of the barred windows.

5. “Tornadoes never strike the same place twice.”

McDonalds Chapel was struck by an F4 tornado April 15, 1956 & and an F5 April 8, 1998.
Smithfield was struck by an F5 tornado April 4, 1977 and by an F4 tornado April 27, 2011.
Cordell Kansas was hit three times on May 20 three years in a row in 1916, 1917 & 1918.
Guy Arkansas had the same church hit by three tornadoes in the same day.

6. “Overpasses are safe tornado shelters.”

The wind flow under an overpass is much greater than the open field. There is a wind tunnel effect, which concentrates the wind, and one can be easily blown away like a pea being shot from a straw, on impaled by debris as small as a pine straw.

A far safer move is to lay in a depression or ditch, assuming it doesn’t flash flood.

Another idea that makes sense is something my Mom’s Grandma told her when she was a little girl in the 1930’s. “If you are caught in a cyclone, grab hold of a small bush like a hedge bush. A cyclone will knock over trees, but, they won’t rip up bushes.”

Based on damage I’ve seen in tornado debris fields, there is some basis for this.

Though it has nothing to do with tornadoes, she also said “If a bear gets after you don’t climb a tree, it can out climb you. Don’t run uphill, it can outrun you. Run downhill at an angle, the bear’s short legs will cause it to stumble and roll downhill and you can escape.”

7. “A tornado always has a visible funnel.”

A visible tornado vortex is composed of two parts, the “condensation funnel” cause by water droplets condensing near the base of the parent cloud and a “dust or debris funnel” caused by dust being stirred up carried by the wind circulation on the ground. If there is no dust available to to be picked up, for instance in a parking lot, there will be no visible funnel touching the ground, even though the wind circulation is in full contact with the ground. This is why concentrated “green lightning” or power flashes are a valuable clue which should be reported to the NWS. They indicate a circulation on the ground.

8. “You can outrun a tornado.”

In the panhandle of Texas perhaps this is true, but not in a metropolitan area or an area with few road options.

On May 20, 2013, Oklahoma City’s KFOR Meteorologist Mike Morgan told his viewers at least eight times to get in their cars and drive south of the city as a large rain wrapped EF5 tornado rapidly bore down on the city. Though admitting that the interstate was already a “parking lot”, since it was rush hour, he later advised people twice to “abandon your cars” as the storm reached the city.

This proved to be terrible advice.

“Unfortunately there are hundreds and hundreds of cars on the road……a lot of people are panicking trying to leave their house…..you really can’t move very much.” – Chase Thomason KFOR.

24 people were killed. If the tornado had turned to the right, even just a little bit, it would have struck the gridlocked interstate, the death toll would have been unbelievably higher.

9. “Tornadoes don’t strike cities.”

One mistaken theory I have heard is that perhaps the heat island effect of the city deflects the storms circulation somehow. But, that is not true

Downtown St. Louis has taken a direct hit four times in less than a century.
Brooklyn New York was hit by an EF2 in 2001.
Atlanta was hit by an EF2 in 2008
Fort Worth was hit by an EF3 in 2000
Nashville was hit by an EF3 in 1998

My grandfather always said “the day will come when a big tornado will go right up Jones Valley into downtown Birmingham.” Though it hasn’t happened yet, there really in no reason to think it won’t happen someday.

10. “The news media always seek out Bubba Jo, Donnie Ray or Cooter for interviews.”

Invariably you will see this interview or something similar:

“Ah was sittin on the porch getting burrs out of Old Duke’s fur an I seed it. I hollered ‘Doreen,
DOREEN thars a cyclone in tha thar cloud.’ I grabbed the goat an Doreen grabbed some cheekens an we went to the root cellar. When we wuz come out, one of the cheekins was nekkid as a Jay Bird, with no feathers, the trailer was gone and old man Johnsons trailer wuz sittin whar ours was sposed to be sittin. I told the old fool he had 24 hours to get his junk off mah propity, but, he didn say much too, being in a amboolance an all. Ah told him time and agin pullin’ fer the Volunteers would git him in trouble, but, listen, no, no, no…”

I’m sure the news media doesn’t purposely seek out the Bubba Joes and Cooters of the world, and it’s just a coincidence.

Or it it?

I’l just have to ask Old Duke some time….

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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 near surface level temperatures are higher and melts the hail into liquid before impact.
Killing frosts are gone and the last average frost is on March 16.
March is a snow month for Alabama & there is a 45% chance of snow up to one inch, and an 8% chance of one inch or more.
The good news is that there is hope on the horizon as Spring will arrive at Vernal Equinox on March 19 at 4:30 UTC or 10:30 P.M. CDT.
Remember to get the eggs out, as it is said that you can stand eggs on their ends at the hour of equinox.
Daylight Savings Time begins at 2 AM on March 13. 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.
Saint Patrick’s Day is 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 is disappearing into the glow of sunrise..

Brilliant Venus, shining at magnitude -3.9, is just above the east-southeast horizon 20 to 30 minutes before sunrise, 7 to 9 degrees upper right of Mercury.

Mars lies in Libra, shining at magnitude +0.03 rises about midnight and glows yellow orange in the south before dawn..

Jupiter, behind the hind foot of Leo the Lion rises in the east at twilight and shines highest in the south at magnitude -2.5 at midnight. He will make his closest approach to Earth on March 8.

Saturn shining at magnitude +0.5 in the feet of Ophiuchus around 1 or 2 A.M., and is in the east-southeast at dawn.

Uranus shines at magnitude +5.9, and sinks in the West in Pisces soon after dark.

Neptune is hidden behind the Sun

Planet Nine, if it exists, is shining dimly at a magnitude fainter than 22 and at an oblique 30 degree angle to the ecliptical plane of the solar system where the other eight planets orbit.

New Moon will occur March 8 at 1:54 UTC or 7:54 PM CDT. 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 Total Solar Eclipse March 9, if you want to go to Australia or Vietnam to watch it. It will be in the middle of the night and totally invisible to North America.
Be assured you will see someone posting about it happening in Alabama on social media, but, unless you want to go to Brisbane, you are bloomin’ out of luck.

Full Moon will occur on March 23 at 12:02 UTC or 6:02 AM CST. 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.

They are edible by the way, but I think I’ll let you have my share. Incidentally slugs are edible also. Just think of them as snails without the shell

There will be a Penumbral Lunar Eclipse; an eclipse where the moon is only slightly darkened by the fringes of Earth’s shadow, on March 23. This will be visible from Eastern Australia eastward to the West Coast of North America.

Elsewhere, 1955 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of February 25, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

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This month’s meeting will be on March 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

www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database