ALERT NEWSLETTER – October 2014

Hi everyone and welcome to the October ALERT Newsletter. Fall has arrived and with it we can look forward to the changing of the fall leaves, the occasional nip in the air, and the Hobgoblins that will visit us at the end of the month. October is a fun time of the year, being not to hot and not to cold – the “Goldilocks” of seasons. It is a time to enjoy fall football, baseball playoffs and the last outdoor adventures of the year. Here is hoping that you enjoy the days that this season brings, and the pretty weather October brings. Letting you rest before the storms of Fall. ………………………………………………………………………………………. Free Weather Stations!!! Would you like a free weather station? How about a whole network of them? Well you are in luck; allow me to introduce you to the realm of Automated Weather and Surface Observation systems. These include AWOS, ASOS, AWSS and ATIS stations. Let’s look at them one by one. Automated Weather Observing System (AWOS) – AWOS stations are operated by the Federal Aviation Administration, state & local governments and some private agencies. The NWS and Department of Defense play no part in the deployment or operation of these stations. These are the oldest automated weather systems. Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) – ASOS stations are operated cooperatively by the NWS, FAA & DOD. This is a primary climatological observing network. Deployment of the system began in 1991 and was completed in 2004. Automated Weather Sensor System (AWSS) – These units are operated independently by the FAA & are similar to ASOS stations. Automated Terminal Information Service (ATIS) – These are continuous broadcasts of recorded airport information, featuring weather & NOTAMS or Notices To Airmen which can include airport facility notices, nearby bird activity (also called BIRDTAMS), temporary obstacles such as cranes, unlit towers, etc. These generally update every hour and are given a phonetic letter designation starting with “alpha” each day. All of these stations use a similar format for reports. “Birmingham Airport Automated Weather Observation. One six five three zulu. Wind 180 degrees at 7 peak gust 20. Visibility 7. Light rain, mist. Sky condition 700 scattered, 1700 broken, 3500 overcast. Temperature 29, Celsius, Dew Point 12 Celsius, Altimeter 29.64. Remarks distant lightning South West through west. Wind variable between 230 and 150.” These reports are very useful in getting an idea of the conditions both now and just upstream of you. I have them programmed in my phone. The local numbers and frequencies being: Alabaster / Shelby County 205-663-5881 134.325 MHz Bessemer / Jefferson County 205-424-3127 118.825 MHz Birmingham / Jefferson County 205-591-6172 119.400 MHz The following link gives you all of the AWOS and ASOS Frequencies and Telephone by city or airport for Alabama and Mississippi. http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/weather/asos/?state=AL http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/weather/asos/?state=MS Now there are a few drawbacks to these stations: 1. The weather given is the weather where the station is located, and may not necessarily agree with the weather where you are located. I remember during an SET where K4NWS was giving wind directions during a simulated chemical spill 10 miles away & having some souls complain that what I was reporting was not what they were seeing. Just as the NWS can’t observe weather conditions at ground level 10 miles away, neither can a single weather station. Truth be known, if you have two identical stations within visual range of each other, they may not necessarily give the same readings. Wind currents and eddies, trees, shadows, unknown or unseen elements all of which make up the microclimate of the location will throw curve balls into the readings. 2. Cloud layer altitudes are interesting to know. But, they are measured using a laser beam ceilometer that shoots a laser beam straight up & measures return “echo”. This method is good and accurate, but has tunnel vision. I have seen times it would say “clear” and it was really ringing a doughnut hole in an otherwise overcast sky. This device has a maximum range of 12000 feet. Low Altocumuli can be detected; higher altocumulus and cirrus levels will be missed. Birmingham Airport ATIS is done manually by a real person, not NWS affiliated, reading the observation. Unlike in years past when they would give a complete observation, will just say “ceiling better than five thousand five”, which to me is an unnecessary cut in corners. Hearing “clear” and seeing a complete cirrostratus overcast grates on my weather nerves. Just label this as Mark’s gripe #572. 3. Weird observations can come in. Once, way back in the late 70’s the automated system at the Birmingham airport kept saying the temperature was 129 degrees. They finally sent someone out to see why and found a semi sitting there unloading and the exhaust plume of the truck cooking the thermometer. 4. The temperatures readings are now given in Celsius, instead of Fahrenheit, like the Good Lord intended. So keep a conversion chart handy. Another resource I find useful or interesting, me being a weatherholic, is the HIWAS or Hazardous In-flight Weather Advisory Service. This is a continuous broadcast of a summary of hazardous weather information including AIRMETS, SIGMETS & PIREPS. AIRMETs – Airmen’s Meteorological Information – which is a description of the occurrences or expected occurrences of en route weather phenomena which may affect the safety of flight operations. SIGMETs – Significant Meteorological Information – which is an advisory containing weather information concerning the safety of all aircraft These may be Convective SIGMET’s or Non-Convective SIGMET’s. Non-convective SIGMET’s are issued when there is severe or greater turbulence over a 3,000 square-mile area, or severe or greater icing over a 3,000 square-mile area or blind flying conditions over a 3,000 square-mile area due to dust, sand or volcanic ash. Convective SIGMET’s are issued for thunderstorm activity over the Continental U.S, aka CONUS. These are issued for an area of thunderstorms affecting an area of 3,000 square-miles or greater, a line of thunderstorms at least 60 nautical miles long, and/or severe or embedded thunderstorms affecting any area that are expected to last 30 minutes or longer. Thunderstorm line length, width, storm height, wind speed, projected hail size, direction of travel and forward velocity are given. A SIGMET forecast is valid for up to four hours and are are assigned an alpha numeric designator from November through Yankee, excluding S and T. Last but not least PIREPS or Pilot Reports of actual significant weather conditions encountered inflight. This information is available in the Birmingham area on 114.400 MHz, transmitted by the “Vulcan” Visual Omnirange Station or VOR. You have to be just Northwest of Birmingham to pick it up, or on a high elevation. I’ve looked, but not yet found the text product that they read from an online source. Last, but not certainly not least, there is NOAA Weatheradio which broadcasts official Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts and other hazard information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, broadcasting in Birmingham on 162.550 MHz. This broadcast can be listened to online at http://www.nws.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/nwsexit.pl?url=http://audioplayer.wunderground.com/bullet8176/Jasper.mp3.m3u Like lights and clean water, and a dozen other modern normalcies that we enjoy on a normal basis, this is a national resource which we really shouldn’t take for granted, but, we do. …………………………………………………………………………………………….. Mark’s Almanac The tenth Month, October is so named because it is the eighth month on the Roman calendar. To the Slavs of Eastern Europe it is called “yellow month,” from the fading of the leaf, while to the Anglo-Saxons it was known as Winterfylleth, because at this full moon (fylleth) winter was supposed to begin. By whichever name you call it, October is a mild and dry month, the driest of the year, in fact. And, it is a sunny month with the amount of possible sunshine reaching the ground in the 60% or greater range. Weather shifts from autumn pattern to revisiting the summer pattern and back again. The Azores-Bermuda High shifts eastward into the Atlantic, but, leaves weakened high pressure centers over the Virginias, which still try to block out approaching fronts. October is usually a quite month for tornadoes, with a 40% decrease in activity. Nationwide an average of 28 tornadoes occur in October and those tornadoes are usually weak. Our Hurricane threat continues, with hurricane activity increasing during the first half of the month, concentrating in the Caribbean, both from formation in the Caribbean and from the long track Cape Verde hurricanes, which enter the Caribbean. And, we still have the little “gifts” that the Gulf of Mexico occasionally will provide. But after the second half of the month the activity will begin a steady decrease. 28% of the year’s hurricanes occur in October. This is the month for Alabama’s version of “Indian Summer’s” arrival. Technically speaking Indian Summer doesn’t occur until “Squaw Winter” or the first frost arrives, but exact date when Indian Summer arrives varies with latitude. We live in Alabama, and while the earliest frosts have been know to occur by October 17, they usually wait until November. So, we, in our milder climate call the first warm up after the first cool down “Indian Summer”. The Yellow Giant Sulphur Butterflies are very noticeable as they continue to drift South-Southeast on their migration towards Florida. They prefer red things & if you have red flowers they will zero in on them. The Monarchs also will be seen gliding by in their migration towards Central America. Fall colors will become prominent & by late October & early November the leaves will be reaching their peak fall colors. Looking skyward, Mercury remains hidden deep in the sunset. Our neighbor, Venus has sunk deep into the sunrise. The Red Planet Mars is low in the southwest during dusk in Scorpius. Close by is the similarly colored, but twinkly star Antares. 1st-magnitude star Antares is often mistaken for Mars. In Greek, “Antares” means “rival of Mars” or “anti-Mars,” so-named because it is about the same brightness and color as the Red Planet, which the Greeks called “Ares”. Giant Jupiter rises around 2 or 3 AM and shines brightly at the Cancer-Leo border in the east before and during dawn. Saturn is sinking away into the afterglow of sunset. It is to the right of the Mars-Antares pair in Libra. Uranus is high in the southeast in Pisces by 10 or 11 PM and on October 7 will be at its closest approach to Earth – Opposition. The blue-green planet will be fully illuminated by the Sun. This is the best time to view Uranus. However, due to its distance, 1.8 billion miles, it will only appear as a tiny blue-green dot in telescopes. Under absolutely perfect conditions, Uranus is borderline visible to the naked eye. Neptune is high in the South in Aquarius by 10 or 11 PM. October’s Full Moon, Full Hunters Moon, will occur October 8 at 5:51 AM CDT. Full Hunter’s Moon is so named by some Native American tribes because at this time of year the leaves are falling and the game is fat and ready to hunt. This moon has also been known as the Travel Moon and the Blood Moon. A Total Lunar Eclipse will occur after midnight on October 8, which will be visible throughout most of North America, South America, eastern Asia, and Australia. The eclipse will begin at 3:17 AM CDT; the total eclipse begins at 5:27 AM, with the midpoint occurring at 5:55 AM. The total eclipse phase ends at 6:22 AM. Moonset at 6:50 AM will cut off our view of the end of the eclipse, which will occur at 8:32 AM CDT. The Draconid Meteor Shower will occur October 8 & 9. The Draconids is a minor meteor shower producing only about 10 meteors per hour. It is produced by debris left behind by comet 21P Giacobini-Zinner, which was first discovered in 1900. The shower runs annually from October 6-10 and peaks this year on the night of the 8th and morning of the 9th. Unfortunately the glare from the full moon this year will block out all but the brightest meteors. If you are extremely patient, you may 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 Draco, but can appear anywhere in the sky. This shower’s intensity is unpredictable. It is usually it is a poor producer, however in 1933 and 1946 it produced major displays with thousands of meteors per hour. So it’s worth taking a peak. Just in case. The Orionid Meteor Shower will occur October 22 & 23. The Orionids is an average shower producing up to 20 meteors per hour at its peak. It is produced by debris left behind by Halley’s Comet, which has been known and observed since ancient times. The shower runs annually from October 2 to November 7. It peaks this year on the night of October 21 and the morning of October 22. This will be a good opportunity for viewing the Orionids because there will be no moon to interfere with the show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Orion, but can appear anywhere in the sky. Halley’s Comet, by the way, will next greet us on July 28, 2061. I will be 102 years old, but, plan on viewing it again, having seen it back in the olden days of 1986. New Moon will occur October 23 at 4:57 PM CDT. This is the best time of the month to observe faint objects such as galaxies, nebulae and star clusters because there is no moonlight to interfere. A Partial Solar Eclipse will occur on October 23, which will be visible throughout most of North and Central America. The eclipse will begin at 4:59 PM, with the maximum eclipse occurring at 5:57 PM. Sunset occurs at 6:03 PM and will cut off our view of the end of eclipse, which occurs at 6:49 PM. A partial solar eclipse can be safely observed with a special solar filter or by looking at the Sun’s reflection on the ground, filtered through leaves. DO NOT try to observe any solar eclipse with the naked eye or with magnification as blindness could easily result. Lastly, 1746 planets have been confirmed beyond our star system as of September 24, 2014. And, I bet you thought “undocumented aliens” came from Mexico, didn’t you? ………………………………………………………………………………………. This month’s meeting will be on October 14 at 7PM at the National Weather Service Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport. Now 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. I hope to see you there. Until then, 73 and take care. Mark WD4NYL Editor ALERT NEWSLETTER www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/ Postscript: Additional links for aviation weather products are: http://www.aviationweather.gov/adds/ https://www.aviationweather.gov/, https://aviationweather.gov/products/fa/. A better link for the NOAA Weatherradio feed is http://audioplayer.wunderground.com/bullet8176/Jasper.mp3.m3u Please note that this feed is via Wunderground and is not an official NWS feed. Mark Wells WD4NYL ALERT