ALERT NEWSLETTER – December 2014

Hi everyone and Merry 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 hidden from inquiring minds and fingers. People smile more this time of year and are friendlier, as they drift from store to store looking for gifts and treasures. It is a time of Santa, elves and Elvis having a “Blue, blu blu blu Christmas”. Of manger scenes, shepherds and of the Christ Child. And, it is a time when one’s mind and memories drift back to days of childhood, and Christmases now long gone by. And, towards friends and family, some here, some now gone & you long that they were once again near, as it was once upon a time. And, it’s a time to remember that the true “reason for the season” occurred in a manger, long, long ago on that first cold and chilly “Silent Night.” Christmas is still a special time, a magical time…. So as you go about your Christmas preparations remember the magic that was once there when you were a child & don’t let that magic die. For Christmas truly is “the most wonderful time of the year”. …………………………………………………………………………………………….. Mark’s Almanac December, the tenth Roman Month, 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 the 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. December can be cloudy and cold, and, then it can swing back 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. In 122 years of records, from 1851 to 2013 there have been 6 December hurricanes. The last December hurricane being Hurricane Epsilon during the 2005 season, the year in which we ran out of hurricane names. That year also featured Tropical Storm Zeta, the latest forming Tropical Storm which formed on December 30, 2005 and lasted until January 7, 2006. Looking skyward, we are experiencing a temporary planetary dearth as Mercury, Venus and Saturn are currently lost in the glow of the Sun. Mars is still with us however, glowing in the southwest during and after twilight, setting around 8 PM. Jupiter rises in the east-northeast around 10 or 11 PM and shines brightly in western Leo. Uranus is high in the southeast in Pisces just after dark. Neptune is high in the south in Aquarius also the early evening sky. December’s Full Moon occurs on December 6 at 6:27 AM. Decembers Full Moon was called “Full Cold Moon” in Native American folklore. This Full Moon’s name comes because this is the time of year when the cold winter air settles in and the nights become long and dark. This moon has also been known as the Moon Before Yule and the Full Long Nights Moon. The Geminid Meteor Shower peaks on December 13-14. The Geminids is one of the year’s best meteor showers, and my personal favorite. 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 and fireballs an hour, or about one every minute, and 120 per hour at its peak. 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. This year we will have the disadvantage of a waning Gibbous moon which will interfere with the shower, but, it will still be worth the effort. The Geminid’s are associated with mysterious asteroid 3200 Phaethon. 3200 Phaethon is an asteroid that occasionally sprouts a comet-like tail, which it shouldn’t do and it doesn’t produce enough debris to cause a meteor shower, and yet it does. The day with the least sunlight will occur as Winter Solstice arrives December 21 at 5:03 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 (winter solstice) in the Northern Hemisphere and the first day of summer (summer solstice) in the Southern Hemisphere. One little known fact is that due to the tilt of the Earth’s axis and it’s mildly eccentric egg shaped orbit that the sun will set earlier the first week of December than it does at Winter Solstice, the longest night and shortest day of the year. If one looks at the sunrise/sunset and length of day data from the US Naval Observatory, you will find that the sun sets four minutes earlier on December 7, than it does December 21. This is counterbalanced by sunrise coming later and later in the December mornings, which clips more sunlight off at sunrise than the day gains at sunset. The actual data is: Dec 7 Sunrise 6:38 AM Sunset 4:39 PM Length of day 10 hours 1 minute Dec 21 Sunrise 6:48 AM Sunset 4:43 PM Length of day 9 hours 56 minutes Jan 7 Sunrise 6:52 AM Sunset 4:55 PM Length of day 10 hours 3 minutes Don’t feel bad about our short days, however. Feel bad for poor Point Barrow Alaska, where the Sun has now completely disappeared and won’t reappear until January 22, when it will glow for an entire 23 minutes. New Moon will occur On December 21, at 6:36 PM CST, as the Moon will be directly between the Earth and the Sun and will not be visible from Earth. 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 Ursids Meteor Shower will occur on the night of December 22 & 23. The Ursids is a minor meteor shower producing only about 5 – 10 meteors per hour. It is produced by dust grains left behind by comet Tuttle, which was first discovered in 1790. The shower runs annually from December 17 – 25. It peaks this year on the night of the 22nd. This will be one of the best years to observe the Ursids because there will be no moonlight to interfere with the show. 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. 1773 planets have been confirmed beyond our star system as of November 19, 2014. ………………………………………………………………………………………. This month’s meeting will be on December 9 at 7PM at the National Weather Service Forecast office at the Shelby County Airport. December’s meeting will feature the ALERT Christmas party! You are all cordially invited to the ALERT Christmas party Tuesday, December 9 at the NWS Forecast Office. This is a Pot Luck affair, which means you bring your own pot, meaning a pot with food in it, a covered dish, or desert, but no booze. Bring your spouse, kids, and perspective members and be prepared to have Christmas fun! If you plan on attending, please contact Johnnie Knobloch, KJ4OPX at 934-7392 or wxjohnnie@gmail.com and let him know how many are coming and what you might be bringing. I hope to see you there. Until then, from the house of Mark WD4NYL & Teresa KQ4JC we wish you a very Merry Christmas! 73 and take care. Mark WD4NYL Editor ALERT NEWSLETTER www.freewebs.com/weatherlynx/