ALERT NEWSLETTER – December 2018

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