ALERT NEWSLETTER – December 2019

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to the One Hundred and Fiftieth ALERT Newsletter!

The newsletter has always been a “labor of love” to me, as it’s a way I can contribute to and participate in an organization that I believe in, and help “spread the word” of who we are and what we do.

Since it is a labor of love, I would love to get some articles and items for the newsletter. Articles about radio, ham radio, emergency preparedness, concerns, suggestions, good news and bad news. Let’s just say there is a wide latitude of possibilities.

While, I reserve the right to edit for clarity and to keep us from being sued, tarred and feathered, articles are welcome and needed. Please send them to wd4nyl (at) bellsouth (dot) net

Thanks!

Of news of note, the ALERT Pot Luck Christmas Party will occur Tuesday December 10th at 7PM during our regular meeting time.

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

If you can attend, please go to our online signup sheet, and tell us who you are, what you will bring (so we don’t end up with 18 turkeys) and how many will attend.

https://alertalabama-my.sharepoint.com/:x:/g/personal/nz2o_alert-alabama_org/EZzJWTLCkzNMm2MdyFgg5qABf75nxwE6Glpizj7WN0Dc5w?e=g7LvHk

We hope to see you there!

The weekend before the meeting, on Saturday 6 & 7 K4NWS will be activated for Skywarn Appreciation Day from 6PM to 6PM.

Skywarn Recognition Day was developed in 1999 by the National Weather Service and the ARRL to honor the contributions that Skywarn volunteers make to the NWS mission – the protection of life and property during threatening weather.

During the Skywarn special event, hams operate from ham equipped NWS offices nationwide. The object of the event is for all participating Amateur Radio stations to exchange contact information with as many NWS stations as possible on 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, 2 meters, 220 MHz and 70 centimeters. Contacts via repeaters are permitted.

Starting at 6PM Friday December 6th, the ALERT Team will activate K4NWS as part of this special event and will operate until Saturday, December 7th at 6PM.

We will be operating on all bands & radios in the Forecast Office Station including 2-Meter, 220, 440, and D-Star,

Because of space limitations, this will be an ALERT Operational Members Only event.

Our President, Johnnie, KJ4OPX is coordinating this event. So if you are available to help with the SRD, please coordinate with Johnnie in advance at wxjohnnie@gmail.com.

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WX4RON

We wish to congratulate Ronnie King, WX4RON on becoming the new ARES Emergency Coordinator for Jefferson County.

Ronnie is well versed in emergency communications, preparedness and emergency response. Ronnie, is a long term ALERT member, former ALERT President, former Net Manager of the ALERT Sunday Night Net and a firefighter.

Ronnie is planning a meeting for January 30 to discuss the future direction of ARES including training. The time and venue of the meeting are to be determined later.

Let’s all make sure to give Ronnie and our sister organization ARES all the help, support and encouragement we can.

If you are not active in ARES, I would consider becoming active, by participating in nets, training and public service events.

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Amateur Radio Testing Opportunity

In the fall of 1977 I was interested in becoming a Ham radio operator. I had been researching and studying since I discovered hams working a severe weather event in 1973. I wanted to become one, but, did not know any hams who could guide me into the realms of hamdom.

Meanwhile, I got a CB radio, and talked on it, not engaging in the shenanigans I heard, but trying to emulate the hams I listened to on two meters on an old multiband “police radio”.

While at UAB, I happened upon a car with the callsign WA4LVC. I took a chance, a shot in the dark and wrote a note “CBer needs help becoming a ham. Please call Mark – 747-7424”, (not my current number, by the way), and left it on his car.

Being then, as well as now, a shy introvert, I halfway hoped he would toss the note in the trash. But, he did call, and directed me to Jim Bonner, K4UMD who tutored or “elmered” me and gave me my Novice test, which led to a teenage Mark becoming WD4NYL on December 27, 1977.

Becoming a ham was one of the better decisions I’ve made in my life. It has been an adventure and eventually led to me meeting, monopolizing on the air and marrying a lady ham, Teresa KQ4JC.

If you or anyone you know is interested in becoming a ham operator or if you are interested in upgrading, the Amateur Radio Advancement Group will be administering Amateur Radio Testing at 2:00 PM Sunday, December 1 at the Shelby County Amateur Radio Club Site at the Pelham Fire Department Training Center at 663 Stuart Lane.
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For more information, including directions, visit https://aragroup.org/

Be bold, be determined and become a ham!

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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 – 2018 there have been 19 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 6:43 AM Sunset 4:40 PM
December 21 Sunrise 6:47 AM Sunset 4:43 PM
December 31 Sunrise 6:51 AM Sunset 4:49 PM

Looking towards the sky, at the beginning of the month Mercury, magnitude –0.6, is having its best dawn appearance of 2019. Spot him low in the east-southeast as much as an hour before sunrise.

Venus, magnitude –3.9, in Sagittarius, shines low in the southwest in evening twilight, a little higher each week. She will continue to rise and become the brilliant “Evening Star” dominating the western skies all this coming winter and into the spring.

Earth, magnitude -4.0, as viewed from the Sun, is in the Constellation Taurus near Zeta Tauri, the star that marks the tip of the Bull’s southern horn, 444.7 light years away. In ancient Chinese sky lore this star was known as Tien Kwan, the “Gate of Heaven”.

Mars, magnitude +1.8, in Virgo, is low in the east-southeast in early dawn to the upper right of Mercury.

Jupiter, magnitude –1.8, in southern Ophiuchus, moves farther to the lower right of Venus in twilight and becomes trickier to spot before it sets.

Saturn, magnitude +0.6, in Sagittarius, is the steady yellow “star” upper left of bright Venus. Every evening Venus gets closer to Saturn.

They’ll be sitting next to each other in conjunction, on December 10th and 11th.

Uranus, magnitude +5.7, in southern Aries is high in the South in the early evening.

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

4099 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of November 21, per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on December 4, when she will be 251312 miles from Earth.

Full Moon occurs at 11:14 PM on December 11 or 5:14 UTC on December 12. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Full Cold Moon 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. Geminids are one of the year’s best meteor showers. It is my favorite meteor shower and considered by many to be the best shower in the heavens. 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.

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.

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.

The Moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on December 24, when she will be 230,069 miles from Earth.

Winter Solstice will be December 21 at 10:19 PM or 04:19 UTC on December 22. 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.

The waning crescent moon should not interfere too much this year. Skies should still be dark enough for what could be a good 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.

New Moon occurs December 25 at 11:15 PM CST or 05:15 UTC December 26 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.

Five minutes after New Moon there will be an Annular Solar Eclipse. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon is too far away from the Earth to completely cover the Sun. This results in a ring of light around the darkened Moon. The Sun’s corona is not visible during an annular eclipse.

The path of the eclipse begins in Saudi Arabia and then moves east through southern India, northern Sri Lanka, parts of the Indian Ocean, and Indonesia before ending in the Pacific Ocean. A partial eclipse will be visible throughout most of Asia and northern Australia.

I’m fueling up the jet as I type.

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

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.

It is 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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This month’s meeting will feature the ALERT Christmas Party on December 10 at 7:00 PM 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

Mark’s Weatherlynx
Weather Resource Database
https://weatherlynx.webs.com/