ALERT NEWSLETTER – November 2023

Hi everyone,

 

I hope this finds you well, and untouched by the hobgoblin attack of last night.  We had no trick or treaters this year, so you know what that means.  Yes, I have to eat ALL of the candy.  Which is a tough job, but someone has to do it. It is my civic duty.  I’m “taking one for the team”,

 

As we enter November, we also enter the Fall tornado season.  The Fall season is often more severe than the Spring Season. 

 

Just as in the Spring, you need to review your plans and procedures and take this time brush up on your skills, check and prepare your equipment

 

What condition are your antennas in?  I found bamboo had grown into my HF antenna, throwing the SWR far off.

 

Does your transmitter still transmit, and your receiver still receive?

 

How long has it been since you charged your handie-talkies?  Don’t trust the “battery indicator”, as it may be for “show” only.

 

If you bought a HT for “SHTF”, have you learned how to use it by getting the appropriate license and learning the skill through regular use?  

 

That’s the only way you can learn what works, doesn’t work, where, why and when, and how to overcome problems that reveal themselves, and what to expect performance and skill wise. 

 

Thinking you will just whip out a radio, make a call “halp, halp” and rescuers will suddenly appear rappelling out of helicopters, might look good in Hollywood’s imagination, but, reality can be a totally different situation 

 

Part of “preparedness” is preparing – learning and practicing skills and equipment.  Don’t let fantasy override reality, or slick advertising with “tactical” labels & 10,000 mile range, or social media bravado.  

 

You want to be so accustomed to using radios that it’s just as normal as using a telephone.  My wife and I are both hams, in fact that how we met, both on the air and at the BARC meetings.  To us “switching to RF” is just as normal as breathing.

 

While the sun is shining you want to take the time to learn and prepare now.  For, if you wait, assuming everything will work when it isn’t, it may be tragically too late.

 

While mentioning radios, does your NOAA Weatheradio have a battery backup? If so, make sure you have fresh batteries and that it still works.  NOAA tests these radios (unless severe weather is expected) every Saturday and Wednesday around 11 AM.

 

If you use a Smartphone, install phone Apps from local broadcast media and make sure your phone Apps are up to date.  

 

Do not rely on social media posts.  Even broadcast media posts, as some social medium algorithms can accidently “bury” a warning in the newsfeed or be very much delayed. For example, I get push notifications from “X”, formerly Twitter, sometimes three days after the event.  On the other hand,  by monitoring it real-time, it can be lightning fast, pun absolutely intended.

 

Also, beware of good meaning “amateur weather experts”, including myself.  Instead trust the REAL experts at our NWS. They have the training, knowledge and expertise, which you can place confidence in.

 

What about “tornado sirens”?  Don’t depend on them, as not all locations have them and you can be in an acoustical shadow even if you are in an area that does have them.

 

If you hear one sounding, find out why. 

 

And, if it is sounding and the sky is crystal clear, don’t ignore it.  There is a reason why they are still sometimes called “air raid” sirens. You might better check and see what’s going on in case someone in Moscow woke up with a migraine and hit the wrong button.

 

“ох дерьмо!  ;-( “ or  “Oh crap!  ;-( ”

 

Hopefully we will have a calm Fall as we look forward toward Thanksgiving and the Holiday Season.

 

Stay safe!

 

 

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Spy & Numbers Stations Decoded

 

(Occasionally I get requests to revisit or repeat a previous article. The following was originally published in the September 2017 Newsletter.)

 

Radio in its various forms has always been a fascinating hobby to me.  My first exposure to radio, other than me having the AM radio blasting music, was listening to my brother, Sonny K4FHX’s ham radio, and the weird sounds emanating from his speaker.  When he got out of the hobby in the early sixties he gave me his equipment. But, I was six years old, and of course I destroyed every piece of that Hallicrafters gear.  All that is left today is the Speed-X straight key, which I still use to this day.

 

My next exposure to radio was with my Uncle Luther’s shortwave radio, listening to the strange squeaks and squawks and some tick-tocking station with a guy saying “thirteen hours forty five minutes Greenwich Mean Time”.  

 

Seeing that I was hooked, my parents gave me a Ross shortwave radio the Christmas of 1972.

 

I would stay up into the wee hour of the night listening, usually with the lights turned off, so my parents wouldn’t worry why I wasn’t asleep, listening to stations all over the country and all over the world.

 

The radio did not have a beat frequency oscillator or BFO, so I was unable to listen to sideband signals.  All I heard were people who sounded like they were gargling with wet socks.

 

One of the mysteries of those days was something called “Spy and Numbers” stations. 

 

These would come on at irregular intervals up and down the band, but, usually just below the 40 meter band.  They were always in AM, and though I have heard them in English and German, the strongest were in Spanish, usually female, with a strange regularly spaced clacking sound in the background.

 

The typical format was as follows:

 

Either at the top or the bottom of the hour after about 20 minutes of a carrier with that strange clacking sound, the call would begin something like this:

 

“Attencion, attencion…..quatro cinco uno…..quatro cinco uno…..quarto cinco uno…

uno ocho sies ocho quatro ocho tres uno tres……repeata….. uno ocho sies ocho quatro ocho tres uno tres…..fine…fine…” 

 

And then the signal would disappear as mysteriously as it had appeared.

 

What were these signals?

 

The leading theory was that they originated in Cuba and were being sent to covert operatives in the US.  But, nothing could ever be proved.  

 

Until now.

 

Recently Dateline NBC had the story of an ex-Soviet spy who defected and fell off the radar and for decades lived and raised a family using an assumed identity.  In the story he said he received his instructions “from numbers given in Spanish on a shortwave radio from Cuba”.  

 

Mystery solved.  But, how did it work?

 

The following is what I was told by a gentleman, now deceased who was in the Air Force OSI – Office Of Special Investigations.  I feel safe describing this because many years have passed and technology has progressed to where things are delivered via “other means”.

 

The code was an unbreakable code.  

 

To use it you simply needed two people with two identical books, with the same publisher and edition.  Which book didn’t matter really.  It could be Macbeth, The Gospel of Luke, The ALERT Newsletter, etc. 

They just had to have the same page number, paragraph and word location.

 

The first three numbers given after the “Attencion” was the operative’s number.

 

The long sequence of numbers told where to look in the book. 

 

“uno ocho sies ocho quatro ocho tres uno tres” or in English “106040313”

 

Which mean Page 106, Paragraph 04, Line 03, Word 13

 

They would simply write down the numbers and look them up in the book.  

 

But, which book?  That’s what made it unbreakable.  Only they two parties involved knew which book, and they would change that on a regular basis or as needed.

 

Let’s say Agent 008 (that’s 007’s clutzy partner) needed money.  He might use the Gideon Bible, and choose:

 

“my God will meet all your NEEDS according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” and then 

“For the love of MONEY is the root of all evil…”

 

After deciphering the page, paragraph and locating words 7 & 5 the recipient would that know Agent 008 “needs money”.

 

And so ends the mystery of the Spy & Numbers stations.

 

This is 008 signing out…

 

 

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Mark’s Almanac

 

With the arrival of November we enter our second tornado season.  Alabama and the Southeast are “blessed” by being the only area on Earth having two tornado seasons.  The cause of the second season is the same as the spring season – clashes of cold and warm air masses.  The cold air of winter is invading and trying to push the warmth of the summer back into the sea, which is the same process of springtime.

 

This second season is often more destructive than the spring season.  From 1950 to 2020 there have been 279 November tornadoes in Alabama resulting in 52 fatalities and 1069 injuries.  The third largest tornado outbreak occurred on November 24 – 25 2001 when 36 tornadoes occurred and 21 tornadoes occurred during the outbreak of November 23 – 24 2004.

 

November was Alabama’s leading tornado month from 2001 to 2011 until the dual outbreaks of April 15 and April 27 2011 erased that record.

 

So beware of a warm & muggy November day.  Especially one with a south wind, as something may really be “in the air”.

 

The Hurricane threat greatly diminishes, with hurricane activity occurring mainly in the open Atlantic, threatening the Eastern Seaboard, but usually veering off into sea as cold fronts off the East Coast deflect them.  Hurricanes can still form in the Caribbean, which usually visit the Yucatan, but can enter the Gulf.

 

From 1851 – 2022 there have been 101 Tropical Storms and 50 hurricanes, 6 of which made landfall in the United States.  

 

Some notable November hurricanes are:

 

The 1932 Cuba hurricane, known also as the Hurricane of Santa Cruz del Sur or the 1932 Camagüey Hurricane. Although forming as a tropical depression on October 30, it became the only Category 5 Atlantic hurricane ever recorded in November, and was the deadliest and one of the most intense tropical cyclones in Cuban history. On November 6, the tropical cyclone reached its peak intensity as a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph. The storm weakened to Category 4 intensity as it came ashore in Cuba’s Camagüey Province on November 9 with winds of 150 mph.  The storm took 3,033 lives.

 

Hurricane Ida, in 2009 was the strongest land falling tropical cyclone during the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season. Ida formed on November 4 in the southwestern Caribbean, and within 24 hours struck the Nicaragua coast with winds of 80 mph.  It weakened significantly over land, although it restrengthened in the Yucatán Channel to peak winds of 105 mph. Ida weakened and became an extratropical cyclone in the northern Gulf of Mexico before spreading across the southeastern United States. The remnants of Ida contributed to the formation of a nor’easter that significantly affected the eastern coast of the United States.

 

1985’s Hurricane Kate was the latest Hurricane in any calendar year to strike the United States.

Kate formed on November, 15 and reached hurricane intensity on November 16, and reached Category 2 intensity three days later. Kate struck the northern coast of Cuba on November 19. Once clear of land, she strengthened quickly, becoming a Category 3 storm and reached its peak intensity of 120 mph. On November 21 Kate came ashore near Mexico Beach, Florida, as Category 2 hurricane with winds of 100 mph.

 

Hurricane Lenny, or Wrong Way Lenny, occurred in 1999. It is the second-strongest November Atlantic hurricane on record, behind the 1932 Cuba hurricane. Lenny formed on November 13 in the western Caribbean Sea and moved retrograde from the West to East passing South of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico.  He reached hurricane status south of Jamaica on November 15 and rapidly intensified over the northeastern Caribbean on November 17, attaining peak winds of 155 mph near Saint Croix in the United States Virgin Islands. It gradually weakened while moving through the Leeward Islands, eventually dissipating on November 23 over the open Atlantic Ocean.

 

1994’s Hurricane Gordon claimed 1122 lives in Haiti when it passed just west of the country as a tropical storm on November 13, 1994.

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 2 – November Tropical Cyclone Breeding Grounds

 

Both the Atlantic and Pacific Hurricane seasons ends November 30.

 

Days rapidly grow shorter as the Sun’s angle above the noonday horizon steadily decreases from 40.9 degrees at the beginning of the month to 34.8 degrees at the month’s end.  Daylight decreases from 10 hours 40 minutes on November 1 to 10 hours 07 minutes on November 30.

 

Sunrise and sunset times for Birmingham are:

 

November 1 Sunrise 7:06 AM   Sunset 5:55 PM

November 15 Sunrise 6:19 AM   Sunset 4:45 PM  –  After Daylight Savings Time Ends

November 31 Sunrise 6:33 AM   Sunset 4:39 PM

 

The blooms of summer have faded, but you may find yourself still sneezing, due to ragweed and mold.

 

Mold is a fall allergy trigger. You may think of mold growing in your basement or bathroom – damp areas in the house – but mold spores also love wet spots outside. Piles of damp leaves are ideal breeding grounds for mold.

 

Oh, and did I mention dust mites? While they are common during the humid summer months, they can get stirred into the air the first time you turn on your heat in the fall. Dust mites can trigger sneezes, wheezes, and runny noses.

 

November welcomes the peak of fall colors.  For Birmingham the peak occurs around November 15, but the date can vary depending on your elevation & latitude.

 

Indian Summer and Squaw Winter continue to battle it out, but the cool or cold weather will eventually win, with the first average frost being on November 11.  

 

The usual fall effects occur in North America with Canada’s Hudson Bay becoming unnavigable due to pack ice & icebergs.  Navigation in the Great Lakes becomes perilous due to storms bringing the “Gales Of November” made famous in the Gordon Lightfoot song “The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald”.

 

And, don’t be surprised if you hear ducks overhead & see wedges of Canadian geese heading south for the winter.  And if you see strange birds appearing in your front yard, remember that for 336 species of birds Alabama IS south for the winter.

 

Looking skyward, at the beginning of the month, the Sun, magnitude -26.8 is in Virgo, The Virgin.

 

Mercury, magnitude -1.2, in Virgo, The Virgin, is lost in the glow of the Sun.  He will reach “Aphelion” or his furthest distance from the Sun, on November 6.

 

Venus, magnitude –4.5, in Leo The Lion, dominates the predawn morning sky as the brilliant “Morning Star”.  

 

At the first of the month, she rises at 3:23 AM CDT, 3 hours and 40 minutes before the Sun, and reaches an altitude of 40° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at 6:47 AM.

 

On November 9, the Moon will pass 1°, or two lunar diameters, North of Venus.

 

Remembering that time changes back to Standard Time on November the 5th, she rises an hour earlier after the 5th and by the 15th will rise at 2:39 AM CST, 3 hours and 37 minutes before the Sun, reaching an altitude of 38° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 5:59 AM CST.

 

By the end of the month she will rise around 3:00 AM CST and reach an altitude of 35° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:13 AM CST.

 

Earth and her Moon, magnitude -4.0, as viewed from the Sun, is in Taurus, The Bull..

 

Mars, with his moons Phobos and Deimos, magnitude +1.5, in Libra, The Scales, is lost in the glow of the Sun.

 

He will pass behind the Sun, or be in “Conjunction” on November 17.

 

Dwarf Planet Ceres shines at magnitude +8.8 in Libra, The Scales. 

 

Jupiter, and his 95 moons and (invisible from Earth) ring, magnitude -2.9, is in Aries, The Ram.

 

At the beginning of the month, Jupiter becomes visible just before 7:00 PM CDT, at an altitude of 7° above the eastern horizon, and reaches his highest point in the sky at 12:40 AM CDT, 70° above the southern horizon. 

 

He will dominate the evening and early morning skies before fading from view at 6:37 AM CDT, when he drops below 7° over the western horizon.

 

Jupiter will be opposite the sky from the Sun, at “Opposition” just before midnight on November 2.

 

The giant planet will be at its closest approach to Earth and its face will be fully illuminated by the Sun. It will be brighter than any other time of the year and will be visible all night long. This is the best time to view and photograph Jupiter and its moons. A medium-sized telescope should be able to show you some of the details in Jupiter’s cloud bands. A good pair of binoculars should allow you to see Jupiter’s four largest moons, appearing as bright dots on either side of the planet.

 

At mid-month he will become visible around 5:00 PM CST, 12° above the eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He reaches his highest point in the sky around 10:30 PM CST, 69° above the southern horizon and will continue to be observable until around 4:30 AM CST, as he sinks below 7° above the western horizon.

 

By month’s end he will become visible around 4:55 PM CST, 24° above the eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness and will then reach its highest point in the sky around 9:30 PM CST, 69° above the southern horizon. He will continue to be observable until around 3:30 AM CST, when he sinks below 7° above the western horizon.

 

Saturn, magnitude +0.7, and his 146 moons and extensive debris ring system, is in Aquarius, The Water Bearer, as an early evening object.  

 

At the beginning of the month, he comes visible around 6:30 PM CDT, 36° above the south-eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness.

 

He then reaches his highest point in the sky around 8:14 PM CDT, 43° above the southern horizon. He will continue to be observable until just before 1 AM CDT, when he sinks below 10° above the south-western horizon.

 

At midmonth he becomes visible around 5:16 PM CST, 41° above the southern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will then reach his highest point in the sky at 6:1 PM CST, 43° above the southern horizon and will continue to be visible until around 10:47 PM CST, when he sinks below 10° above the south-western horizon.

 

At months end he becomes visible around 5:12 PM, CST, at his highest point in the sky, 43° above the southern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness.  He will continue to be observable until around 9:50 PM CST, when he sinks below 11° above the south-western horizon.

 

Uranus, magnitude +5.7, and his 27 moons and ring, in Aries, The Ram, is currently visible as a morning object, becoming visible around 8:18 PM CDT, at an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon. 

 

He will then reach his highest point in the sky at 1:21 AM CDT, 74° above the southern horizon. He will be lost to dawn twilight around 6:03 AM CDT, 25° above the western horizon.

 

Uranus will be opposite the sky from the Sun, at “Opposition” at 11:12 PM CST on November 13.

 

By midmonth he will become visible around 6:17 PM CST, at an altitude of 21° above the eastern horizon. He will reach his highest point in the sky at 11:20 PM CST, 74° above the southern horizon. 

He will continue to be observable until around 4:23 AM CST, when he sinks below 21° above the western horizon.

 

At month’s end he becomes visible around 5:41 PM CST, at an altitude of 26° above the eastern horizon as dusk fades into darkness. He reaches his highest point in the sky at 10:18 PM CST, 73° above the southern horizon. He will continue to be observable until around 3:21 AM CST, when he sinks below 21° above the western horizon.

 

Neptune, magnitude 7.7, and his 14 moons and ring, in Pisces, The Fish, becomes accessible via binoculars and telescopes at 6:55 PM CDT, at an altitude of 35° above the eastern horizon. He will reach his highest point in the sky at 9:45 PM CDT, 53° above the southern horizon. He will become inaccessible at around 1:49 CDT AM when he sinks below 21° above the western horizon.

 

At midmonth he will become accessible around 5:45 PM CST, 42° above the south-eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will then reach his highest point in the sky at 7:50 PM, 53° above the southern horizon. He will continue to be observable until around 11:53 PM CST, when he sinks below 21° above the western horizon.

 

At the end of the month, he becomes accessible around 5:51 CST PM, 49° above the south-eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will then reach his highest point in the sky at 6:50 PM CST, 53° above the southern horizon. He will continue to be observable until around 10:53 PM CST, when he sinks below 21° above the western horizon.

 

Dwarf Planet Pluto, with his five moons shines at a dim 14.5 in Sagittarius, The Archer.

 

Dwarf Planet 136108 Haumea, her ring and moons Hiʻiaka and Namaka, shines at a faint magnitude of 17.4 in Bootes, The Herdsman.

 

Dwarf Planet 136472 Makemake with his moon S/2015 (136472) 1, nicknamed MK1 by the discovery team, shines faintly at magnitude +17.2 in Coma Berenices.

 

Dwarf Planet 136199 Eris and her moon Dysnomia, originally referred to as Xena and Gabrielle, is barely visible in the most powerful telescopes at magnitude +18.6 in Cetus the Sea Monster.

 

At least six additional bodies with the preliminary criteria for identifying dwarf planets, and though not “officially” declared as such, are generally called dwarf planets by astronomers as well.

 

90482 Orcus, and his moon Vanth shines at magnitude 19.1 between Hydra and Sextans, The Sextant.

 

50000 Quaoar, and his moon Waywot shines at magnitude +18.6 in Scutum, The Shield.

 

90377 Sedna, the coldest, and at one time, the most distant known place in the Solar System, glows faintly at magnitude +20.8 in Taurus, The Bull.

 

225088 Gonggong, originally nicknamed Snow White by the discovery team, and his moon Xiangli glows dimly at +21.5 magnitude in Aquarius, The Water Bearer.

 

2014 UZ224 nicknamed “DeeDee” for “Distant Dwarf” is 8.5 billion miles from the Sun, at magnitude +23.0 in Eridanus, The River.

 

Joining our list of possible Dwarf Planets is 120347 Salacia, and her moon Actaea.  Glowing at magnitude 20.7 in Andromeda, The Chained Woman. Salacia is considered a “borderline” Dwarf Planet. Some astronomers say she “most certainly is a Dwarf Planet”, while others disagree based on her size, saying she is too small to have compressed into a fully solid body, to have been resurfaced, or to have collapsed into “hydrostatic equilibrium”, that is to assume spherical shape like a planet.

 

This dark world lies beyond the orbit of Neptune, orbiting 4,164,420,166 miles from the Sun. 

 

Currently the most distant observable known object in the Solar System, Asteroid 2018 AG37, nicknamed “FarFarOut”, which is 12.3 billion miles or 18 hours, 21 minutes and 42 seconds from Earth, , glows at a barely detectable +25.5 magnitude in Lynx. 

 

The most distant man-made object, Voyager 1, still operating after 46 years, 1 months and 20 days is 15,069,260,971 miles, or in Light Time, 22 hours, 28 minutes and 14 Seconds from Earth as of 1:42 PM, October 25, 2023, sailing 38,027 miles per hour through Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer.

 

There are 1,308,871 known asteroids as of October 25, 2023, per NASA.  Most of the larger ones look like giant cratered and rubble strewn russet potatoes.

 

5528 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of October 9, 2023 per NASA’s Exoplanet Archive http://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/

 

Daylight Savings Time ends at 2 AM November 4.  Make sure to replace your smoke alarm batteries and if you have a battery backup on  your NOAA Weather radio, replace those batteries also.

 

Last Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Eastern side illuminated, will occur October 5 at 2:37 AM CDT or 8:37 UTC.

 

During a Quarter Moon the Moon’s magnitude is -10.0.

 

The Southern Taurids Meteor Shower. The Taurid Meteor shower is an unusual shower in that it consists of two streams – the Southern and Northern Taurids.  The first, the Southern Taurids, is produced by dust grains left behind by Asteroid 2004 TG10. The first stream reaches Earth on November 5th and 6th,

 

This is a minor shower, producing only 5 to 10 meteors per hour.

 

A 44% Last Quarter Moon will wash out the dimmer meteors, but, it is still worth the effort to see,  The meteors will appear to originate from the Constellation Taurus, but could appear anywhere in the sky.

 

The Moon will be at Apogee or its farthest distance from Earth on November 6, when she will be 251,381 miles from Earth.

 

The Northern Taurid Meteor Shower, the second of the two Taurid streams, will occur November 11 & 12. The Northern Taurids is a long-running minor meteor shower producing only about 5-10 meteors per hour. This shower is, however, famous for producing a higher than normal percentage of bright fireballs. The second stream is produced by debris left behind by Comet 2P Encke. 

 

The shower runs annually from September 7 to December 10. It peaks this year on the night of the 11th and morning of the 12th. A New Moon will not interfere with this shower.

 

Best viewing will be just after midnight from a dark location far away from city lights. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Taurus but can appear anywhere in the sky.

 

New Moon will occur November 13. The Moon will be located on the same side of the Earth as the Sun and will not be visible in the night sky. This phase occurs at 09:28 UTC or 4:28 AM CST. 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 annual Leonid meteor shower occurs from November 6 – 30 and peaks on the night of November 17 & the morning of the 18th.  Though the Leonids are an “average shower”, producing only an average of 15 meteors per hour, they are well known for producing bright meteors and fireballs. 

 

This shower is also unique in that it has a cyclonic peak about every 33 years where hundreds of meteors per hour can be seen. That last of these occurred in 2001 and the next should occur in 2034. The Leonids are produced by dust grains left behind by Comet Tempel-Tuttle, which was discovered in 1865. 

 

Its productivity varies per year, but it can deposit 12 to 13 tons of particles across the planet.  Which is why having an atmosphere to shield us is such a nifty thing.

 

The waxing crescent moon will set before midnight leaving dark skies for what should be a great early morning show. Best viewing will be from a dark location after midnight. Meteors will radiate from the constellation Leo, but can appear anywhere in the sky.

 

First Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Western side illuminated, will occur November 21 at 4:50 AM CST or 10:50 UTC/

 

During a Quarter Moon the Moon’s magnitude is -10.0.

 

The Moon will be at Perigee or its closest approach to Earth on November 21, when she will be 229,797 miles from Earth.

 

Full Moon will occur November 27. The Moon will be located on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun and its face will be fully illuminated. This phase occurs at 4:17 AM CST or 9:17 UTC. This full moon was known by early Native American tribes as the Beaver Moon because this was the time of year to set the beaver traps before the swamps and rivers froze. It has also been known as the Frosty Moon and the Dark Moon.

 

During a Full Moon the Moon’s magnitude is -12.7.

 

 

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This month’s meeting will be on November 14 at 7 PM at the NWS Forecast Office in Calera.

 

Hope to see you there!

 

 

Mark / WD4NYL

Editor

ALERT Newsletter