ALERT NEWSLETTER – December 2023

Hi Everyone,

 

I hope this finds everyone well as we look forward to the Christmas Season.

 

Do you know where you stand on the Naughty and Nice List?

 

I find it’s getting harder to trick Old Saint Nick, especially with Alexa and Siri snitching on me, for you do know they are listening, don’t you?  I heard them talking about me just the other day.

 

Will I get a nice new antenna, good gooey chocolate or that large sack of coal, as the mechanical sounding heifers were saying just yesterday?

 

Only time will tell.

 

But, I trust you are all on the Nice list and are safe from unpleasant surprises.

 

So, I from the House of Mark and Teresa, we wish you all a very safe and Merry Christmas!

 

 

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Skywarn Appreciation Day 2023

 

Skywarn Recognition Day will occur on December 2!

 

Skywarn Recognition Day is a special event 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.  

 

This 24 hour event begins Friday, December 1st at 6PM Central Time or 00:00 UTC December 2.

 

While we will not be activating K4NWS at the NWS Forecast Office, ALERT, will be active during Skywarn Appreciation Day.  Offsite participation is greatly encouraged! 

 

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 and let him know what modes and frequencies you plan to work and if you registered, any assigned numbers.

 

 

 

 

SKYWARN Recognition Day Operating Instructions

 

1. Object: For all amateur stations to exchange QSO information with as many Amateur Radio SKYWARN Spotters and National Weather Service Stations as possible on the 80, 40, 20, 15, 10, 6, and 2-meter and 70-centimeter bands. Contacts via repeaters are permitted. SKYWARN Recognition Day serves to celebrate the contributions to public safety made by amateur radio operators during severe weather events of the past year.

2. Date: NWS stations will operate December 2, 2023, from 0000 – 2400 UTC.

3. Exchange: Call sign, name, location, signal report, a one- or two-word description of the weather occurring at your site (“sunny,” “partly cloudy,” “windy,” etc.), temperature reading if available and SRD Number if the station has one.

4. Modes: NWS stations will work various modes including SSB, FM, AM, RTTY, Winlink, CW, FT8, FT4, and PSK31. While working digital modes, special event stations will append “/NWS” to their call sign (e.g., N0A/NWS).

5. Station Control Operator: It is suggested that during SRD operations for NWS offices a non-NWS volunteer should serve as a control operator for your station.

6. Event and QSL Information: The National Weather Service will provide event information via the SRD website. Event certificates will once again be electronic and printable from the main website after the conclusion of SRD.

7. Log Submission: To submit your log summary for SRD, you can use the online submission form that will be made available on the NWS SRD Recognition main page when the event is completed. Deadline for log submission is January 31, 2024.

 

More information about the event, including Operating Procedures for the contest, Participating Offices, Echolink Info/IRLP info, and Registration can be found at https://www.weather.gov/crh/skywarnrecognition

 

K4NWS can be contacted via Amateur Radio using the following routes:

 

HF: 80, 40, 20, 15, 10 and 6, Meter Bands (via offsite volunteers with HF and  6 Meter capability)

VHF: 2 Meter FM on the 146.880 MHz (BARC), 147.320 MHz and 146.980 MHz (SCARC) repeaters

VHF: 1 ¼ Meters aka 220 MHz FM on the 224.500 MHz repeater

UHF: 70 Centimeters aka 440 Mhz on the FM 444.700 MHz repeater

D-Star: REF058B or REF090C/XRF334C

DMR Talk Group 31013 which is available on all DMR repeaters in the Birmingham area but is also available on various repeaters in the BMX county warning area.

AllStar: 48168

EchoLink: K4NWS-L (155003)

IRLP Experimental Reflector: 0091

 

In 2020 and in response to COVID, SRD was expanded outside of Amateur Radio to include all Skywarn Storm spotters.

 

Here are some ways to contact our station that are not limited to Amateur Radio:

Zello: https://zello.com/channels/k/duTMd

Telegram: http://t.me/K4NWS

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/K4NWS/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/K4NWS

MeWe: https://mewe.com/join/alert

 

Our participation in SRD in previous years can be found here:

http://alert-alabama.org/SRD/index.htm

 

This is a fun event and I hope you give it a try!

 

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ALERT Christmas Party!

 

The 2023 ALERT Christmas Party will occur Tuesday December 12th at 7PM during our regular meeting time.

 

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

 

If you plan to bring a dish, please let Johnnie know at wxjohnnie@gmail.com and tell him who you are, what you will bring (so we don’t end up with 18 fruitcakes and no beans) and how many will attend.

 

Hope to see you there!

 

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KBMX Radar Upgrades

 

 

The KBMX WSR-88D radar located in Calera, AL, is currently offline for important upgrades and will be down from down approximately two weeks.

 

Technicians will refurbish and replace the pedestal, one of the most critical components of the radar, which is necessary for antenna rotation and positioning to capture data in all directions. The components are extremely heavy and will require the radome to be removed by crane and replaced when the work is completed.

 

The radar and pedestal were designed to last 25 years, and this radar has exceeded its life-span.

This activity is necessary to keep the radar functioning for another 20 years or more.

 

The pedestal refurbishment is the third major project of the NEXRAD Service Life Extension

Program, a series of upgrades that will keep our nation’s radars viable into the 2030s. NOAA’s

National Weather Service, the United States Air Force, and the Federal Aviation Administration

are investing $135 million in the eight-year program. The first project was the installation of the

new signal processor and the second project was the refurbishment of the transmitter. The fourth

project will be the refurbishment of the equipment shelters. The Service Life Extension Program

will be complete in 2023.

 

During the downtime, adjacent radars including KMXX (Maxwell AFB, AL), KGWX (Columbus

AFB, MS), KHTX (Huntsville-Hytop, AL), KMOB (Mobile, AL), KDGX (Jackson, MS), and

KFFC (Peachtree City, GA) will provide radar coverage for Central Alabama.

 

For direct access to any of these surrounding radar sites, go to radar.weather.gov. A single radar site can be viewed by going to the “Select View” menu option then clicking on “Local Radar” to select a single radar site.

 

Additionally, you can access these sites from the College Of Dupage site COD NEXRAD: BMX, go to the Radar Selection icon at the top side of the radar display (looks like a talking head) and select any of the aforementioned NEXRAD sites.

 

Radar coverage for the Birmingham area is also available via WVTM Channel 13’s Live Doppler Radar  Central Alabama Interactive Weather Radar – WVTM 13 located in Vance, in Tuscaloosa County.

 

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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 – 2020 there have been 19 Tropical Storms and from 1822 to 2022 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 skyward, at the beginning of the month, the Sun, magnitude -26.8 is in Scorpius, The Scorpion.

 

Mercury, magnitude -0.4, in in Sagittarius The Archer, is lost in the glow of the Sun this December.  He will reach his highest point above the western horizon or “Greatest Eastern Elongation” on December 4, and his highest altitude in the sky on December 8.  However due to the severe viewing angle from Earth, he will only reach only 12 degrees above the horizon, making any observation difficult to impossible and then sink towards the Sun as the month progresses.

 

Mercury’s 88 day orbit around the Sun will carry him to his closest point to the Sun or “Perihelion”, 28,816,300 miles from the Sun on December 20.

 

Mercury will pass between the Sun and the Earth or be in “Inferior Conjunction” on December 22.

 

Venus, magnitude –4.2, in Virgo The Virgin, dominates the predawn morning sky as the brilliant “Morning Star”.  

 

At the first of the month, she rises at 3:02 AM CST, 3 hours and 28 minutes before the Sun, and reaches an altitude of 35° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at 6:13 AM CST.

 

By the 15th she will rise at 3:25 AM CST, 3 hours and 16 minutes before the Sun, reaching an altitude of 31° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:24 AM CST.

 

By months end, she will rise around 3:54 AM CST, 2 hours and 54 minutes before the Sun and reach an altitude of 26° above the south-eastern horizon before fading from view as dawn breaks at around 6:31 AM CST.

 

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

 

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

 

Dwarf Planet Ceres, magnitude +8.6, is in Libra The Scales.

 

Jupiter, and his 95 moons and (invisible from Earth) ring, magnitude -2.8, is in Aries, The Ram, rules the evening skies.

 

At the beginning of the month, he will become visible around 4:55 PM CST, 25° above the eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will reach his highest point in the sky at 9:23 PM, 69° above the southern horizon and will continue to be observable until around 03:18 AM, when he sinks below 7° above the western horizon. 

 

By midmonth he becomes accessible around 4:57 PM CST, 38° above the eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will reach his highest point in the sky at 8:24 PM CST, 68° above the southern horizon. He will continue to be observable until around 02:18 AM CST, when he sinks below 7° above the western horizon.

 

By the end of the month, he will become accessible around 5:05 PM CST, 52° above the south-eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness and will reach its highest point in the sky at 7:19 PM, 68° above the southern horizon. He will continue to be observable until around 01:13 AM, when he sinks below 7° above the western horizon.

 

Saturn, magnitude +0.9, and his 146 moons and extensive debris ring system, is in Aquarius, The Water Bearer, as an early evening object retreating into the evening twilight.

At the first of the month, he becomes accessible around 5:12 PM CST, 43° above the southern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. Six minutes later he will reach his highest point in the sky at 5:18 PM, 43° above the southern horizon and will continue to be observable until around 9:47 PM, when he sinks below 11° above the south-western horizon.

 

By midmonth he will become accessible around 5:17 PM CST, 42° above the southern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will then sink towards the south-western horizon, setting at 9:56 PM.

 

At months end he becomes visible around 5:24 PM, CST, at his highest point in the sky, 36° above the southern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness.  He will continue to be observable until around  8:59 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 an evening object, becoming visible around 5:41 PM CST, 27° above the eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will then reach its highest point in the sky at 10:14 PM, 73° above the southern horizon. He will continue to be observable until around 03:17 AM, when he sinks below 21° above the western horizon.

 

By midmonth he will become visible around 5:44 PM CST, at an altitude of 39° above the eastern horizon, as dusk fades into darkness. He will reach his highest point in the sky at 9:17 PM CST, 73° above the southern horizon.  He will continue to be observable until around 2:19 AM CST, when he sinks below 21° above the western horizon.

 

At month’s end he becomes visible around 5:52 PM CST, at an altitude of 54° above the eastern horizon as dusk fades into darkness. He reaches his highest point in the sky at 8:13 PM CST, 73° above the southern horizon. He will continue to be observable until around 1:14 AM CST, when he sinks below 21° above the western horizon.

 

Neptune, magnitude 7.7, and his 14 moons and ring, in Aquarius The Water Bearer, is currently visible in the evening sky.  At the first of the month, he becomes accessible via binoculars and telescopes at 5:41 PM CST, at an altitude of 50° above the eastern horizon as dusk fades into darkness. He will reach his highest point in the sky at 6:46 PM CST, 53° above the southern horizon. He will fade from view around 10:49 PM  when he sinks below 21° above the western horizon.

 

At midmonth he will become accessible around 5:44 PM CST, 53° above the south-eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will then reach his highest point in the sky at 5:51 PM, 53° above the southern horizon. He will continue to be observable until around 10:45 PM, when he sinks below 21° above the western horizon.  

 

At the end of the month, he becomes accessible around 5:52 CST PM, 50° above the south-eastern horizon, as dusk fades to darkness. He will be at his highest point in the sky 50° above the southern horizon. He will continue to be observable until around 10:43 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 +18.7 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.

 

120347 Salacia, and her moon Actaea glows at magnitude 20.7 in Andromeda, The Chained Woman. Salacia is considered a “borderline” Dwarf Planet. Some astronomers saying she “most certainly is a Dwarf Planet”, while others disagreeing 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 11.8 billion miles or 18 hours, 17 minutes and 12 seconds from Earth, , glows at a barely detectable +25.5 magnitude in Lynx. 

 

The most distant man-made object, and the most distant known object in the Solar System Voyager 1, still operating after 46 years, 2 months and 23 days is 15,120,836,297 miles, or in Light Time, 22 hours, 32 minutes and 51 Seconds from Earth as of 7:32 PM, November 28, 2023, sailing 38,027 miles per hour through Ophiuchus the Serpent Bearer.

 

There are 1,308,871 known asteroids as of November 29, 2023, per NASA.  

 

5539 planets beyond our solar system have now been confirmed as of November 7, 2023 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 251,251 miles from Earth.

 

Last Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Eastern side illuminated, will occur December 4 at 11:39 PM CST or 05:39 UTC.

 

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

 

New Moon occurs December 12 at 5:33 PM CST or 23:33 UTC. 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 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, and at the peak 120 meteors per hour.

 

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, as the Earth plows headlong into the stream. If you’re game, you can watch the Geminid shower all the way from mid-evening until dawn. 

 

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. The morning of the 15th could also be nearly as active this year.

 

The nearly new moon means dark skies for what should be an excellent show. 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 16, when she will be 228.602  miles from Earth. 

 

First Quarter Moon, or when the moon has only the Western side illuminated, will occur December 19 at 12:39 PM CST or 06:39 UTC.

 

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

 

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 waxing gibbous moon will block out most of the faintest meteors this year. But if you are patient, you should 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.

 

Winter Solstice will occur on December 21 at 9:27 PM CST or 03:27 UTC 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.

 

Full Moon occurs at 6:33 PM CST on December 26 or 00:34 UTC on December 27 when the Moon, being on the opposite side of the Earth as the Sun will be fully illuminated.  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.

 

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

 

 

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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.

 

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 12 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