Tuesday, December 27, 2011

TC 06B "Thane"

Late season Bay of Bengal cyclone heading into southern India. - HLG

Monday, December 26, 2011

TC "Washi" Death Toll Continues to Rise in Phillipines


Nearly 1,500 Deaths From Floods In Philippines

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December 26, 2011
The death toll from flash floods that swept away entire villages in the southern Philippines has climbed to nearly 1,500 as authorities widen their search for bodies.
The Office of Civil Defense's latest tally Tuesday listed 891 dead in Cagayan de Oro and an additional 451 in nearby Iligan city. The rest came from several other provinces. Most of the dead are unidentified.
Civil Defense head Benito Ramos says decomposing remains were retrieved floating in the sea as far as 60 miles from the two cities where a Dec. 16 tropical storm unleashed more than a month's worth of rainfall in 12 hours, sending walls of water gushing into homes.
Ramos says the search will continue as long as bodies are being recovered.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Global Warming Snows Piling up in Central Asia

At least the Yeti's will be happy.  Can you hear me Global Al?  Are you buried in the snow over there, preaching about Global Alarming? 

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Typhoon "Washi" Causes State of Calamity in PI


UPDATE 4-Typhoon kills more than 436 in southern Philippines

Sat Dec 17, 2011 11:51am EST
* Local governments declare state of calamity
* Dozens of bodies washed ashore in nearby towns
* Houses swept into the sea while people slept (Adds fresh details)
CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines, Dec 17 (Reuters) - More than 400 people were killed and an unknown number were missing after a typhoon struck the southern Philippines, causing flash floods and landslides and driving tens of thousands from their homes.
In a text message to Reuters, Gwendolyn Pang, secretary-general of the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC), said the death toll of 436 was expected to rise.
"Our death toll was based on the actual number of bodies that were brought to funeral homes in the two cities that were the hardest hit by the typhoon," Pang said, adding it was difficult to estimate how many were still unaccounted for.
Typhoon Washi, with winds gusting up to 90 kmh (56 mph), barrelled into the resource-rich island of Mindanao late on Friday, bringing heavy rain that also grounded some domestic flights and left wide areas without power.
Emergency workers, soldiers and police were recovering more bodies - most covered in mud - washed ashore in nearby towns.
Pang said nearly 360 bodies had been found in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan and about 50 in four other southern provinces. The government's official death toll stood only at 131 people and nearly 270 missing.
Another 21 people drowned on the central island of Negros, the PNRC said.
Hundreds were also unaccounted for, most of them from a coastal village in Iligan. Houses were swept into the sea by floodwaters while people were sleeping inside late on Friday.
The Philippines social welfare department said about 100,000 people were displaced and brought to nearly three dozen shelters in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro.
"WE RAN FOR OUR LIVES"
Army spokesman Colonel Leopoldo Galon said search and rescue operations would continue along the shorelines in Misamis Oriental and Lanao del Norte provinces.
"I can't explain how these things happened, entire villages were swept to the sea by flash floods," Galon said.
"I have not seen anything like this before. This could be worse than Ondoy," he said, referring to a 2009 storm that inundated the capital, Manila, killing hundreds of people.
Television pictures showed bodies encased in mud, cars piled on top of each other and wrecked homes. Helicopters and boats searched the sea for survivors and victims.
"We ran for our lives when we heard a loud whistle blow and was followed by a big bang," Michael Mabaylan, 38, a carpenter, told Reuters. He said his wife and five children were all safe.
Aid worker Crislyn Felisilda cited concern about children who had became separated from their families or lost their parents. "Many children are looking for their loved ones... (and children were) crying and staring into space."
Rosal Agacac, a 40-year-old mother, was begging authorities to help find her two children after their shanty was swept to the sea. "Please President Noynoy, help me," she cried, holding a candle at a spot where their house stood before the floods, referring to President Benigno Aquino.
Aquino met with cabinet members and disaster officials to assess conditions on the main southern island and ordered a review of disaster plans to avoid a repeat of the tragedy. He is due to inspect typhoon-hit areas after Christmas.
Rescue boats pulled at least 15 people from the sea, said another army spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang.
Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Cruz said many people were caught by surprise when water rose one metre (three feet) high in less than an hour, forcing people onto roofs. "Most of them were already sleeping when floodwaters entered their homes. This is the worst flooding our city has experienced in years."
The national disaster agency said it could not estimate crop and property damage because emergency workers, including soldiers and police officers, were evacuating families and recovering casualties.
Six domestic flights run by Cebu Pacific were cancelled due to the rain and near-zero visibility in the southern and central Philippines. Ferry services were also halted, stranding hundreds of people.
An average of 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year.

Friday, December 16, 2011

TC "Washi" Following an Odd Track



No More December Tropical Forecasts from CSU?

For Hurricane Forecasters, the Outlook Is Stormy
By Jeremy A. Kaplan

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AP/NOAA

 Here's a forecast you might not expect. Two Colorado State University climatologists, who have independently been tracking and predicting the severity of hurricanes for nearly 30 years, are abandoning their long-range forecasting efforts. Simply put, the advance predictions just weren't accurate. "We have suspended issuing quantitative forecasts at this extended-range lead time, since they have not proved skillful over the last 20 years," Philip J. Klotzbach and William M. Gray wrote in their annual December report intended to predict the severity of the upcoming year's Atlantic hurricane season. Klotzbach and Gray will continue forecasting -- just not in December, months in advance of the hurricane season. "From a computation perspective, there's enough chaos in weather that I don't know if you'll ever be able to predict it months in advance," Klotzbach told FoxNews.com. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Colorado State and others traditionally issue hurricane predictions in late May just prior to the start of the season, and update them in early August, just prior to the historic peak. Twenty years ago, Klotzbach decided to push the envelope, to see how early he could predict the season. The results weren't good. In December 2010, the duo predicted 180 total days of tropical cyclone activity; the season actually saw 137. The numbers for 2009 were off as well: 136 days of cyclone activity were predicted, but only 66 cropped up. "Beyond five days or so, that's where the crystal ball gets a little fuzzy," Chris Vaccaro, a spokesman for NOAA, told FoxNews.com. "You can predict seasonal trends fairly well months in advance. But the devil's in the details. Which ones will stay over open water and which will hit land?" And that type of more immediate forecasting has actually improved dramatically, Vaccaro and Klotzbach both said. "Hurricane forecasting has come a long way," Vaccaro said. "Once a storm does form, our forecast skills are quite high in being able to predict where that storm will hit. The challenge lies in understanding the forces at work, he said. The long-term seasonal outlooks are based on large-scale, slow-moving climate factors -- things like ocean temperatures, the presence of a La Nina or El Nino force, weather patterns, and so on. But the birth and eventual path of an individual storm is dependent on short-term weather patterns -- the position of the jet stream or the presence of a cold front. "Those day-to-day weather patterns are very fluid and have a tremendous impact on the strength and track of a specific storm," Vaccaro told FoxNews.com. Colorado State's hurricane experts tell a similar story. Despite advances in supercomputers, hurricane-hunter aircraft, satellites, weather buoys and more, long-term prediction simply isn't feasible today. But short-term forecasts get better every year.
"Our April forecasts have shown reasonably good skills and are getting better over the years," Klotzbach said. "When you're forecasting the weather a week from now versus tomorrow, you're going to put a lot more faith in tomorrow's forecast." "Our knowledge of how storms work still isn't perfect," Klotzbach admitted.


Plankton Bloom off the Falklands

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Chile Volcanic Dust in Patagonia

Two MODIS passes to show the entire spread of the ash from Chile's Puyehue-Cordó volcano. - HLG

TC 05A in the Arabian Sea

They are always so interesting looking, with the contrast of cloud, sand, and sea. - HLG

Monday, November 28, 2011

Did US Destroy Martian Mars Probe??

The Russians are implying that, without any evidence, of course.

It's not the first time the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Programme (HAARP) has been accused of some malevolent purpose. In fact, it's a conspiracy theorist favourite, most often accused of causing extreme events like the 2010 Haiti earthquake.


HAARP's stated purpose, according to its website, is:


A scientific endeavour aimed at studying the properties and behaviour of the ionosphere, with particular emphasis on being able to understand and use it to enhance communications and surveillance systems for both civilian and defence purposes.
But those of a suspicious mindset think the project aims to manipulate the ionosphere in order to cause massive disasters. - The Guardian



Saturday, November 26, 2011

Beautiful Day to Head to Mars

Mars "Curiosity" Rover is on the way to Mars.  Gorgeous launch at The Cape.  Congrats NASA and JPL!  Onward to the Red Planet. - HLG

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Climate forcing by CO2 Overblown?

Climate sensitivity to CO2 probedBy Jennifer Carpenter




Science reporter, BBC News



Global temperatures could be less sensitive to changing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels than previously thought, a study suggests.



The researchers said people should still expect to see "drastic changes" in climate worldwide, but that the risk was a little less imminent.



The results are published in Science.



Previous climate models have used meteorological measurements from the last 150 years to estimate the climate's sensitivity to rising CO2.



From these models, scientists find it difficult to narrow their projections down to a single figure with any certainty, and instead project a range of temperatures that they expect, given a doubling of atmospheric CO2 from pre-industrial levels.



The new analysis, which incorporates palaeoclimate data into existing models, attempts to project future temperatures with a little more certainty.



Lead author Andreas Schmittner from Oregon State University, US, explained that by looking at surface temperatures during the last Ice Age - 21,000 years ago - when humans were having no impact on global temperatures, he, and his colleagues, show that this period was not as cold as previous estimates suggest.



"This implies that the effect of CO2 on climate is less than previously thought," he explained



By incorporating this newly discovered "climate insensitivity" into their models, the international team was able to reduce their uncertainty in future climate projections.



The new models predict that given a doubling in CO2 levels from pre-industrial levels, the Earth's surface temperatures will rise by 1.7 to 2.6 degrees C.



That is a much tighter range than suggested by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s 2007 report, which suggested a rise of between 2 to 4.5 degrees C.



The new analysis also reduces the expected average surface temperatures to just over 2 degrees C, from 3.



The authors stress the results do not mean threat from human-induced climate change should be treated any less seriously, explained palaeoclimatologist Antoni Rosell-Mele from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, who is a member of the team that came up with the new estimates.



But it does mean that to induce large-scale warming of the planet, leading lead to widespread catastrophic consequences, we would have to increase CO2 more than we are going to do in the near future, he said.



"But we don't want that to happen at any time, right?"



"At least, given that no one is doing very much around the planet [about] mitigating CO2 emissions, we have a bit more time," he remarked.

Weather Service Mapping

I like to visit the new Weather Warning map-service, hosted by ESRI, but it reminds me that NOAA needs to take some remedial cartography classes.  I see at least three choices for the pink area off the east coast, in the legend.  How about a little striped pattern, or something other than the two dozen shades of the same colors!  Come on NOAA! - HLG

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Global Warming Snow in NE Asia

Global warming continues to spin out of control, as the early snows deepen in NE Asia.

Dust or Ash?

And is there really a difference?  NOAA labeled this as an Argentine Dust Storm, but I believe it is more ash from Chilean volcanoes swirling around in Patagonia. - HLG

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Late Season East-Pac Hurricane

Hurricane Kenneth, luckily moving away from Mexico as we head towards December in the northern-hemisphere tropics.

Monday, November 21, 2011

La Nina and Fires in Ecuador

A classic La Nina effect, with extensive fires in agricultural areas of Ecuador, not getting average rainfall levels. - HLG

Forecast for OU win was a bust!

The odds were good, since OU had NEVER lost to Baylor, but even the best forecast sometimes bust, as every weather-guesser knows! - HLG

Friday, November 18, 2011

Mystery of West Coast Rocket Solved?

I find it hard to believe that the military's newly announced hypersonic weapon system is unrelated to the "non-rocket/nothing-to-see-hear" rocket launch we all witnessed off the west coast last year.


U.S. Army Tests Secret Hypersonic Weapon

Published November 17, 2011
Technews Network
The U.S. Army's hypersonic weapon prototype streaked across the Pacific Ocean at several times the speed of sound Thurs., Nov. 17, in a flawless maiden test flight. The success could pave the way for a new military capability to strike targets anywhere on Earth in as little as an hour.
Such a hypersonic weapon concept flies at a relatively flat trajectory within the atmosphere, rather than soaring up toward space like a ballistic missile and eventually coming back down. Hypersonic speed is defined as being at least five times the speed of sound (3,805 mph, or 6,124 kph, at sea level). An unmanned aircraft that can travel at a breakneck pace 20 times the speed of sound will take off Wednesday from an Air Force base in California for a test flight.
The Army's Advanced Hypersonic Weapon launched aboard a three-stage booster system from the Pacific Missile Range Facility on the island of Kauai in Hawaii at 6:30 AM ET, deployed for its hypersonic glide, and eventually splashed down in the Reagan Test Site located near the Kwajalein Atoll.
Pentagon officials kept a careful watch on the flight test from space, air, sea and ground. That allowed them to collect data about aerodynamics, navigation, guidance, and control performance, as well as thermal protection technologies meant to shrug off intense heat during hypersonic flight.
Such success may provide some consolation to DARPA, given that its Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2) experienced problems in its two test flights that led to early crashes. HTV-2 reached a speed of Mach 20 during its latest test in August.
The Air Force has also tested its own X-51A Waverider vehicle, most recently on June 13, as an experimental platform for an air-breathing scramjet engine. During the latest test, the X-51A Waverider reached hypersonic speeds of at least Mach 5 before it failed to switch over to its main fuel source.
Having several hypersonic projects resembles the early days of U.S. rocket and missile development, when the Army and Air Force competed to get their rockets off the ground. But any success in the hypersonic realm seems likely to benefit the U.S. military's unified goal for a "Conventional Prompt Global Strike" weapon designed to speedily attack targets around the world

Yet another GIS application in the weather-world


Storm Chaser

Amica Mutual Insurance Maps Real-Time Data, Providing Better Service to Policyholders

By Karen Richardson
Esri
Because many Amica Mutual Insurance policyholders owned homes or other property in the path of Hurricane Irene, the company wanted to ensure that it had adequate resources to provide services when these people needed them most. Amica, a provider of personal insurance for autos, homes, and boats, is headquartered in Lincoln, Rhode Island. Known in the industry for its high standard of customer service, the company has been awarded several J.D. Power and Associates customer satisfaction awards.
ArcGIS used to track Hurricane Irene.
Amica used ArcGIS to track Hurricane Irene and view forecasted wind speeds from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's NowCoast Web Map Services. This map displays the storm one day prior to making landfall in North Carolina.
Amica monitored Irene last summer as the hurricane moved up the East Coast of the United States, using real-time weather warnings from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This information, which included live radar loops focused on the strongest parts of the storm, was brought into Esri's ArcGIS Online as map services, a standard way to view location-based information on the web. By viewing live data streams and comparing them with internal policy data, Amica personnel were able to watch the storm in real time and quickly identify which areas were likely to generate the most claims.
Before their eyes, the path of destruction passed through North Carolina, Virginia, and all the way up the East Coast. "Our exposure along the forecast track was significant, and we immediately knew this would be a big event for us," said Adam Kostecki, a claims examiner in the Property Loss Division at Amica Mutual Insurance.
When tracking Irene, Kostecki combined real-time event tracking and geocoded policy locations displayed in ArcGIS. Taking a NOAA map service that forecasted wind speed and creating it as an ArcGIS web mapping service (WMS), Kostecki was able to input where Hurricane Irene was moving in real time on a map, along with Amica's plotted policies. He and other personnel drew lassos around policies in the areas they were interested in. The lasso Select tool allowed Amica staff to select multiple policies in contiguous areas without being restricted by administrative or geographic boundaries. Combining both datasets—wind speed high enough to cause damage plus policies in the area—Amica found out the number of policies that might be at risk.
By viewing the policy locations along with the area of impact, Kostecki could find out exactly which policies were in the path of the event and generate reports for claims adjusters quickly. "Simply by viewing and exploring the data in ArcGIS, I simplified and improved the accurate identification of customers in Hurricane Irene's impact area," said Kostecki.
For insurers, knowing precisely where damage has occurred is paramount in developing a timely and appropriate response. The quicker an insurer can respond to claims, the faster people can rebuild and continue on with their lives. Being able to determine exposures in different areas, as well as knowing the likely severity of the damage, allowed the Amica claims department to proactively plan for potential claims volume. "Once Irene passed, we plotted claims as they were reported," said Kostecki. "Waiting days for first-responder reports, damage models, or even post-event aerial imagery just isn't an option anymore when responding to catastrophes."
Knowing how many policyholders might be affected helped Amica better determine how many adjusters were needed and where they should be sent after Hurricane Irene passed. From the information gathered in ArcGIS, the staff was able to generate a quick summary and export the information into a report. This information provided a better picture of how many claims Amica might need to respond to in a certain geographic area.
"We had a much better idea of what our claim potential was going to be after this event," said Kostecki. "And even better, we had this information ready to go hours after the storm."
Amica implemented the use of GIS in claims about five years ago, in order to better estimate the company's exposure after a catastrophic event such as a hurricane, earthquake, wildfire, or tornado. Knowing this information helps Amica ensure that it is appropriately staffed to handle the volume of claims that might be reported. Since implementing GIS technology, Amica has realized that pushing this technology to the front lines could have a profound impact on the way it services its policyholders. Kostecki explained, "It's a technology that our staff embraces—because it makes their jobs easier, and it allows them to be more efficient."
For more information on how ArcGIS is used in the insurance industry, visit esri.com/insurance.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Song Heard in Dubai

This was actually heard in Dubai during a fog event...

Dubai Skyscrapers in the Fog

Amazing picture from NatGeo.  The humidity is still very high in the southern Persian Gulf this time of year, but as the mornings are chillier, thick advection sea-fogs roll in amongst some of the tallest buildings on Earth., reminding me of the uber-geeky Cloud City of Star Wars Epsidode 6. -HLG

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

AN OPEN LETTER - FROM FWSAAB CORP.

Dear Readers,

I, Sterling Gonads, as the new President of FSWAAB Corp (a subsidiary of the Environment Channel and part of the Universal Global Broadcasting System - UGBS), openly apologize for the crude, unsolicited and unapproved comments made by HLG recently.  We at FSWAAB believe in a caring, open and green blog - one that is carefully controlled by our managers at UGBS (UGBS +5% FTSE).  We will not allow crass and ungreen-like statements made by our on-blog geographers who like to pretend that they have a meteorology background.

At FWSAAB, we will ensure the reading blog public that irreverent and humorous commentaries from HLG, BB - and the others who haven't been heard from in years - will continue.  However, the management will also take a hard-line against hurtful statements that go against our public options on the open market.

FWSAAB will be making some exciting changes in the coming weeks to bring it more inline with our other media products like the Environment Channel, UGBS Network News and the Friend Channel.   We will also start including famous meteorologists to make on-blog appearances, some of which appeared on another weather-type channel.  Soon we will also roll out our new Spanish Blog "El Clima de Cuatro Hombres y Una Guapa Chica (ECCHUGC)"

At FWSAAB, we believe in making the environment exciting.  Stay tuned.

Sincerely,
Sterling Gonads, esq.

Sunday, November 13, 2011

North Sea Island "Ship-wakes"

Some of the most complicated island-ship-wakes I have ever observed.  Must have something to do with the "Epic" Storm in Alaska. - HLG

Saturday, November 12, 2011

Loading Up in Alaska

Alaska will be plunged into quite a cold morass after the "epic" storm of 2011.  All this cold air is preparing to spill down into the central plains and possibly into the deep south.  Should be a fun trip for Thanksgiving Day drivers across the U.S..

On a lighter note - the owners of FSWAAB would like to point out that their blog employees have not mentioned the Penn State scandal.  Such restraint should be congratulated.

BB

Thursday, November 10, 2011

First Global Salinity Maps from Aquarius

This map reminds me of the early global sea-surface-temperature maps.  I suspect this will be revolutionary when the data is incorporated into global ocean circulation models. - HLG


Wednesday, November 9, 2011

New Satellite May Precipitate on Earth

Russian space engineers scrambled Wednesday to salvage an ambitious science mission to Mars after the unmanned spacecraft became stranded in Earth orbit. If they are not successful, the probe, which is loaded with toxic fuel, could re-enter the atmosphere within days or weeks. - NY Times

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Tropical Storm Sean 2011

At the time of this image yesterday, Sean was still a "sub-tropical" storm, but was since "upgraded?"

NASA Radar Animation of Asteroid 2005 YU55

Monday, November 7, 2011

Cyclone Formation Alert Arabian Sea

Should head towards Yemen, but they look like they could use some rain.

Wind Farms Causing False Radar Returns?


Wind Farms Disrupting Radar, Scientists Say

Published November 05, 2011

This one's really off the radar.
Wind farms, along with solar power and other alternative energy sources, are supposed to produce the energy of tomorrow. Evidence indicates that their countless whirring fan blades produce something else: "blank spots" that distort radar readings.
Now government agencies that depend on radar -- such as the Department of Defense and the National Weather Service -- are spending millions in a scramble to preserve their detection capabilities. A four-star Air Force general recently spelled out the problem to Dave Beloite, the director of the Department of Defense’s Energy Siting Clearinghouse.
"Look there’s a radar here -- one of our network of Homeland surveillance radars -- and [if you build this wind farm] you essentially are going to put my eyes out in the Northwestern corner of the United States,” Beloite related during a web conference in April.
Spinning wind turbines make it hard to detect incoming planes. To avoid that problem, military officials have blocked wind farm construction near their radars -- and in some cases later allowed them after politicians protested.
Shepherd’s Flat, a wind farm under construction in Oregon, was initially held up by a government notice that the farm would “seriously impair the ability of the (DoD) to detect, monitor and safely conduct air operations."
Then Oregon’s senators got involved.
“The Department of Defense's earlier decision threatened to drop a bomb on job creation in Central Oregon,” democratic Senator Ron Wyden noted in a press release.
Beloite told FoxNews.com that the project was given the green light by the military only after scientists at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory assured the Department of Defense “that there were algorithms and processors they could design for not too much money that would mitigate the problem.”
Beloite said that the MIT technology has proven successful in the last few months.
"[The problem] has been addressed. And I have a letter from the deputy director of operations from U.S. NORAD that says 'step one of the two-step fix worked so well that we recommend we don't spend any more money on step two.'"
The fix the MIT scientists came up with tells the radar not to pay attention to signals in a very small area.
“You just tell the radar processor, ‘you're going to have clutter here. Don't display it.’ You create a tiny blank spot [in the radar map] directly above the turbine,” Beloite told FoxNews.com.
In addition to the cost of the radar development, taxpayers are on the hook for more than $1 billion in subsidies for the construction of the Shepherd’s Flat wind farm, according to a 2010 memo from Larry Summers and two other White House economic advisors.
The fix for military radar doesn't work so well for weather forecasters, however.
“It's a lot easier to filter out interference for aviation,” Ed Ciardi, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service Radar Operations Center in Norman, Okla., told FoxNews.com. “The real problem is when rain and the wind turbines are mixed together [on the radar map.] And it's all confusing… sometimes [forecasters] throw up their hands and say, ‘who knows?’”
When the situation is unclear, Ciardi said, “they'll play it safe and maybe extend a warning.”
Ciardi said there have been occasional false alarms due to wind farm interference, but the Weather Service hasn't failed to issue any storm warnings yet.
“We're more worried about the future ... we've seen quite a few proposals for wind farms around our radars. And we have been ... trying to convince them to stay a good distance away,” he said.
One strategy is to ask wind farm owners to turn off the propellers during storms. Another is to convince them to install devices that measure wind speeds and rainfall, so that there would no longer be much need for radar there.
“It all comes down to money and who's going to pay for it,” he noted.
Meanwhile, top radar scientists are working on developing a fix that works for weather radar.
“It's slow progress, and they say it's extremely difficult -- that they need more money and more time. The solution, I would say, is probably five years down the road," Ciardi said.


\

Saturday, November 5, 2011


Asteroid 2005 YU55 near Earth November 8


On November 8, 2011 the asteroid 2005 YU55 will come within about 325,000 kilometers (202,000 miles) of Earth's center. This distance is about 85% of the distance between Earth and Moon. Asteroid 2005 YU55 will be far enough from Earth that the close approach will not endanger Earth in any way. The close approach will however offer astronomers an excellent opportunity to study an asteroid at close range.
The orbit of asteroid 2005 YU55 crosses Earth's orbit regularly, which allows for the possibility of a collision on another orbit. Its orbit has been calculated accurately for the next 100 years and 2005 YU55 will not collide with Earth during that time. That is fortunate. According to an article in the November 2011 issue of Sky and Telescope magazine an impact with 2005 YU55 would release in the range of 100 times as much energy as a large hydrogen bomb - equivalent to several thousand tons of TNT.
Unlike most asteroids, which are irregularly shaped, 2005 YU55 is very nearly spherical. 2005 YU55 is about a quarter of a mile in diameter. Its surface is carbonaceous meaning it is covered with carbon and carbon containing compounds. Carbonaceous meteorites have been found to contain amino acids and other organic compounds. It would be interesting to know if 2005 YU55 were similar.
During its closest approach 2005 YU55 will pass through the great square of the constellation Pegasus. Despite its very close proximity to Earth asteroid 2005 YU55 will not be visible to the naked eye. Because it is fairly small and has a dark carbonaceous surface, 2005 YU55 will be about 50 to 100 times too faint with to see with the naked eye. As astronomers measure brightness, it will be magnitude 11.2. Amateur astronomers owning moderately large telescopes can see it. The November 2011 issue of Sky and Telescope magazine has a finding chart for 2005 YU55 on page 53. The asteroid will be distiguishable from faint stars in the field because it will move across the eyepiece field at a noticeable rate.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Accuweather Radar Web-tool Best Ever?

I have looked at a lot of crapy radar display services (yea, I am talking to you NWS, and Japan Met Service, as well as Korea, Jamaica, and ESPECIALLY Mexico) over the years.  I think the tool Accuweather has is the best ever.  It utilizes nested zooms, so you go from continental, to regional, to local, in a very friendly environment.  Some kinda geniuses up there in Happy Valley, the Drinking Town with a Football Problem! - HLG

http://www.accuweather.com/us/radar/sir/us_/radar.asp


Congrats to NASA and NOAA on Successful NPP Launch


NPP Launch News

  • Officials Hail NPP Satellite Launch

    Fri, 28 Oct 2011 09:55:34 PM GMT+0900

    NASA and NOAA officials congratulated each other this morning following the successful launch of the NPP spacecraft aboard a Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Ken Schwer, NPP Project Manager, led off a news conference this morning about three hours after liftoff. He will be part of the team who will get the spacecraft checked out during the next several weeks so it can begin its Earth observing mission.

    "Now the future of NPP starts and we look forward to NPP touching the rest of the world," Schwer said.

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is expected to use the data from NPP as part of its weather forecasting.

    NPP will "make America a more weather-ready nation," said Mary Glackin, NOAA's deputy undersecretary for Oceans and Atmosphere.
    The NPP spacecraft was launched on-time at 5:48 a.m. EDT.

Four our Snowed-in Fans in the NE USA

This should warm you up, if you have a pulse that is!

October Nor"easters and Flying...

Equals NOT Fun!



Snowstorm Strands JetBlue Passengers on Runway for Seven Hours

Published October 30, 2011

Flight 504 from Fort Lauderdale could not land at its intended destination, Newark International, due to poor visibility and was forced to divert to Bradley International at around 2:00pm local time, the Hartford Courant reported.
It was not until after 9:00pm that the 126 passengers on board were told buses would be coming to take them to the nearby terminal.
One passenger said people were given no food or water throughout the ordeal and also had to deal with clogged bathrooms.
Andrew Carter, a professional football writer, told the Hartford Courant, "We ran out of water. The bathrooms are all clogged up and disgusting. The power would go off every 45 minutes or so for five minutes or so, and that would freak people out. I've heard about these kind of stories."
Another passenger, Todd Bailey, told WTIC-TV from onboard the stranded plane that the situation was tense.
"People are on their last edge. It's just crazy ... Everybody is freaking out here. They're tired of it."
A JetBlue spokesperson told FOX News Channel, "JetBlue is doing everything possible to ensure our customers affected by today's unusual combination of weather and infrastructure issues are being well cared for. We apologize for the experience.
"We could not deplane the aircraft until it was safe to do so. Once our customers are safely inside the terminal, we will do everything within our power to support them."
A rare and deadly October snowstorm hit a wide swath of the East Coast on Saturday, knocking out power to nearly two million households and causing major travel headaches.