Saturday, February 16, 2013

A ladybug beetle in the window…

Morning Observation:

This morning in Huntington at 7:20AM it’s currently 26 degrees and snowing just a bit under overcasts skies. Winds are out of the northwest at 0-4 mph. Relative humidity is 73%, dewpoint 18, barometric pressure 29.97″. We picked up 0.01″ of melted precipitation yesterday and have 2″ of snow at the stake. 24hr high was 41, low 26.

Forecast:

A cold front pushing through the region will bring mostly cloudy skies with a slight chance of snow showers this morning, giving way to partly sunny skies this afternoon as high pressure ushers in colder air for the remainder of the weekend. Highs will be in the mid 20s with light and variable winds. Chance of snow is 20%. Tonight should be cloudy and chilly with lows around 5 above and north winds around 10 mph.

Sunday should be cloudy and cool with highs around 14 and northwest winds 15 to 20 mph gusting up to 35 mph. Sunday night should be partly cloudy with lows around 1 above and northwest winds 15 to 20 mph gusting up to 40 mph.

Monday’s looking sunny with highs around 20 and northwest winds 15 to 20 mph gusting up to 35 mph. Monday night should be partly cloudy with lows around 10 above.

Almanac:

Last year on this date we had a high of 44 and a low of 31. We had 3″ of snow on the ground.

Burlington norms for this date are highs of 31°F and lows of 13°F.
Record high was 49°F in 1921.
Record low was -26°F in 1943.

Sky Notes:

Sunrise: 6:49 AM EST
Sunset: 5:22 PM EST
Length Of Visible Light: 11h 32m
Length of Day: 10h 33m
Tomorrow will be 2m 54s longer.

The Moon is a waxing crescent, 6d 5h old with 38% illumination.
Moonrise: 9:44 AM EST
No Moon Set

So, yesterday was a busy day sky-wise! Not only did we have a 150′ asteroid fly within 17,200 miles of the earth, but we had what scientists are estimating to be a 50′ meteor crash into a lake near Chebarkul, a town in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia. Based on numerous videos and eye-witness accounts, the the incoming meteoroid carried about 300 kilotons of kinetic energy (about 20 Hiroshimas), entering the Earth’s atmosphere at 20 kilometers per second (typical for near-Earth asteroids), was about 15 meters (50 feet) across, and weighed about 7,000 tons. It entered the atmosphere at a grazing angle of less than 20° and burst at a height of 15 or 20 kilometers (10 or 12 miles). The resulting shockwave shattered windows and even tumbled down a brick wall of a zinc factory near the Russian town. Over 1100 people reported injuries–mostly from broken glass–but fortunately no one was killed. The last such event in recorded history was the so-called Tunguska event in 1908 that leveled hundreds of acres of forest in Siberia. You can read more about the what will probably be dubbed the “Chebarkul event” and see some pretty awesome videos here. Heads up!

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