Weekend Winning Streak Continues

Today is the last full day of Spring. Summer officially arrives tomorrow at 6:51 a.m. EDT in the Northern Hemisphere. That's when the Sun's rays are directly over the Tropic of Cancer. The weather will cooperate, too. In fact, high pressure will deliver another dry weekend to southwestern Connecticut with afternoon high temperatures close to 80 degrees tomorrow and Sunday.

This will be the fifth straight weekend without measured precipitation across the region. The last weekend day which featured rain was Saturday, May 17. Since then, we've enjoyed 11 straight weekend days without measured rain. This follows a streak of four straight weekends with rain beginning in late April. In fact, the weekend of May 10 and 11 had rain each day.

How long will the current weekend winning streak last? Let's not worry about that right now. Instead, enjoy the nice weather the next two days. Here's my latest weather forecast. Happy Summer!
                    

Paul

International Space Station to Pass Overhead Tonight

By Joe Rao
News 12 Westchester Meteorologist

The International Space Station will pass directly overhead tonight. With the prospects of a generally clear sky continuing to improve this Thursday evening, we should have ringside seats to watch a spectacular pass of the International Space Station over the Tri-State NY Area.

The ISS will first appear above the northwest horizon at 9:45 p.m. The Space Station will appear to move almost straight up and ultimately will pass overhead at around 9:48 p.m. Then, the ISS will drop straight down toward the southeast horizon and just after 9:50 p.m. it will quickly pull a fade-out as it passes into the Earth's shadow.

The total time of visibility will be 5 minutes and 34 seconds. The ISS will resemble a bright, non-twinkling "moving star," shining with a yellowish-white hue. As the Space Station climbs higher, it will also brighten noticeably. As it passes overhead it might become as bright as the planet Venus, so it should easily be visible to the eye, even from brightly lit cities.

Spread the word! Take the kids out and show them the largest man-made object now in orbit, 240 miles above the Earth.

Full Strawberry or Honey Moon Happens Early Friday Morning

The Full Strawberry Moon happens just after midnight, Friday morning, June 13, at 12:11 a.m. The name was was universal to every Algonquin tribe. However, in Europe they called it the Rose Moon. The relatively short season for harvesting strawberries comes each year during the month of June, so the Full Moon that occurs during that month was christened for the strawberry!
                    

The June Full Moon is also called a Honey Moon in the Northern Hemisphere, possibly because it never gets very high in the sky. When we gaze toward the Full Moon tonight, we are seeing it through more of the Earth’s atmosphere than when the Moon is overhead. The atmosphere reddens its color.

The Full Moon is especially low in the Northern Hemisphere because it occurs just about a week before the Summer Solstice. The Full Moon is opposite the Sun in the sky. Therefore, when the Sun is higher in the Summer sky, the Full Moon is lower. Every Full Moon stands more or less opposite the Sun in our sky. That’s why the Moon looks full.

Around the world tonight, the Moon will rise around sunset, climb to its highest point around midnight, and set close to sunrise. As seen from both the Northern and Southern hemispheres, the Moon – like the December Solstice Sun – will rise far South of due East and set far South of due West.

North of the Arctic Circle, tonight’s Moon – like the Winter Sun – will be too far South to climb above the horizon. Meanwhile, in the Southern Hemisphere – where it’s Winter now – tonight’s Moon will mimic the Summer Sun, arcing high in the heavens. South of the Antarctic Circle, the Moon will simulate the midnight Sun – up all hours around the clock.
Paul

Summer Solstice Just a Week-and-a-Half Away

Ask any child when Summer begins, and he or she will undoubtedly respond with the date of the last day of school. Ask an adult and his or her answer is most likely either June 20 or June 21. In case you're wondering, the Summer Solstice happens Saturday, June 21, at 6:51 a.m. EDT.

That’s when the Sun’s rays will be directly over the Tropic of Cancer, marking their northernmost point on the face of the Earth. The Sun rises at 5:19 a.m. and sets at 8:30 p.m., which is the latest Sunset during the year. We’ll enjoy 15 hours and 11 minutes of Sunlight on the first day of Summer.

Two days later, the Sun rises at 5:20, and the days begin to get “shorter” once again. Remember, since the first day of Summer is “the longest day” of the year, the days actually become shorter by the end of the month and the remainder of the Summer.

So, why does the Summer Solstice actually happen? Well, the seasons of the year are caused by the 23.5 degree tilt of the Earth’s axis. Because the Earth rotates like a gyroscope, the North Pole points in a fixed position constantly, while the Earth is revolving around the Sun. During one half of the year, the Northern Hemisphere has more exposure to the Sun than the Southern Hemisphere, while the reverse is true during the other half of the year. At noontime, the Sun appears high in the sky during Summertime, and when the Sun reaches its maximum elevation, or angle, in the sky, that’s when the Summer Solstice happens.

Summer was a joyous time of the year in prehistoric times for the Aboriginal people who lived in the Northern latitudes. The snow had melted, the ground thawed out, and warm temperatures returned. Flowers were in full bloom, and leaves had returned to the trees. More important, food was easier to find, and crops had been planted and would be harvested for months to come. The Full Moon is June is called the Full Honey Moon. Tradition dictates that this is the best time to harvest honey from the hives.

This time of the year, between the planting and harvesting of crops, is the traditional time for weddings because many ancient peoples believed that the grand union of the goddess and god occurred in early May. Since it was unlucky to compete with the gods, many people delayed their weddings until June. Today, June remains a favorite month for marriage.

Native Americans have constructed many stone structures linked to the Equinoxes and Solstices. Many are still standing today. One of them is called Calendar One. It is a natural amphitheatre of about 20 acres in size in Vermont. From a stone enclosure in the center of the bowl, one can see a number of vertical rocks and other markers around the edge of the bowl. “At the Summer Solstice, the Sun rose at the southern peak of the East ridge and set at a notch at the southern end of the West ridge.” The Winter Solstice and both equinoxes were similarly marked.

I’d love to be at Calendar One a week from Saturday. The start of each of the four seasons carries more significance to this writer than New Year’s Day, which, in essence, is an arbitrary day on the calendar. The start of Summer is just a week-and-a-half away, and that is reason to celebrate in the Northern Hemisphere.

Paul 

Record-Breaking Heat Wave Started Six Years Ago Today

A surprising and record-breaking heat wave across southwestern Connecticut began six years ago today, resulting in the only Spring heat wave on record. The mercury climbed to 90 degrees on Sunday afternoon, June 8, 2008, beginning a three-day stretch of oppressive heat which resulted in the early dismissal and closing of area schools the following two days.

The normal high and low temperatures for June 8 through 10 are 75 and 58 degrees, respectively. However, high pressure anchored off the Atlantic coast helped push temperatures close to 100 degrees June 9 and 10. Although the June 8 high temperature of 90 degrees was three degrees shy of the 93-degree record set in 1999, the highs of 97 and 96 degrees the following two days were both records for the date. The overnight lows hovered close to 70 degrees each morning.

The 97-degree temperature on June 9, 2008, is the warmest ever on record for June and matched the warmest-ever Spring day (May 20, 1996) at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford. The 96-degree reading the following day marked only the fourth time the mercury soared that high in June. Other than the previous day, the only other times the temperature reached 96 degrees during the month happened on June 19, 1994, and June 26, 1949.

I received notification from my hometown’s public school system informing me of the early school dismissal on Monday morning, June 9, 2008. “Due to the Heat Advisory, all public and parochial schools will close early. The buses will pick up the high school students at 12:10 p.m.; middle school students at 12:40 p.m.; elementary school children at 1:40 p.m. The P.M. PreKindergarten session is cancelled for today. Please refrain from calling the schools.” That was certainly a shocker.

Whenever the weather became oppressively hot and humid when I went to school, it was time to slow down the pace. Teachers would open the windows, close the shades, show a movie or two, and we’d visit the water fountain every 15 minutes or so. Lunch period and recess were even extended. Somehow, we survived. Sure, it was hot, but we were more excited about not having to do schoolwork rather than being bothered by the heat.

I suppose each generation has its own stories to spin. After all, we had to listen to the the exaggerated stories of our parents telling us they walked barefoot several miles to and from school uphill in four feet of snow “back in the day.” Life, it seemed, was always more difficult for previous generations. As for me, I walked to and from school in 100-degree weather without cell phones, iPods, or ‘Smoothies.’ We didn’t even break a sweat. And it never bothered us one bit!

Paul

Holy Spirit School's Fourth-Grade Weatherkids Launch Hot Air Balloon

I visited with the fourth-graders at Holy Spirit School in Stamford yesterday morning. It was my last visit of the school year. I brought the fourth-graders outside with me, and they helped launch a hot air balloon. It worked beautifully.

Holy Spirit School's Fourth-Grade Weatherkids by PaulWXman

Paul