Fshhead's WunderBlog

They're spot on.

Everyone should do something to help themselves achieve a more efficent lifestyle.

I don't have much money, but I have excellent credit (I pay all my bills on time) so I was able to purchase a '04 honda civic that gets 40mpg highway.
Then I actually drive the car normally, and don't go crazy driving up hills to kill my gas mileage...

I combine trips (shop on my way home from work) to drive less.

I grow an organic garden to supplement my diet.
Everything is gorwn in there to majorly cut back what I have to buy from the store

Among the vegetables I grow
Tomatoes (5 kinds)
Peppers (4 kinds)
Eggplant
Spinach
Lettuce (4 kinds)
Beets
Collards
Swiss Chard
Snap beans (yellow and green)
Winter squash (3 kinds)
Summer squash (5 kinds)
Watermelon
Radish
Potatoes (3 kinds)
Leeks
Onions (2 kinds)
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Pumpkin
Carrots
Cucumbers (4 kinds)
Parsley
Basil
Sage
Lavender
Rosemary
Thyme
Summer savory
Dill
Cilantro
Chives (onion and garlic)
Cabbage
Spring mix
Gourds and mini-pumpkins


The big war on meat brought on by enviromentalist focuses on methane from cows, co2 from transportation and refridgeration of meat products ect.

The same is true for vegetable and produce, which comsumes more energy to transport...

More produce gets exported and imported worldwide than meat.

I grow everything I

I'll post an image for you, If I can

It'll have to wait for the photo approver...lol

I wonder where Desertdisaster has been

It's almost 12 years since the 1995 super derecho in NY and New England.

I have a link for it on my blog if you'd like to take a look at it...

More than 900,000 acres of forest was damaged in wind gusts over 100mph.

Everyone should live their lives as clean as possible.

It doesn't make sense to waste energy, especially how much money it costs...

I wonder how much wasted energy costs the economy each year...

Storm top reached 75,000 ft.

High enough to reach the stratosphere...

There's really good information in the link including a report on the radar characteristics of the derecho.

I remember the event well. I was 14, so during summer break I really just got to go to sleep when I wanted to.
I lived in Middletown, NY in Orange County and the storms missed our area, we just got some thundershowers.
But as daybreak got near there was tons of lightning in the north sky. That morning was also particularly dark under the clouds, being shadowed from the tall thunderstorm tops to our east.
Being a weather junkie from a youngster I also watched TWC frequently and remember them specifically talking about those storms as they moved across new england where, at that time, they thought the worst of the storm damage would be. As it turned out the Adirondacks were the ones that got really hammered.
Whole swaths of forest, even some old-growth forest, were flattened. Trees fell on some campers...it was really ugly, but being in a remote spot the news got out a lot slower.

I think we could get one of these type events in the July 19th-23rd time-frame.

When I go to the dealership to get the oil changed I noticed that they weren't making the pilot in hybrid anymore. When I asked why they said that Toyota had too big a share of the hybrid market for them to compete...

Unless they're planning on coming out with something new??

Position of large scale synoptic features favors the region to be near the jet stream, or just to it's south.

Large building high in the plains which will sharpen the downstream trough.

Building intense heat wave provides plenty of energy for development of MCS.

There has been many strong short-wave passages this year directly over our area.

Ingredients are there.


Oh yea....that heat wave that's coming is going to see many folks above 100�F in the plains.

850HPA temps around 20-21�C = surface temps 92-98�F w/ >80%possible sun

Jet streak with 50-80kt winds over NY/New England.

mid-level disturbance dropping southeastward into area out of Canada

IT's looking like a classic summer heat wave/ thunderstorm pattern.

It'll be interesting to se if the situation plays itself out.

I'm sure the media will make sure that it will be done

An amazing 600 lightning strikes were recorded in only 10 minutes with some of those storms, that's one per second!

July 11, 2007: Got a calendar? Circle this date: Sunday, August 12th. Next to the circle write "all night" and "Meteors!" Attach the above to your refrigerator in plain view so you won't miss the 2007 Perseid meteor shower.

"It's going to be a great show," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center. "The Moon is new on August 12th--which means no moonlight, dark skies and plenty of meteors." How many? Cooke estimates one or two Perseids per minute at the shower's peak.


The source of the shower is Comet Swift-Tuttle. Although the comet is nowhere near Earth, the comet's tail does intersect Earth's orbit. We glide through it every year in August. Tiny bits of comet dust hit Earth's atmosphere traveling 132,000 mph. At that speed, even a smidgen of dust makes a vivid streak of light--a meteor--when it disintegrates. Because Swift-Tuttle's meteors fly out of the constellation Perseus, they are called "Perseids."

Note: In the narrative that follows, all times are local. For instance, 9:00 pm means 9:00 pm in your time zone, where you live.

The show begins between 9:00 and 10:00 pm on Sunday, August 12th, when Perseus rises in the northeast. This is the time to look for Perseid Earthgrazers--meteors that approach from the horizon and skim the atmosphere overhead like a stone skipping the surface of a pond.

"Earthgrazers are long, slow and colorful; they are among the most beautiful of meteors," says Cooke. He cautions that an hour of watching may net only a few of these--"at most"--but seeing even one makes the long night worthwhile.

As the night unfolds, Perseus climbs higher and the meteor rate will increase many-fold. "By 2 am on Monday morning, August 13th, dozens of Perseids may be flitting across the sky every hour." The crescendo comes before dawn when rates could exceed a meteor a minute.

For maximum effect, Cooke advises, "get away from city lights." The brightest Perseids can be seen from cities, he allows, but the greater flurry of faint, delicate meteors is visible only from the countryside. Scouts, this is a good time to go camping.



Above: The eastern sky, viewed during the hours before sunrise on Monday, Aug. 13, 2007.

And there's a bonus: Mars. In the constellation Taurus, just below Perseus, Mars shines like a bright red star. Many of the Perseids you see on August 12th and 13th will flit right past it. Instead of following the meteor, you may find you have a hard time taking your eyes off Mars. There's something bewitching about it, maybe the red color or perhaps the fact that it doesn't twinkle like a true star. You stare at Mars and it stares right back.

Earth and Mars are converging for a close encounter in December 2007. NASA is taking advantage by launching a new mission to Mars--the Phoenix Lander. Phoenix will touch down on an arctic plain where it can dig into the ground and investigate layers of soil and ice, searching for, among other things, a habitable zone for primitive microbes. The launch window opens on August 3rd, so by the time the Perseids arrive Phoenix may be hurtling toward the Red Planet. Landing: late Spring 2008.

It's something to think about at four in the morning, with Mars rising in the east, meteors flitting across the sky, and a summer breeze rustling the legs of your pajamas.

Maybe you should go circle your calendar again.

Did you get a chance to see the leonids in 1999??

I saw a fireball a few years ago one night.

It came straight down from the zeinth, grew into a -15 magnitude fireball which traveled ~35� across the sky, then exploded. Most amazing thing I've ever seen.


The leonids in 1999 was one of those most impressive displays in quite some time. Personally I saw over 4,000 meteors that night, along with several larger fireballs.

Link


Fireball sighting page at the AMS

Scroll down to Nov 2nd...

My report is there.

Yes, the ones from NY

I was traveling that night and saw two, but the 2nd one was by far most brilliant

A train is the 'sparkles' that would be left in the tail of a meteor after it passes.

It's nice having a light-pollution free sky

Even though Bethel Woods is about 1 mile up the street they have very night friendly lighting

Yea, it was by far the most brilliant meteor I've yet seen.

I was driving down a dark country road. I looked up and saw this red orange dot appear straight over head, then start to get brighter and drop down and towards the left.
As it got brighter it turned bright blue/white then as it decended further it ended in a bright flash of light which left the impression of a firework in the sky. The flash was bright enough to cast a shadow of the roadside trees.

What was most amazing about the meteor was that you could actually see the trajectory that the meteor came in on. It didn't look like a 2 dimensional line of light, it looked 3 dimensional.

Yea, that really sucks.

You would have to drive out to the glades to have any chance of getting a good view

Hale-bopp was an awesome comet

I was really dissappointed not to see Mcnaught this year

*Personal blog posting from earlier this year.

Clouds dominate the 2nd week of 2007.

For those of us living in Sullivan County that were hoping to catch a glimpse of comet McNaught I guess we'll just have to wait another 40 years for the next -4 magnitude comet to grace our skies. I personally spent 5 straight evenings at a spot where I would have an unobstructed view of the western horizon at sunset to try and catch a picture of this truly great celestial event, but to no avail as the endless clouds wouldn't allow it to happen. I was disappointed to say the least. A cloudy sky always seems to be present during any celestial event in our area. The Geminid meteor shower...cloudy. The December 14th auroras...cloudy. Leonid meteor shower...cloudy. Mercury's transit of the sun...cloudy. I can truly say with absolute certainty that the next time anything celestial happens it will either be raining, snowing, or just plain overcast.

I'm hoping that it won't be cloudy...lol...you can now see why