One of the features of wunderground.com that I'm most proud of is one all of you can take credit for--our wunderphotos. Each day, users of the web site upload an average of 500 - 600 photos of some of the most beautiful and spectacular natural phenomena on the planet. We all share the same atmosphere, and one really gets a sense of that connection when we look at the wunderphotos, which come from every corner of the planet. Since 2003, 1.5 million wunderphotos have been uploaded, with over half a million just in the past three years. We have a dedicated team of volunteer reviewers that screen each photo, and I owe a big thank-you to all of you who have served as wunderphoto moderators. One of our most dedicated wunderphotographers, Lucy Woodley (wunderhandle: observing), was inspired to collect a set of 90 of her favorite wunderphotos and put them into a book. Her effort, A Letter to Mother Nature, was published this May. Each photo in the book has a sentence above it, poetically describing the scene below. It only takes a few minutes to whip through the book, but the spectacular images and thoughtful text invite one to linger longer and contemplate the natural beauty we are surrounded by. Here's a sampling of the text and images from the book, with wunderphotos by SunsetFL, CameraDiva, and Sharrose:
Dear Mother Nature,
Quite simply, I am in awe
of you and here is why...
You remind us to always look up...
...for there are great wonders overhead.
We can't resist dancing in your meadows.
A Letter to Mother Nature is $14.99 (paperback) from amazon.com. Proceeds from sale of the book go to support the disaster relief charity Portlight.org, founded by members of the wunderground community. I give A Letter to Mother Nature my highest rating, five out of five stars.
Rare transit of Venus today
I hope all you wunderphotographers will help document for us today a rare celestial happening--a transit of Venus across the sun. On June 5th at 3:09 pm PDT, Venus will begin a historic 7-hour transit of the solar disk, appearing as a dark spot against the sun's blazing face. This will be the last transit of Venus across the sun until 2117. As always, when viewing the sun, be sure to do it indirectly, or use a proper filter such as a #14 welder's glass to block the sun's eye-damaging rays. NASA.gov has more info. I'll link the best wunderphotographs taken of today's transit at the bottom of this post tonight and Wednesday morning. Below is one from Venus' last transit of the sun, back in 2004. Thanks, wunderphotographers!
Jeff Masters
Venus in transit across the sun June 8, 2004. Taken at sun rise in Flagler Beach Floirda ( USA ) with a 850mm lens by photojournalist Jim Tiller.
Transit of Venus from the Wunderground Office
Venus across the sun during a cloudy evening.
Despite thick clouds we were able to capture a brief glimpse of the planet Venus transiting the Sun. This image was taken with a modern digital camera attached to the historic Ladd Observatory telescope (1891) The clouds thinned just enough to capture this one image at 6:21:38 PM EDT, just moments after second contact.
I took this from a telescope projection on a white surface in West Lafayette, IN
I used a first generation canon digital rebel, a 300mm telephoto lens, a circular polarizing filter, and the low atmosphere to capture this beautiful amateur photograph of Venus dotting the Sun's disc.
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For those that don't know, one storm was removed from the list, dropping the total number of tropical storms from 21 to 20.
Link
Here's one you might get to see Analyst. Venus transiting Jupiter. November 22, 2065.
It will look something like this in binoculars.
--------
actuallly, that is impossible to see from earth, as venus is INSIDE our orbit and jupiter is outside of it. it would be possible for all 3 planets to line up but the sun would block the earths view of the transit in that case
Hey TA...was it because of over counting?
Similar sardine apocalypse near LosAngeles,California earlier this year.
what about at an angle away from the so like this: O/
where venus and jupiter are on the slash?
I hope those storms in E Texas make it to Houston. However I have a good feeling they wont >:-|
Thanks Tropics!
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
441 PM EDT WED JUN 6 2012
FLZ147-062130-
NORTHERN BREVARD COUNTY-
441 PM EDT WED JUN 6 2012
...A SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR STRONG WIND GUSTS
BETWEEN 45 AND 55 MPH OVER NORTHERN BREVARD COUNTY...
* UNTIL 530 PM EDT.
AT 440 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
STORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG WIND GUSTS OVER SHARPES...MOVING
NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH.
LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THE STORM WHICH MAY EXPERIENCE STRONG WINDS
INCLUDE KENNEDY SPACE CENTER AND CANAVERAL GROVES.
THE PRIMARY THREAT WILL BE CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING STRIKES AND
GUSTY WINDS OF 45 TO 55 MPH...WHICH CAN CAUSE UNSECURED OBJECTS TO
BLOW AROUND...SNAP TREE LIMBS OR CAUSE POWER OUTAGES. HEAVY RAINFALL
WILL TEMPORARILY REDUCE VISIBILITY. SEEK SHELTER INDOORS UNTIL THE
STORM PASSES.
LAT...LON 2835 8061 2836 8064 2840 8064 2835 8065
2835 8086 2845 8090 2850 8088 2854 8094
2861 8097 2876 8084 2866 8080 2872 8075
2876 8082 2880 8081 2868 8067 2879 8075
2880 8073 2859 8057 2845 8052
TIME...MOT...LOC 2041Z 246DEG 36KT 2843 8077
$$
SEDLOCK
where venus and jupiter are on the slash?
---------
i didnt think of that possiblity lol. and i would also assume it would be possible if the orbits werent perfect circles or if they were on higher/lower planes than earths.
Can you believe the 100% divergence from last night's forecast for those two Lows from today's reality?
They shouldn't dangle that rain candy in front of us in their official forecasts, it's not fair. Now back to drought, and the underbrush is pretty dry around here.
I should paste LCRA's forecast from last night just so FL knows what's coming their way that THEY probably don't expect.
Not really. Venus is also a lot CLOSER to us than Jupiter is.
How many rings are around Uranus, Grothar?
Yea the need to fix the radar asap. Ive been using Beaumont lol. There is a nice outflow boundary heading this way from those storms.
Link
storms just finished off here...wished they were in houston now lol
i think it is 11, so what is it gro?
"there were two new tropical storms discovered, two existing cyclones were removed from the database as they did not reach tropical storm intensity, and two existing storms were actually one continuous system"
Link
Very nice images!
13
If you read Crown Weather's forecast from this morning, he forecasted strong winds along the west coast today.
It's not impossible, if Venus and Jupiter are both evening or morning stars and along the same line.
Thanks much!
AMZ550-552-062145-
/O.NEW.KMLB.MA.W.0056.120606T2045Z-120606T2145Z/
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SPECIAL MARINE WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL
445 PM EDT WED JUN 6 2012
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN MELBOURNE HAS ISSUED A
* SPECIAL MARINE WARNING FOR THE COASTAL WATERS...
FROM DAYTONA BEACH TO THE VOLUSIA BREVARD COUNTY LINE OUT TO 20 NM.
* UNTIL 545 PM EDT
* AT 439 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
THUNDERSTORM...PRODUCING STRONG WINDS OVER 34 KNOTS 10 MILES
NORTHWEST OF OAK HILL...OR ABOUT 7 MILES SOUTHWEST OF NEW SMYRNA
BEACH...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 KNOTS.
*THE THUNDERSTORMS AND GUSTY WINDS WILL CROSS THE VOLUSIA COAST AND
MOVE ONTO THE NEARSHORE ATLANTIC WATERS THROUGH 530 PM.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
THESE THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY PRODUCE WINDS OVER 34 KNOTS AND
LOCALLY ROUGH SEAS. SMALL CRAFT...ESPECIALLY THOSE UNDER SAIL...
SHOULD MOVE TO A SAFE HARBOR IF POSSIBLE. MAKE SURE YOU AND YOUR CREW
ARE WEARING APPROVED FLOTATION DEVICES DURING THESE HAZARDOUS
CONDITIONS.
AS THESE STORMS CROSS THE INTRACOASTAL WATERS AND BARRIER ISLAND
COMMUNITIES...THEN OVER THE ATLANTIC...THEY WILL PRODUCE STRONG GUSTY
WINDS...ROUGH SEAS...HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING. TRY TO
AVOID THESE STORMS IF POSSIBLE. IF YOU GET CAUGHT OFFSHORE...MAKE
SURE ALL SAFETY GEAR IS AVAILABLE AND LIFE JACKETS ARE BEING WORN BY
YOU AND YOUR CREW.
&&
LAT...LON 2930 8066 2885 8038 2879 8079 2882 8082
2880 8084 2879 8083 2878 8085 2880 8086
2880 8084 2884 8082 2901 8092 2905 8091
2906 8094 2916 8100
TIME...MOT...LOC 2044Z 233DEG 22KT 2896 8094
$$
KELLY
Link Melbourne Radar
Statement as of 4:41 PM EDT on June 06, 2012
... A significant weather advisory is in effect for strong wind gusts between 45 and 55 mph over northern Brevard County...
* until 530 PM EDT.
At 440 PM EDT... National Weather Service Doppler radar indicated a storm capable of producing strong wind gusts over Sharpes... moving northeast at 35 mph.
Locations in the path of the storm which may experience strong winds include Kennedy space center and Canaveral Groves.
The primary threat will be cloud to ground lightning strikes and gusty winds of 45 to 55 mph... which can cause unsecured objects to blow around... snap tree limbs or cause power outages. Heavy rainfall will temporarily reduce visibility. Seek shelter indoors until the
storm passes.
Lat... Lon 2835 8061 2836 8064 2840 8064 2835 8065
2835 8086 2845 8090 2850 8088 2854 8094
2861 8097 2876 8084 2866 8080 2872 8075
2876 8082 2880 8081 2868 8067 2879 8075
2880 8073 2859 8057 2845 8052
time... Mot... loc 2041z 246deg 36kt 2843 8077
DEVELOPING LOW, FORMER MAWAR (T1203)
3:00 AM JST June 7 2012
=================================
At 18:00 PM UTC, Developing Extratropical Low, Former Mawar (964 hPa) located at 38.0N 150.0E. The cyclone is reported as moving northeast at 30 knots.
Same to you Largo!
http://www.lcra.org/water/conditions/weather/weat her_column.htmlThis is a couple sentences...
Strong atmospheric lift associated with the low is causing the development of thunderstorms near the low center. It now appears this low pressure system and not the low pressure system over northeastern Mexico and Deep South Texas will be the main weather feature over the next several days......
........... As a result, we’ll need to closely monitor weather developments across the northern Hill Country and the northern counties of Central Texas both Wednesday and Thursday nights. Sometimes with these types of lows, very heavy rain can develop after dark.
Dang... plus a lot of us will be dead anyway.
I didn't expect low wind shear to move in that area.. but according to the CIMMS map, wind shear is just under 20 knots where the broad circulation is...
also, can a troll get you banned?
i was just wondering.
Hang in there. Looks like they're breaking up before hitting Orange County too. :)
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