StormTrack Blog

Spring officially begins Saturday at 1:32 pm.  This is the vernal equinox, marking when the direct rays of the sun are over the equator.

The direct sun rays will travel northward into the Northern Hemisphere, hitting its most northern point on June 21st (the summer solstice).

The final day of 2009 will be special for many reasons.  It’s a once in a Blue Moon occurrence–literally.  A blue moon occurs on average once in every 2 0r 3 years.  It is generally regarded as having two full moons in the same calendar month.  This December 2009 is that month. 

Even more interesting, the last time a blue moon occurred on New Year’s Eve was 19 years ago in 1990.  The next time it is expected to occur on New Year’s Eve is 2028. 

Fall begins at 5:18 pm EDT tomorrow evening.  The autumnal equinox marks the time that the direct rays of the sun are directly over the equator.  Those direct rays will continue moving into the southern hemisphere as we get closer to winter.

The term equinox suggests equal daylight and darkness.  That is true closer to the equator.  Our sunrise Tuesday will be at 7:23 am, and the sunset will be at 7:32 pm.  We continue to lose about 2-3 minutes of daylight each day.  By Saturday, our amount of daylight will slip to just below 12 hours.

Normal high this week ranges 70°-72°, and the lows range 49°-51°.  Temps look like they will remain above normal until late in the weekend.

The meteor showers hit their peak this morning.   See more details at http://www.wtol.com/global/story.asp?s=10889185