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Spring weather will continue over Northern California through Friday. A weak weather system will cross the region bringing cooler temperatures and a chance for late day thunderstorms over the higher terrain. Dry warmer weather returns for the weekend. Skies will be mostly clear for Sunday's annular solar eclipse. Eclipse info may be found http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse.html
Sunny skies and warm temperatures across Northern California will make this a good week and weekend to head to area rivers and streams for fun in the water. Please be aware that area waterways are running fast and cold due to continued snow melt from the snowpack received this season. Everyone in and on the water should wear a life jacket and children that are just wading along the water's edge should wear one as well. Even strong swimmers can and have been overcome. Please be safe!
Critical fire weather conditions will develop this afternoon and evening. An area of low pressure will push a cold front through the area on this evening, ahead of the front winds will gust to 45 mph as relative humidity drops to 5-15 percent. The graphic above indicates the areas where the red flag warning is in effect in red which includes: The Western Nevada Sierra Front and West Central Nevada Basin and Range, Mineral and Southern Lyon Counties, and Mono and Eastern Alpine Counties below 8500 feet. The hatched area in the graphic surrounding I-80 indicates the area where dry lightning is possible. North of the red flag warning moisture associated with the cold front will raise relative humidity but winds will remain gusty. For more information please refer to the Red Flag Warning at http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/rev/.
National Safe Boating Week:May 19-25
Area Forecast Discussion California State Weather Data California WeatherShare Temperatures California Hourly Weather Roundup NWS Mesonet Observations On this day in ...
1883 - A three day flood in the Black Hills of western South Dakota resulted in a million dollars damage at Rapid City. (David Ludlum)
1949 — Very heavy rainfall caused flooding on the Trinity River. Eleven people were killed and damage in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area was estimated at $14 million.(National Weather Service)
1979 - A reading of 12 degrees at Mauna Kea Observatory established an all-time record low for the state of Hawaii. (The Weather Channel)
1983 - A golfer playing the Fox Meadows Course in Memphis TN was struck by a bolt of lightning that went through his neck, down his spine, came out a pocket containing his keys, and went into a nearby tree. Miraculously, he survived! (The Weather Channel)
1987 - A summer-like weather pattern continued, with warm temperatures and scattered thunderstorms across much of the nation. A cold front in the north central U.S. produced a sharp contrast in the weather across the state of Minnesota during the afternoon. At the same time Duluth was 50 degrees with rain and fog, Mankato was 95 degrees with sunny skies. (The National Weather Summary)
1988 - Thunderstorms produced large hail and damaging winds over the Carolinas during the afternoon and evening. A "thunderstorm of a lifetime" in northern Spartanburg County, SC, produced hail for forty-five minutes, leaving some places knee-deep in hail. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1989 - Thunderstorms ravaged the south central U.S. with severe weather for the third day in a row. Thunderstorms spawned another nineteen tornadoes, for a total of fifty tornadoes in three days. A strong (F-2) tornado injured 14 persons and caused two million dollars damage at Apple Springs TX. Baseball size hail was reported at Matador TX. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1990 - Thunderstorms developing along a cold front produced severe weather in New York State during the late morning and afternoon. A tornado injured one person at Warren, and wind gusts to 80 mph were reported at Owego. Evening thunderstorms over southwest Texas produced wind gusts to 80 mph at Marfa, along with golf ball size hail which accumulated to a depth of ten inches. Late night thunderstorms over southwest Texas proudced up to seven inches of rain in western Crockett County. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
Information courtesy of WeatherForYou.com
Annular Solar Eclipse This Sunday May 20th
On Sunday, May 20th, the sun is going to turn into a ring of fire. It's an annular solar eclipse--the first one in the USA in almost 18 years.
The great news for us is, it’ll be best viewed here in Chester and in northern California!!!
At approximately 5pm this Sunday the 20th, the moon will pass in front of the sun leaving a small ring of light or "ring of fire" around the moon.
An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon passes directly in front of the sun, but the lunar disk is not quite wide enough to cover the entire star. At maximum, the Moon forms a "black hole" in the center of the sun.
The “path of annularity” is a strip about 300 km wide and thousands of km long. It stretches from China and Japan, across the Pacific Ocean, to the middle of North America. In the United States, the afternoon sun will become a luminous ring in places such as Medford, Oregon; Chico, California; Chester, California; Reno, Nevada; St. George, Utah; Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Lubbock, Texas.
Outside of this relatively narrow zone, the eclipse will be partial. Observers almost everywhere west of the Mississippi will see a crescent-shaped sun as the Moon passes by off-center.
"I like to compare different types of eclipses on a scale of 1 to 10 as visual spectacles," says NASA's leading eclipse expert, Fred Espenak of the Goddard Space Flight Center. "If a partial eclipse is a 5 then an annular eclipse is a 9."
This event should not be confused with a total eclipse. In a total eclipse, the Moon covers the entire surface of the sun, bringing an eerie twilight to observers in the path of totality and revealing the sun’s ghostly corona.
"On that scale of 1 to 10," he adds, "a total eclipse is 'a million!' It's completely off the charts compared to any other astronomical event." The next total eclipse in the USA is in the year 2017.
Until then, May 20th of this year will have to do.
Annular eclipses have a special charm all their own. During an annular eclipse, sunbeams turn into little rings of light. The best place to see this is on the sun-dappled ground beneath a leafy tree. Hundreds of circular shadows can be found there.
You can also make a handy solar projector by criss-crossing your fingers waffle-style. Rays of light beaming through the gaps will have the same shape as the eclipsed sun.
WARNING: Never look directly at the sun through binoculars or a telescope, or with your unaided eye. Severe eye damage can result. Only special solar filters should be used for safe sun viewing.
Be careful when looking directly at the eclipsed sun, cautions Espenak. "The ring of sunlight during annularity is blindingly bright. Even though as much as 94% of the Sun's disk will be covered, you still need to use a solar filter or some type of projection technique. A #14 welder's glass is a good choice. There are also many commercially-available solar filters."
"One of the unique things about this eclipse for watchers in the USA is that the Sun will still be in deep partial eclipse at sunset, making for some great photographic opportunities," he continues. "In western Texas around Lubbock, the sun actually sets during the annular phase."
A swollen red sun with a black hole in the middle? Maybe 9 out of 10 isn’t so bad, after all.
For more information about this eclipse, including maps and timetables, please visit eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov
Or Click Here to learn more!
Meteorites from big fireball spark 'gold rush'
A meteor in the sky above Reno, Nevada on April 22, 2012.
CREDIT: Lisa Warren
Scientists are on an epic treasure hunt for meteorite fragments from a spectacular fireball that lit up the daytime sky over California last month.
The space rocks came from a minivan-size asteroid that plunged through Earth's atmosphere and exploded into a dazzling daytime fireball over California and parts of Nevada on April 22. Meteorite fragments were scattered around Sutter's Mill, an old sawmill in Coloma, Calif. — the same region where the first gold nugget was found, triggering the Gold Rush of 1848.
Now, NASA has a meteorite rush on its hands, one just as exciting as the California's Gold Rush, the agency said.
Scientists and meteorite hunters have descended on the area in hopes of finding precious space rocks that may contain clues about the solar system's history, as well as the origins of molecules that support life.
Fragments from the so-called Sutter's Mill Meteorite fell to Earth on April 22 at 7:51 a.m. PDT (10:51 a.m. EDT). At least one space rock landed in a horse pasture outside of Lotus, Calif., in the Sierra Nevada mountains, according to NASA officials. Merv de Hass, who owns the farm, found the meteorite, but has since donated it to NASA.
"If I could contribute to science in some small way, then that would be great," de Hass said in a statement. "I'm looking forward to the results."
The de Hass family has let NASA researchers comb the land for more fragments.
"I feel like I have done a service to my country," said Eugena de Haas, who lives on the land where the meteorite was found.
The meteorite found by de Hass is very rare, and scientists are interested in studying it because it could contain molecules that explain how the building blocks of life on Earth may have been delivered from space, agency officials said.
Piecing together clues about the meteor could also help astronomers understand the early solar system and how the planets formed.
"This is among the most chemically primitive meteorites," Greg Schmidt, deputy director of the NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI), said in a statement. "It's like asking 'how did life on Earth begin?' and then having a fossil fall right in your back yard. This is exciting stuff — who knows what's inside? The Sutter's Mill Meteorite could be the most profound sample collected in over 40 years."
Peter Jenniskens, a meteor astronomer with the SETI Institute, is working with the NLSI and is leading the search. As he finds the meteorites, Jenniskens is making note of their exact location, so that the science team will be able to better track how the meteorites fell to Earth.
But the space rock is a rare carbonaceous chrondrite, which decomposes quickly in damp conditions, so the scientists are hoping to locate any other specimens before they are ruined.
"I am grateful this meteorite was found quickly," Jenniskens said. "We need to recover as much material as possible from the damp environment before weather affects the rocks too badly."
To help with the search, a helium-filled zeppelin flew slowly over the area with a trained group of observers to relay potential coordinates for ground teams to investigate. The zeppelin, which is owned and operated by Airship Ventures, carried a high definition camera, and observers used binoculars and cameras to spot possible impact sites.
"I suspect this is the first time in history that anyone has searched for meteorites with an airship," Schmidt said.
So far, the meteorite found by the de Haas family is one of the largest fragment found, but the meteorite search is expected to continue for the next few months, NASA officials said.
"The de Haas family has welcomed NASA's involvement with open arms," NLSI director Yvonne Pendleton said in a statement. "I want to express my personal gratitude to them. They should be commended for their contribution to scientific discovery."
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