Author: Doyle Rice
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Blue moon is coming Saturday night to a sky near you
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A Blue Moon is coming this weekend. And it’s not the craft beer nor Amazon’s new spaceship, both of which have appropriated the name. No, its just a full moon with a colorful nickname. And here’s the scoop on where that name came from and what it means: Most seasons have three full moons. But…
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Powerhouse storm to unleash heavy snow, tornadoes, fires and wild temperature swings
A powerhouse April storm will bring a variety of wild weather to much of the U.S. from Friday through the weekend. On the colder side of the storm, heavy snow will cause blizzard conditions in the northern Plains and Upper Midwest, with some spots getting up to 20 inches of snow. Winds gusting as high as 50…
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Supermoon, blue moon and lunar eclipse all coming to a sky near you this week
Skywatchers will get a rare triple treat early this Wednesday, Jan. 31: a supermoon, a blue moon and a total lunar eclipse. How rare is the event? Even without the supermoon, it’s the first blue moon total lunar eclipse in the U.S. since March 1866, less than a year after the Civil War ended, according to EarthSky.org. A blue…
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1.7-billion-year-old chunk of North America found in Australia
Eons ago, the land Down Under wasn’t so far away after all. Rocks recently discovered in Australia bear striking similarities to those found in North America, a study finds. The sandstone sedimentary rocks the scientists uncovered are not “native” to present-day Australia, but instead are common in eastern Canada. The rocks were found in Georgetown,…
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The U.S. is now the only country not part of Paris climate agreement after Syria signs on
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The United States is now the only country on Earth that’s declined to be a part of the Paris climate agreement, after Syria announced Tuesday it would join the landmark 2015 pact. In an address to delegates at a global climate meeting in Bonn, Germany, Syria’s deputy minister of local administration and environment, M. Wadah…
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Huge, ‘mysterious’ hole appears in sea ice near Antarctica
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A huge, mysterious hole has been spotted in sea ice near Antarctica, researchers reported this week. The hole, which was detected about a month ago, is roughly 30,000 square miles or the size of the state of Maine. It’s the largest hole spotted in the Weddell Sea since the 1970s, scientists say. “In the depths…
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La Niña is expected this winter. What will that mean for our weather?
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La Niña, the cooler sibling of El Niño, is likely to form over the next few months, federal government forecasters said Thursday. Specifically, there’s a 55 to 65% chance that a La Niña will develop during the fall and winter of 2017-18, the Climate Prediction Center said. The La Niña climate pattern — a natural cycle marked by cooler-than-average ocean…
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Aurora borealis possible Sunday night across northern U.S., Canada
Thanks to a geomagnetic storm from the sun, skywatchers across most of Canada and the northern U.S. should get a special treat Sunday night into Monday morning: A visit from the aurora borealis, aka the Northern Lights. The sky spectacle should be visible in states such as Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern Illinois, Michigan, northern…
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What are the chances? Tropical Storms Don, Hilary could spin at the same time
You can’t make this stuff up. While a weakening Tropical Storm Don disintegrates as it nears the Caribbean, meteorologists are eyeing a potential storm in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The Pacific system is forecast to become a named storm later Tuesday, and the next name on the Pacific list is…. Hilary. Don may not be long for this…
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When is the next solar eclipse?
The biggest and best total solar eclipse in American history arrives Aug. 21 and will be visible from Oregon to South Carolina. Some of the larger cities directly in the path include Nashville, and Greenville, Columbia and Charleston in South Carolina. Both Kansas City and St. Louis, Mo., are barely outside the path, though parts of the cities’ metro areas…