Full Strawberry Moon Highlights the Calm After the Storm

It is hard to believe it is past 2 a.m. I seems like the 11 p.m. show just ended and usually there is a snowstorm on the way when I am up this late. Not this time, oh well maybe in my dreams if I ever do get to sleep. I have gone through over 700 e-mails and I wish I had time to write each and every person back sooner. I will eventually get to everybody. The unbelieveable number of e-mails is mind-boggling but it just reinforces how busy and wild our weather has been over the past 3 weeks.

This made the moonrise over Lafayette on Tuesday night much more appreciated. I really took it in. A few high cirrus clouds and the low moon angle highlighted the moon nicely with a tinge of yellow and it seemed like it was only a few feet away. In reality the moon on average is 230,000 miles from earth. It was like you could reach out and grab the moon last night. This is called the moon illusion which takes place this time of year. It occurs with the full moon near the summer solstice. The sun is higher in the sky than at any other time of year keeping the moon at its annual lowest point in the sky. This causes the moon to hover closer to the horizon and for a much longer time. As a result, the moon seem even bigger to us than normal. In fact our eyes are fooled into thinking the moon is about 10% to 20% bigger than it really is. This is nature's magic act or illusion I think we all can get used to. The full moon in June is called the Strawberry moon because it is the time of year that we get ready to pick strawberries. I cannot wait.

The moon was more surreal than normal after all the storms we had. It is no illusion that we are finally in a quieter pattern and that we are even saving up on air conditioner bills. Notice we have had many more cooling degree days than normal so far in May. A cooling degree is defined as the mean temperature above 65 degrees. It helps companies determine energy needs and farmers with planting crops. In June we were almost 100 cooling degree days above normal and this translates into higher air conditioning costs. But in this new pattern we can open the windows and save some money. Every little bit helps, especially with those gas prices. Yes, the best things in life are free!

More good news! Things are looking up for the corn and it should be knee to waist high by the 4th of July. Sweet corn should be ready in a couple weeks. Farmers told me yesterday the corn is about 2 feet shorter than this time last year and for good reason. We have not had 3 consecutive dry days since April 20th! This has caused our precipitation surplus to surge up over 8 inches!

I know it has been stormy but I didn't think it has been two months since we have seen a nice extended dry period like this. Check out the stats! We average about 36 inches total precipitation for the year. We are already two-thirds of the way there. This much needed dry pattern will help the corn and crops bounce back and also allow farmers to finally bail some hay and that includes Dris Abraham out at Historic Prophetstown.

Bottom line is we have come a long way. Karen Lehe sent in this picture and it was something that looked more like a dust storm or sand storm in the Middle East. No, this is actually near Brookston, Indiana. It is a mix of straight-line winds, a low hanging shelf cloud, heavy rain, and plenty of dust kicked up in the hurricane force winds. Compare this to a picture sent to us from Iraq below.

Hi, I am Dave Southern and my son Anthony took this photo in Baghdad and thought the viewers would like to see it, we are from Stockwell, Indiana.

Thanks, Dave

PS It was taken back in February sandstorm closing in!

Now to my favorite saying...yes, it could always be worse and Dave I wish your son and all our troops the best. Hopefully we can bring them home soon. Here is a picture sent in from Pamela of her son Jason serving in Iraq. He has sent us pictures and reads this blog. You can see what it looks like like in one of those massive Middle East sand storms. So today here at home we can just take a deep breath and enjoy the sunshine. More importantly we remember those like Jason and Dave's son that allow us to bask in the calm after the storm. Like our weather we will never take those serving our country for granted. Thank you troops for all you do. This country's best days are certainly ahead and it is because of you. God bless the USA!