Monday, August 11, 2008

One Week Later We Get Ready for Another Big Show in the Sky!

It is great to be back. I loved my walks on the beach and having some wonderful home-cooked meals, but I did miss my bloggers, viewers, and just being able to do what I love and that is talking about our wonderful and wild Indiana weather on television. Today I have really enjoyed looking at tons of long-range models and I have also been organizing all those school supplies with my kids and getting them ready for their first day of school tomorrow. It is hard to believe it is back to school tomorrow. At least the kids have a fall-like pattern to get them in the school spirit and no severe weather to worry about!

Last Monday night we were ravaged with flooding rain, a tornado, and plenty of lightning. My plane flew right into that vicious storm front on my way home last week and it was amazing watching more than one lightning flash per second for the last hour of our flight. Luckily, I had a window seat and sat on the side of the plane facing west where you could really see those huge flashes clearly. Yes, I tried to stay quiet about it so I would not panic anybody on the plane. My heart started racing when I thought about this being the same front that dropped a tornado in Benton County. While I love to fly, I do admit I was a little nervous when I saw this huge wall of towering black clouds snuff out the stars along with vivid lightning. I said a prayer, wiped my clammy hands and warned the girls to put up their trays and finish their drinks quickly before the captain put the seatbelt sign back on. Abbey of course knew exactly what was going on because she checked the radar in the Atlanta airport. The good news is she fell asleep before the worst of the turbulence hit. We did not bounce around too much as the worst of the weather stayed to our west. We landed and I felt like I had a new lease on life and thanked the captain as I got off the plane. My advice to parents is to take the midnight flight home. The kids are tired and you even save some money. I was shocked that the Indianapolis Airport was full of people at 1 a.m. It might as well have been 1 p.m. because it was very busy.

One week later we can look forward to another big show in the sky. This time it is in the form of a major meteor shower. That is right look to the east-northeast tonight after 9 p.m. for the Perseid meteor shower. It is one of the bigger shooting star events of the entire year with 1 to 2 shooting stars possible per minute. The peak viewing will be after midnight tonight to just before dawn. Specks of comet dust will be hitting the earth's atmosphere at over 130,000 mph creating a beautiful display. The Perseid meteor shower is also known for its earthgrazers. These are slow-moving colorful shooting stars the seem to skip across the horizon and many times they look like they will reach the ground. The best viewing for this phenomenon will be just after sunset or between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m.

This is just the beginning of a very eventful week nature will put on in the sky. We also have the moon and planets lining up close together, a few planets chasing each other in the sky, and a lunar eclipse. I will have all the details here on the blog by this evening and the good news is I will tell you about a nice tranquil weather pattern so we can look to the heavens, sit back, and just enjoy. I will see you soon.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Welcome back Mike! It does feel like Fall doesn't it?

Thats good news about the timing of the meteor showers...I will actually be awake to see this one. :)

Depending on the density, I may be able to get some pics for you guys.

Anonymous said...

WELCOME BACK, Mike!!! We missed you, but were able to keep the blog going :-) Bless Abby's heart. That would have been me checking radar in the airport! Brian did a great job through the severe wx. I think he is a "keeper" for WLFI :-)

I am really enjoying this fall-like weather. Early on you mentioned the possiblity of a severe wx fall pattern. Is this still holding true or hopefully we can scratch that one????

Mary Anne in Rem

Anonymous said...

Since it seems that fall is nearly here, do you have any long term predictions for this winter's weather Mike? Cold, colder, snow amounts?

ML

Anonymous said...

Welcome back to TV mike :) Looking forward to the meteor shower tonight! Weather has been so nice and a little cool on the way jogging every morning but once I start I soon warm up!!! :) Hey bloggers You all did do a great job on this blog when Mike was gone we all did. GREAT JOB!!!!!

Justin in Lafayette.

Anonymous said...

Welcome back Mike we sure missed you.We are happy you had a great vaction.Brain did a wonder job keeping us safe and informed about the wx. And all the bloggers where great. I hope everyone has a great time tonight watching the skys.

Sam CC

Anonymous said...

Yeah I was looking up in the sky from 9-11 last night...didn't realize that it was from 2-6am. :(

So I missed the whole show.

I had to look like a weirdo just staring up in the sky. lol.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful cool morning for the fist day of school for TSC, does feel and smell like fall, fresh crisp air.

LSC starts back to school next Monday, so my summer break is over back to work for me!

It's been an interesing summer wx wise to say the least.

I will miss this blog, and checking in with all of you great bloggers,during bad weather.

Well we can always hope for snow days! Kidding:) I was here with all of you last winter though.



For LSC students, faculty and staff enjoy your week! TSC friends hope you had a wonderful first day back!

Same for all of you terrific bloggers:)

Teri in Laf.

Anonymous said...

I love this weather sooo much it make me want winter to be here already :) Im with mike when it comes to snow I love tracking big winter cells. Looking forward to winter with all you.

Last year all I did was read this blog and did not post so looking forward to some big winter storms! :) All have a great day and enjoy the nice fresh air. :)

Justin in Lafayette.

Anonymous said...

I posted this early this morning, I hope all from the schools saw, many school employees read this blog, and count on it:)

Beautiful cool morning for the fist day of school for TSC, does feel and smell like fall, fresh crisp air.

LSC starts back to school next Monday, so my summer break is over back to work for me!

It's been an interesing summer wx wise to say the least.

I will miss this blog, and checking in with all of you great bloggers,during bad weather.

Well we can always hope for snow days! Kidding:) I was here with all of you last winter though.



For LSC students, faculty and staff enjoy your week! TSC friends hope you had a wonderful first day back!

Same for all of you terrific bloggers:)

Teri in Laf.