Zack_Shields's Blog

NASA has discovered another massive storm on Saturn. This time it is at the southern pole. It's a storm that rages all the time and is anchored to the pole. The hurricane-like storm is about the diameter of the Earth with wind speeds of 350 miles per hour. Check out the new images from the Cassini Spacecraft which has performed very well for NASA...




Here is another look of an ordinary storm on Saturn. On Earth, a hurricane can persist for weeks well this one has lasted for three months. Look on the left side.


All images courtesy of Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

In other space news, NASA presses ahead for Mars rover launch in 2009.
This Mars Science Lab is designed to roam the Martian plains and study rocks to determine whether the environment could support life. The first rovers were a success but the latest one is much bigger than the others. How about the size of a SUV. Again it is set to launch next year if the money is not taken away by the government. The price tag on this cool vehicle will probably end up at 2 billion dollars.


The skies will remain clear the next few nights so Happy Stargazing!!!

The weather has been great the last few weeks with plenty of sunshine, low humidity, and comfy temps. The forecast has been down right simple but now it will begin to get complicated. Cold front, moisture, and tropical low spell out a possibility of rain.

By mid week a cold front which has been dragging its heels out west will sag into Central Texas colliding with abundant tropical moisture coming in from the east. Texas will be in the middle of it so after enjoying days with low humidity the soggy weather will take charge.

How much rain we will get all depends on the timing of the front and tropical low. That is why all the weather models differ on future rain totals. The experts at the National Weather Service produced the following map this morning. Looks promising, we may get another round of beneficial rain.


I think this map may be too optimistic. I would think more in the way of .5 to 1 inch of rain instead of 2 to 3" Hopefully I am wrong because we need some big rain events badly. It all depends on the timing of front and if it stalls on top of us or not. So the bottom line...keep your rain gear handy in the next few days especially on Wednesday.

Did I mention the tropics are very active again? Tropical Storm Nana formed out in the middle of the Atlantic but is already struggling to stay alive. Tropical Depression #15 has formed south of Puerto Rico. It will probably become Tropical Storm Omar and even a hurricane later this week according to the latest track from the Hurricane Center.



You can always get the latest on the tropics by going to Tropical Tracker located on the weather page. Don't forget to check out the radar page which updates all the time.

We are coming off the third driest Septembers on record. We should be used to this by now. 10 of the last 12 months have been drier than average putting much of the area under an extreme drought.


We also just had the 7th driest January to Septembers on record with 12.94". In fact, if today was the last day of the year it would be the 2nd driest year. Very impressive because the records go back to the 1800s.
1. 11.42"   1954
2. 12.94"  2008
3. 15.41"  1956
4.  15.58"  1917
5. 17.30"  1963

According to the Climate Prediction Center there is not much relief coming our way to ease the drought.


I know this beautiful weather has been great but we need a bunch of rain. Our lawns and plants need it plus the rivers and lakes really need it. The Pedernales River is almost empty and Lake Travis is only 67% full.
A West Coast System will probably will give us our next best shot at some rain next Monday and Tuesday. We need every front this fall to give us some soggy rain to put a dent in the drought. The problem about being in a drought now is that we are heading into the dry season for Central Texas. The rain outlook for Winter does not look promising.

We need El Nino Back!

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander has been a great success. It has dug up clues to the red planet's wet past and now has witnessed falling snow. The Lander is hanging out near Mar's north pole. It is collecting and looking at soil samples that show minerals on Mars that are associated with liquid water on Earth. Plus it has recorded the planet's transition from Summer to Fall.

During this process scientists have seen frost, ground fog, and clouds. Now they have noticed these fall streaks...


These streaks are ice crystals (snow) coming from clouds about 2.5 miles above the spacecraft.
The next step is to find out whether the snow is reaching the ground before the craft freezes up forever during the cold Winter.

I was surfing the web and found some impressive pictures of the Upper Texas coast before and after Ike. They give you an idea of what kind of destruction they are dealing with. Ike made a direct hit on Galveston Island but the worst of it was on Bolivar Peninsula which was just right of the eye. This is where you get the strongest winds and highest storm surge. In this case, 110 mile per hour winds and 10 to 12 feet surge. Let me show you why the National Weather Service wanted everybody to leave the coast especially on the barrier islands or expect certain death.



If you want to look at more photos from an airplane or satellite check out these websites.
http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/ike/photo-compa
risons/bolivar.html

http://ngs.woc.noaa.gov/ike/IKE0000.HTML

We are not expecting any tropical formation through the weekend. That is o.k because we have reached the average already (10 named storms with 4 hurricanes hitting the U.S.) and the season does not end until November 30.

Tracking Hurricane Ike this week it keeps reminding me of Andrew in 1992. He was the most destructive U.S. hurricane on record. He started as a tropical wave that emerged from the west coast of Africa and then formed into a Cat 4 over the Bahamas. Ike is doing the same thing and will take aim on Florida next week.

Here was Andrew's path in 1992....



Here is Ike's projected path


Hopefully Ike is not Andrew's twin brother because we don't need another major hurricane to hit the U.S. Andrew was the third most intense hurricane on record to hit the U.S.(winds did reach 142 mph with gusts to 169 mph). He also produced a 17 foot storm surge. Andrew was responsible for 23 deaths in the U.S. It caused 26.5 billion dollars in damage. I hope history doesn't repeat itself. Make sure you check out tropical tracker on the weather page for the latest updates on Ike.