You are browsing the archive for November 2016 - Page 2 of 2 - Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal.
11 November 2016
Bright Moon Rising
The Moon does not orbit the Earth in a perfect circle, anymore than the Earth orbits the sun in one. That being the case, once every 29 days the Moon reaches its closest approach to Earth. IF that happens to be when the Moon is full, we get a very bright Moon. Astronomers have taken to calling it a “supermoon”. The closest approach every month also varies somewhat from year …
9 November 2016
Record Low Temperatures Are Dissapearing
Guy Walton is the former lead forecaster for the Weather Channel, but most of us meteorologists know him these days as the person who keeps track of the “ratio of record highs vs record lows”. As the planet warms, we should expect to see more record highs and fewer record lows, and the data is indeed showing just that. It’s actually impossible to miss, because the ratio itself is in …
7 November 2016
Some Important Advice for Students in Grades 7-12
I started at the University of Oklahoma in August of 1977, and I’ve been thinking about those years a lot recently. College students then, as now, are poor and stressed, but there’s something more important that I remember. Jealousy. I was jealous of my high school friends who decided to skip college and go to work. Some were married to high school sweethearts, and while they had spending money and …
1 November 2016
Southeastern U.S. Drought Worsens as Record Heat Arrives
Around 43% of Alabama is in severe or exceptional drought now. Huntsville (in North Alabama) had their hottest Halloween on record Monday with a high of 88 degrees, and it will likely be just as warm or close to it on Tuesday. The drought is a big local story, but it hasn’t gotten much attention nationally. That may be about to change. Records are going to tumble this week from …
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.