Welcome!

Hello Everyone!  After some pondering, I thought making a blog would be a great way to inform you about the workings of the atmosphere and weather - since I get so many questions about it anyways.  I will try to keep this as interesting as possible and answer any questions that may be posted or asked in person!  In addition to answering your questions, I will also share some weather news that I find interesting and worth sharing with you all!  So I hope I can enlighten you all about the weather or anything else that goes on up above our heads...

Speaking about above our heads!  Has anyone seen the northern lights that are suppose to be going on this week?  Last Sunday, the sun started to wake up from its unusually long "slumber" and shot off a solar flare in Earth's direction.  This has sent two coronal mass ejections (CME ) towards us.  The first of these hit the Earth's magnetic field on Tuesday, Aug. 3rd and produced auroras as far south as Wisconsin and Iowa... unfortunately at that time we were under cloud cover.  However, the second CME is to hit us tonight, and with mostly clear to clear skies, hopefully we will get a nice light show tonight!

The picture below was taken over Quebec on August 3rd (courtesy of http://www.spaceweather.com).  The auroras there lit up the entire sky.  In Norway, it's been said that the auroras were so bright that they could be seen through the clouds!

Well... I hope you get a chance to get out and see the aurora(s) tonight IF they happen.  I sure hope so!  I haven't seen one since the Spring of 2004!  I'll discuss how auroras actually "form" tomorrow.  Have a nice night and happy aurora hunting!