wild rose, 'tis good to hear the positive news! That's been a tough spell for your area. At least you're receiving some relief at night now.

Thankfully the temperatures have gone down to 27-30 degrees C, so it has gotten so nice and cool.

I (respectfully) chuckled when I read this because it all depends on one's perspective. 'Cooling down' to 27-30°C is just ... whew!

Stay safe, sandy! Storms, as in, typhoons?

This heat and haze may inspire me to cut back my Perseid viewing the next few days.

How was your viewing tonight, stargazer? I just got in from lying on a big, thick towel in the backyard for an hour watching the panorama above me, from 3-4 a.m. (DST). We saw a few really bright, intense meteors, a goodly number of medium ones, and a few brief streaks after which one says "did I really see that, or not"? At one point, a 'shooting star' shot completely the opposite way (towards Perseus, not away from it) and we wondered if a rebellion was taking place in the skies above. As it's heading towards 5 a.m. now, I'm going to take a last look before dawn comes.

My husband and our boys are up north now, and I can just imagine the showing they will see tonight!

As for our weather, this week has been very hot and sticky, as predicted, but storms are moving in on Saturday overnight, to bring more comfortable (and seasonable) temperatures following: daytime -> 25C/77F compared to our current 35C/95F (without humidity added in). Dare I hope that this is finally the end of our 6+ week humid spell?

^yes, maybe a bit smaller than that, but here, weather is crazy. Sometimes hot, sometimes cold, and suddenly it justs rain on a sunny day, weird... very weird.

Glad you got to see some Perseids, jo! I'm also curious as to how your husband and sons fared in their dark-sky viewing. (It brings back memories of viewing the Perseids from the dark skies of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in days gone by).

Early reports (like those on spaceweather.com) indicate this was a very good performance, with dark-sky rates reaching 80 meteors/hour with lots of fireballs.

Alas, the only fireballs here were in a spectacular lightning display. In a repeat of the big storm earlier this week, torrential rains fell last night and then early this morning, with lots of lightning and wind. One area reported winds in excess of 60 mph/100 km/hr. The ground is so saturated (some areas have received 10 inches of rain just this week!) that trees are falling over and neighborhoods are flooding because there's just no where for the water to go. We're pretty high up here, and the river is close, so we should be all right. But some neighborhoods in the southern suburbs are sandbagging at this moment, to keep flood waters out. And more heavy rains are expected today as a cold front approaches, finally promising relief from this heat and humidity.

I was out at my sister's house (she lives out in the sticks and far from civilization) and actually made out the Milky Way, briefly. It's been a very long time since I've seen it so clearly. One of these days I need to head up to the mountains to get a better view.

Scorching hot a while ago! woo! Glad it's over. Cold weather is now in progress and I hope it stays the same, but hope too it doesn't rain, I just washed my clothes! .

wow sounds like you have really weird weather sandy, I'll bet it makes every day rather interesting, never knowing what to expect.
We live quite close to the city which makes it very bad for star gazing. When we go for our summer trip in Crimea we live in this tiny village that's quite far from any city so the night sky is very clear there. You can see the milky way almost every night, and once we saw five shooting stars almost in a row, sighs, none of that at our place.
I was horrified when I woke up in the morning today and there was smoke out the window, thankfully it was gone by midday
It hot and a bit humid during the day but it gets cooler in the night, my sister (De_De) was jumping with joy because she got a bit cold in the night and actually had to cover herself with her blanket (alright I guess the heat can make a person rather weird ) there were clouds this evening so I hoping it will rain tonight

johobbit wrote:

wrote:Thankfully the temperatures have gone down to 27-30 degrees C, so it has gotten so nice and cool.

I (respectfully) chuckled when I read this because it all depends on one's perspective. 'Cooling down' to 27-30°C is just ... whew!

I guess 'cooling down' to 27-30 degrees sounds funny, now that I think of it, but compared to 40 it seemed like cool to me, like I said I guess extreme heat makes a person a bit weird

Just Today I joined a project called Zooniverse. In short, it is a project for normal people, like you and me, to classify galaxies, study the Moon and many other fun things. The data collected is actally used, and people some times make new scientific discoveries. If you like Astronomy, Phyics, or just space in general you can get to it by the following link.
http://www.zooniverse.org/

By the way, The Username Narnian is taken. (By your truely.)

Hope you have fun!

wow sounds like you have really weird weather sandy, I'll bet it makes every day rather interesting, never knowing what to expect.

LOL, I agree with you Wildrose.
The weather here is soo weird and! crazy! Knowing that a sunny day is just sunny, with the sun up and shining bright, then suddenly it rains? whoa, that always happens here, usually afternoon. It feel cozy though whenever that happens, the weather is very weird and crazy but exciting.

Or, as they say here, "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes."

The heat has FINALLY broken! *great rejoicing* We celebrated the lack of humidity with a fire in our backyard pit this evening, along with a little stargazing. It's so nice to be able to actually enjoy a fire, rather than running away from the very thought of such a thing because it's so hot outside.

In fact, with a cool northwest breeze today it almost felt like October. Can't beat that!!

That's an interesting link, Boy Scout. Thanks for mentioning it!

After all this heat, it is finally cool. For the past three days it has been around 15 to 20 degrees C. It was been raining for the past two days .

every night, it's raining here. Plus thunders and lightning! Sigh, it's so cold during night time because of the rainy season. Hope the sun will come out and shine happily!

*basks in the cool, Autumn-ish weather of around 19C/66F* Ahhhhh ...

We've had such pleasant conditions this week, with lovely sleeping conditions and no humidity during either the night or day, and just the right amount of precipitation to keep everything fresh. That is to change on Sunday, however, as another heat/humidity system sweeps through our area. It should last into next week, but then the long-range forecast for Labour Day weekend is back down to today's lovely and refreshing temperature. Honestly, I'm not quite sure how I have lasted this summer. It's been our most extreme in years. Anyway, I can smell fall in the air today, and loving it!

I'm also curious as to how your husband and sons fared in their dark-sky viewing.

Amazing, they said. They lay out on the rocky point until 2 or 3 in the morning and saw dozens of meteors, as well as some spectacular fireballs.

Wow, that was quite the wet, windy weather your area received, 'gazer!

Mmmm, Shadowlander, the mental picture of viewing the Milky Way from the mountains is so very appealing!

wild rose, has the smoke pretty much dissipated? I do hope so. I'm glad you, De_De, and family are experiencing cooler weather. (Yeah, extreme heat/humidity makes me really weird also. )

Hey, Boy Scout, thanks for that link! An interesting and educational site!

sandyentersNarnia, I always feel cozy, too, when it rains ... or storms of any type, really. At the July Moot we were talking about how real weather fanatics don't want to run downstairs to the basement (where they can't see very much) when a severe storm hits: they would rather be looking out a main floor window or standing under a canopy, involved!

Hurrah for bonfires and clear night stargazing in celebration of vanquished humidity, stargazer. Sounds simply lovely.

*raises a milkshake toast to cool weather*

*This weather report comes to you from sunny Dyersville, in east central Iowa, where it's clear and 70F*

Last weekend was hot and humid again, but the past few days have been rather pleasant. Even had an ISS pass viewing the other night. But more heat and humidity are in the offing again for this upcoming weekend.

Mmmm, milkshakes! The Minnesota State Fair begins today, time to enjoy every kind of food on a stick (except for their milkshakes ). We're going this Saturday...

Iowa! Corn! Speaking of which, we have a goodly number of cornfields in Ontario, too, and I always love to watch the progress of them throughout the summer, and then to see a healthy harvest 'round about now. So sweet too. Mmm, peaches 'n cream is the best. The sight of a healthy cornfield or a blowing, rustling field of wheat is a joy to behold. Continue to have a great trip, stargazer, as well as fun at the fair on Saturday!

Your ISS mention reminds me: last night I saw probably the brightest ISS pass I've ever seen: a -3.7 magnitude and sailing in the clear sky from SW to SW, right overhead. Just beautiful! I'm looking forward to the cooler fall evenings when the sun sets earlier and earlier to enjoy the glories of the night sky more.

nice Johobbit haha. I really am scared of thunders, and right now rain is pouring and I am so scared when it rains, yes, I am really definitely scared.