Category Archives: Weather & Sky

Seen This Week: Reds and Yellows

Peregrines, Plants & Fungi, Schenley Park, Trees, Weather & Sky
Fall leaves, Schenley Park, 12 Oct 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

15 October 2022

Fall colors were looking good in the City of Pittsburgh this week. A maple in Schenley Park turned shades of orange and red while the sunrise worked to match it.

Sunrise on 12 Oct 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

This acorn in Schenley Park is a squirrel’s dream come true, the largest acorn native to North America. Bur oaks (Quercus macrocarpa also spelled burr oak) were planted in several places in the park more than 100 years ago, most notably at the main trail entrance near Bartlett Playground. This species withstands harsh conditions and is one of the most drought resistant oaks.

Bur oak acorn, Schenley Park, 9 Oct 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

Goldenrods are blooming in the small meadow near Bartlett Playground.

Goldenrod in meadow, Schenley Park, 12 Oct 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

During my walk to Schenley Plaza on 11 October I saw a peregrine fly toward Heinz Chapel’s scaffolding and disappear among the dense rods.

Heinz Chapel scaffolding, 11 Oct 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

If he hadn’t moved I would not have found him. Ta dah! (See inside red circle.)

Peregrine falcon perched (circled) on Heinz Chapel scaffolding, 11 Oct 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

Amazingly he was easier to see through binoculars from Schenley Plaza tent. Too far for a photo.

(photos by Kate St. John)

By Jove It’s Thors Day

Weather & Sky
Jupiter & moon Europa from Hubble Space Telescope, 25 Aug 2020 (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

13 October 2022

Today is Thursday, Thor’s Day, or Jove’s Day. We’ll celebrate with some quick facts about Jupiter.

The Romans named the fifth day of the week dies Jovis (“Jove‘s Day”) after the planet Jupiter. In Germanic mythology, Jupiter is equated to Thor, whence the English name Thursday for the Roman dies Jovis.

— From Wikipedia: Jupiter

Jupiter was big in the news last month when on 27 September 2022 the planet was at its closest, brightest and best in 70 years. On that date the Earth flew between Jupiter and the Sun, putting Jupiter in opposition and in bright sunlight as it rose at sunset.

Three days later it rose after sunset so the sky was dark showing off Jupiter’s four largest moons, the ones first seen by Galileo in 1610.

Jupiter & Galilean moons, 30 September 2022 (photo by George E. Koronaios via Wikimedia Commons)

Modern day space probes and telescopes can see the Galilean moons in full color. The image caption on the photo below explains: From left to right in order of increasing distance from Jupiter, Io is closest, followed by Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

Jupiter’s Galilean moons as seen from NASA’s Galilean spacecraft (image from Wikimedia Commons)

Timelapse photography allows us to see the Galilean moons orbiting Jupiter as NASA’s Juno spacecraft approaches. These are only four of the 80 known satellites of Jupiter, most of which are less than 10km (6.2 miles) in diameter. 80 moons!

Jupiter and the motion of the four Galilean moons taken by JunoCam aboard the Juno spacecraft, June 2016 (animation from Wikimedia Commons)

Moons Io and Europa have sparked a lot of interest.

Jupiter doesn’t have rings like Saturn, but it ought to. Why not?

Because it’s bigger, Jupiter ought to have larger, more spectacular rings than Saturn has. But new UC Riverside research (21 July 2022) shows Jupiter’s massive moons prevent that vision from lighting up the night sky.

— Science Daily: Why Jupiter doesn’t have rings like Saturn

And finally, Thursday is a good day to feel jovial. According to Wikipedia, the older adjectival form jovial, employed by astrologers in the Middle Ages, has come to mean “happy” or “merry”, moods ascribed to Jupiter’s astrological influence.

Happy Thursday!

(images from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals)

Fiery Skies

Weather & Sky
Sunrise in Pittsburgh, 6 October 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

8 October 2022

Sunrise and sunset have been very colorful in Pittsburgh lately.

On 6 October the sky was clear with some thin clouds and airplane contrails. The rising sun lit the contrails a hot pink-red. Detail photo above, wide-angle below.

Sunrise in Pittsburgh, 6 October 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

On 30 September the sunset was fiery.

Sunset in Pittsburgh, 30 September 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

Every day is shorter as sunrise and sunset get closer to each other. By 18 October we will have an hour less of daylight than at the Equinox.

p.s. Unfortunately the sunrise on 6 October many have been colorful because the air was so bad. Everyone in the Mon Valley could smell it. Hydrogen sulfide exceeded the 1-hour limit at the Liberty-Clairton monitor, an exceedance which “can be attributed entirely to emissions from US Steel’s Clairton coking facility.” Read more at GASP-pgh.org

(photos by Kate St. John)

Hurricane Rain

Climate Change, Weather & Sky
Hurricane Ian spins northward (GOES East satellite Great Lakes sector, 30 Sept 2022, 3:40am to 5:30am from NOAA)

30 September 2022, 6am

UPDATE 30 SEPT, 6 PM. See UPDATED info at end

After wrecking a swath of Florida, Hurricane Ian popped out over the Atlantic Ocean, gained strength, and is bearing down on the Carolinas. Though Pittsburgh is quite far inland we will see the remnants of Hurricane Ian’s rain on Saturday.

These maps show total rainfall forecasts for the next three days as Hurricane Ian moves up the eastern U.S.

  • Quantitative Precipitation Forecast, Fri 30 Sep - Sat 1 Oct 2022 (map from NOAA)

Quantitative Precipitation Forecasts, Continental US, 30 Sept to 3 Oct 2022 (maps from NOAA)

Pittsburgh will receive less than an inch of precipitation because Ian is tracking south and east of here. Fortunately this is far different from our experience of Hurricane Agnes 50 years ago.

Hurricane Agnes, 50 Years
UPDATE 30 SEPT, 6 PM. I have corrected the captions on the slideshow based on an email from Dick Rhoton. Note that the slideshow maps show total rainfall potential, no matter what cause.

This map shows rainfall potential from Hurricane Ian alone — anything greater than an inch — as of 30 Sept 2022, 6am.

Hurricane Ian total rainfall potential, 30 Sep through 2 Oct 2022 (map from NOAA)

(maps and animation from NOAA; click on the captions to see the originals)

More Heat Ahead

Climate Change, Weather & Sky
Heat at sunset (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

20 September 2022

Now that summer’s heat is over we may be fooled into thinking climate change is no longer affecting us. Unfortunately, above normal temperatures are predicted for most of the U.S. for the next three months. Southeastern Alaska is the only place with any chance of being cooler than normal.

U.S. 3-month temperature outlook, Oct-Dec 2022 (map from NOAA climate.gov)

Heat and drought often go hand in hand.

The seasonal drought outlook through the end of 2022 indicates New England will finally see a break in their drought, perhaps hastened by rain from a downgraded hurricane. But there is no help for the American West where the drought persists and gains new ground (see yellow on the map).

U.S. 3-month drought outlook (map from NOAA)

The drought in California is particularly dire.

California drought (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

Why does this matter to the rest of us? Because the worst drought is in the Central Valley and that’s where more than half of the U.S. fruits, vegetables, and nuts are grown.

California Central Valley: topo map (Wikimedia) + Drought status map, 15 Sep 2022 (UNL drought monitor)

(photo credits in each caption; click on the captions to see the originals)

Cloud Like a Spaceship

Weather & Sky
Lenticular cloud over Aberdeen, Scotland (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

9 September 2022

It looks like a spaceship but it’s actually a cloud.

Here’s another one at Palm Desert, California.

Lenticular cloud over Palm Desert, California (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

And another one — quite ominous! — in the mountains in Patagonia. Do I see a mouth on this cloud?

Lenticular cloud darkens the sky over Patagonia (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

These are all lenticular clouds which form when the wind blows horizontally toward a fixed object that forces the air to rise and fall in a wave. If the fixed object is a mountain and the air is moist it forms a cloud on top of the mountain. The cloud stays right there, thumb-tacked to the sky, as shown in this time lapse from Mount Teide in the Canary Islands.

(photos from Wikimedia Commons; click on the captions to see the originals)

Sky Show

Weather & Sky
Sunrise in Pittsburgh, 19 August 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

27 August 2022

This week’s weather put on a sky show.

Clouds…

Cloud stacks, 22 August 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

Lightning and lots of it! Dave Dicello captured a split lightning bolt simultaneously hitting BNY Mellon and the east end of Duquesne University (more than 1/2 mile away) on Sunday morning 21 August. Click here for his latest sky/panorama photos or here for his website.

Anticrepuscular rays… are relatively rare and appear opposite the sun at sunrise or sunset. Caused by the backscattering of atmospheric light, the rays we saw on 23 August spanned the sky. I took a photo from my window but it pales in comparison to Dave DiCello’s (@DaveDiCello) from a different vantage point. His tweet and video are shared below my photo.

A cloud shadow across the sky, an anticrepuscular ray, 23 August 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

The Moon and Venus rise together… my unprofessional cellphone photo on 25 August. Through a window but you get the idea.

Moon and Venus before sunrise, 25 August 2022 (photo taken through a window by Kate St. John)

(photos by Kate St. John, shared tweets by Dave DiCello)

Seen This Week: Shadows and Clouds

Insects, Plants & Fungi, Schenley Park, Weather & Sky
Long shadows are back again, 12 August 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

20 August 2022

The days are getting shorter and shadows are getting longer. Pittsburgh had one and a half more hours of daylight on the summer solstice, just two months ago, than we do today.

Late summer flowers are attracting bees.

Allium flower with bee, 16 August 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

Ornamental grasses are going to seed.

Ornamental grass at Phipps (photo by Kate St. John)

And the clouds have been interesting.

Puffy clouds over Millers Ponds, Crawford County, 15 August 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

Can you see the face in the cloud below?

Glowing eyes in the face in the cloud, 17 August 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

Keep looking up.

(photos by Kate St. John)

Variably Cloudy

Weather & Sky
Sunrise on 31 July 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

5 August 2022

This week the clouds at sunrise varied from brooding horizontal stripes to dramatic ragged puffs.

Sunrise on 4 August 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

This tall stack presaged scattered thunderstorms though none had been predicted.

Cloud stack on 4 August 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

Twice this week isolated rain clouds created spectacular rainbows half an hour before sunset. This one on 4 August has a faint second rainbow above it.

Rainbow(s) on 4 August 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

On 1 August the pot of gold was in Shadyside.

Rainbow on 1 August 2022 (photo by Kate St. John)

(photos by Kate St. John)