Sky and Weather blog from Liverpool,N.S.

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Short Update

Been having more clouds than clear skies for the past month so not doing very much sky shooting with the modified A-610.
I did manage to capture one possible meteor the last time I had the camera set up a little over a week ago:

Better days are coming but will most likely be few and far between for the remainder of this year.

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A 'cold snap' is expected here tonight but will only stay for a day and then we warm up:

'4:29 AM AST Thursday 15 December 2016

Special weather statement in effect for:

Queens County

Very cold air and strong northwesterly winds overnight tonight and Friday morning will cause temperatures to drop to minus 15 to minus 20. Wind chill values Friday morning will be near minus 30 giving significant risk of frostbite.'

Cheers
-Al

Sunday, November 13, 2016

Closest Moon In 68 Years on Nov 14

From http://spaceweather.com :

Sunday, October 30, 2016

None

No blog entry this Sunday...maybe I'll get one up later this week.I was away overnight and have been working a lot.
Sorry to disappoint my 'fan club' :D

-Al C

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Ripped Off By #Narcity

What is Narcity? What right do they have to steal photos?

I was browsing Twitter last night and came across this article that was posted under the #northernlights hashtag : http://www.narcity.com/halifax/12-best-places-see-northern-lights-nova-scotia/

Interestingly,my photo was used for the Liverpool section.Not only was it used without my permission,it was also credited to 'pinterest'. I don't even use pinterest so how they got credit for MY photo is baffling to me.

Here is the original photo I shot with photo data below:

I don't mind my photos being used anywhere....it's only a hobby and I have thousands of them containing a wide range of subjects.....BUT credit to the photographer should be given.Those of us that do this type of photography spend our hard earned money on equipment and brave the cold,dark nights to capture these shots.A little recognition would be appreciated.

Having said that,when one of my photos was used some years back in the booklet 'Lost In Nova Scotia' I was required to sign release forms allowing the publisher permission to use my photo prior to it being included and published.

To me,publishing someone's photo without permission/credit is similar to what went on in this article from today's (Oct 26th,2016) Chronicle Herald:

I hope the Narcity Halifax people correct their faux pas.....

......and in the future,all of my photos will be watermarked before being posted online.

- Al C

Sunday, October 23, 2016

Back To Normal Weather / One Meteor

Things are returning to normal here.We've had a couple of rains and all have helped to recover from the drought.However,the 'big storm' that was forecast for yesterday was not as predicted.We did get some rain and wind but had no flooding here in the southwest part of NS.

Some more rain and normal temps are expected this week.

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Haven't had much time or clear skies over the past week to do any sky imaging but did manage to catch one possible meteor with the A-610:

Weather permitting,here are a few things to look for this week: http://earthsky.org/

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Not As Dry Now / Odd Object In The Sky

Finally!! We had some significant rainfall last Sunday and Monday.Actually,there was too much in the eastern part of NS with widespread flooding and damage. ( read ) .Here,we had just the right amount and the dry wells are recovering.Mine went from about a foot of water to over 4 ft in two days.
The rest of the week was mostly sunny and dry with generally above normal temps.
More rain is on the way this week and it's all welcome here.

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As those that read this regularly know,I operate a sky cam here that is snapping away on most clear nights basically looking for meteors or other 'strange' objects.Well,the camera found an oddity early Saturday morning.....not sure what this is...maybe the vapor trail from a satellite being repositioned? Anyways,the object was visible in the Northwest sky for a number of hours.If anyone else saw it,please comment below or send me an email.

Larger version of the same video is here .

Nothing like that appeared in last night's session of the same area of the sky but the camera did catch a small meteor late on Saturday evening:

The Northern Lights outburst that was expected was a bust here but the ISS was a nice sight in the bright moonlit sky.

ISS coming into view

ISS fading into the Earth's shadow

Some things to watch for this week,weather permitting can be found by visiting http://earthsky.org/

That's all for now.
Have a great week!
-Al

Sunday, October 9, 2016

Still Dry - Need Rain / Draconids

Weather:

The dry weather continues.

Everytime the forecast calls for rain we get nothing.Initially Hurricane Matthew was expected to make it's way here by now and deliver some but that didn't happen....it only made it as far north as the Carolinas ,has now been down graded to a depression and is drifting east and out to sea.

And while the southeastern US was getting the storm,yesterday was like a summer day here with temps into the +20°Cs with sun and it remained very warm and dry overnight.Currently the temp from the AGRG station across the street from here is +17°C / 63°F.....that is way above normal.

Some rain is actually expected here today from a small system moving up the coast but the meteorologists can't give specifics on it and issued the following statement:

'A trough of low pressure passing over the Maritimes today will intensify tonight as it draws upon tropical moisture from the south.

Significant rainfall is expected over most of Nova Scotia beginning tonight with rainfall amounts totalling near 30 to 40 mm before ending by Monday afternoon.

At this time there remains some uncertainty in the exact positioning and intensity of this system, and a slight shift in either could result in higher rainfall amounts, possibly exceeding the warning criteria of 50 mm.

Environment Canada meteorologists will continue to monitor the development of this system and will update forecasts and possibly issue rainfall warnings as further information becomes available.'

As for how low rainfall has been,see the circled area in this graphic from Saturday's local newspaper: