Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Environment

Circumhelical Arc

Circumhelical Arc

I went out onto the courtyard this afternoon to try and photograph sunspotsbut had no luck since there was a thin overcast layer of cirrus clouds. Damsel noticed that there was an arc around the sun so I positioned myself underneath the big saguaro out front and took this image of the phenomenon.

The halo around the sun reminds me of some of the halos around the heads in medieval art works such as “Madonna y Bambino” and other halo-worthy holy figures that we saw in The Vatican, Rome and Florence, Italy a few years ago. Click on the image to enlarge.

11 Mar 2014 by Arizona Environment Photography Science

How We Know That Winter Is Over For Us

Turkey Buzzards

Since about a week ago, we have observed several turkey buzzards (vultures) circling above our area. These scavengers seem to migrate away from us during the colder months, but they are back in force.

Damsel took this photo of a gaggle of the buzzards overhead as we were driving down US 60 on our way to town for an appointment and to do some shopping at one of the “bigger” stores down in the west valley (Wal Mart). Click on the image to enlarge.

It seems to us that this many buzzards would indicate nothing but warm temperatures ahead. We’re still waiting for our favorite time of the year when the daytime temperatures go into triple digits. We think the buzzards like it too.

05 Mar 2014 by Arizona Critters Environment Photography

Winter Sky

Winter Sky

I was out this afternoon walking the dogs after a nice roast beef dinner that Damsel prepared, when I took this image of the hill just to the east of our road. We were having a nice day even though the sky and clouds looked threatening as though we could get more rain. The rain didn’t come, even though the clouds were dark and showing signs of virga in the distance. Temperatures were mild, in the low 60’s with only a little sunshine squeaking through a couple of times today.

The forecast for our area for the rest of the week is for partly cloudy, lots of sunshine and temperatures in the mid to high 70’s. We’ll take it! Click on the image to enlarge.

02 Mar 2014 by Arizona Environment Photography

Spring Garden Shop Flowers


We went to the discount department store yesterday to get a couple of things for the house. While we were there, I strolled over to their outdoor garden shop in the parking lot. They had lots of ready-to-plant flowers for spring gardens.

The little slideshow above shows some of the colorful flowers on display. Click to advance to the next (of four) photos.

28 Feb 2014 by Environment Flowers Photography

Farmers’ Almanac More Accurate Than NOAA

AlmanacA report published on Friday, 2/21, in Investors Business Daily points to the relative accuracy of the venerable old publication, Farmer’s Almanac, to have beaten NOAA climate models. Yes, beaten the government supercomputers barely able to forecast the past, by accurately predicting this winter’s bitter cold throughout most of the nation using traditional methods of looking at sunspots, tides, planetary and lunar positions in order to derive their long-range predictions.

Farmers’ Almanac More Reliable Than Warming Climate Models

Bad Science: It turns out that a 200-year-old publication for farmers beats climate-change scientists in predicting this year’s harsh winter as the lowly caterpillar beats supercomputers that can’t even predict the past.

Last fall, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC) predicted above-normal temperatures from November through January across much of the continental U.S. The Farmers’ Almanac, first published in 1818, predicted a bitterly cold, snowy winter.

The Maine-based Farmers’ Almanac’s still-secret methodology includes variables such as planetary positions, sunspots, lunar cycles and tidal action. It claims an 80% accuracy rate, surely better than those who obsess over fossil fuels and CO2.

The winter has stayed cold in 2014, and snowfall and snow cover are way above average. USA Today reported on Feb. 14 that there was snow on the ground in part of every state except Florida. That includes Hawaii.

Read the entire article here.

23 Feb 2014 by Environment Global Warming

Desert Dawn

Desert Dawn

Well, we don’t see this too often since we’re late risers, but this morning Damsel snapped a pre-sunrise photo of the eastern sky over the desert near Morristown, AZ. We were enroute to Phoenix for an early appointment.

These colors were very pretty, but as the sun came up and the road became eastbound, the glare was brutal. We’re glad we don’t have to make the early morning treks as often as we before retirement. Click on the image to enlarge.

10 Feb 2014 by Arizona Environment Photography

Imbolc – Halfway to Spring

Imbolc

Today marks the cross-quarter event of Imbolc, the halfway point between the winter solstice and the vernal equinox. Here in Arizona, we are having a mild winter thus far; today’s high was 59° with broken clouds and no precipitation hitting the ground, although we could see virga several times today as we were out and about.

The image above is a screen capture of the dynamic depiction of the grand octal earth orbital clock at Archaeoastronomy.com. I captured the image when planet Earth paused briefly at the Imbolc position in the orbit. Imbolc and the other cross-quarter names come from the Celtic to describe the seasonal mid-points in ancient times. Click on the image to enlarge (slightly).

03 Feb 2014 by Astronomy Environment

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