Thursday, March 10, 2011

Your evening forecast, and a "Super Moon" is coming on March 19th. What is it?

Good afternoon. Here we are nearing mid-March and seeing snow flakes! These will continue throughout this evening, but will not cause any problems. Temperatures will stay in the mid 30s through the evening. Clouds will clear later tonight and will lead to sunshine and temps nearing 50 tomorrow. If clouds are slower to clear, which is possible, it may not get that warm.
                       What is a supermoon and what extremes could it cause?
 Here is the story from accuweather.com: Coming up later this month (March 19 to be exact) the moon will make its closest approach to Earth (called lunar perigee) in 18 years. A new or full moon at 90% or greater of its closest perigee to Earth has been named a "SuperMoon" by astrologer Richard Nolle. This term has been recently picked up by astronomers. An extreme "SuperMoon" is when the moon is full or new as well as at its 100% greater mean perigee (closest) distance to earth. By this definition, last month's full moon, this month's and next month's will all be extreme "SuperMoons".
Please visit Richard's website by clicking here.
I have read several "new age" forecasts that go something like this: "Extreme SuperMoon this month (March 2011) will bring strong earthquakes and storms and/or unusual climate patterns." Google the term 'extreme SuperMoon March 2011' and see for yourself what comes up. The validity of these types of forecasts can be debated ad nauseum.
There were SuperMoons in 1955, 1974, 1992 and 2005. These years had their share of extreme weather and other natural events. Is the Super Moon and these natural occurences a coincidence? Some would say yes; some would say no. I'm not here to pick sides and say I'm a believer or non-believer in subjects like this, but as a scientist I know enough to ask questions and try to find answers. To read more, go to accuweather.com. The last supermoon was in 2005, around the time that the 9.0 magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia! Just a warning that there could be something extreme, meaning volcanoes, earthquakes, and possible extreme weather. This would likely happen around the timeframe of 3 days before the 19th to 3 days after that date. I am not sold that this stuff would happen, but it is a possibility. Have a great evening, and thanks for reading!

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