Bugs and Meteors

The following is an e-mail from a viewer with my response:

Hello,

My name is Martha and about 5:40 p.m. today, December 21, I went outside and something caught my eye in the sky. I quickly looked up and there was a small ball of fire in the northern sky which raced across for about 2 seconds and then disintegrated. I have seen shooting stars and this was nothing like it. It was actually on fire. I live in Ophelia, about 6 miles from Reedville, where the Potomac and the Chesapeake Bay meet. Could you tell me, if you know, what that could have possibly been? Thank you.

Martha A.
Ophelia, Va

Hi Martha! What you saw is most likely what is called an “earthgrazer”. It’s basically a meteor that just skims the earth’s atmosphere and causes a long, brilliant trail across the sky. Sometimes the smoke trail will last a few seconds after the meteor has passed. The earthgrazer meteors (shooting stars) occur early in the evening when our direction as we travel through space is sideways.

Think of it this way: A meteor is caused by intense frictional heating of the atmosphere as debris enters at a high rate of speed and burns up. The earth is flying through space, and our atmosphere is encountering debris all the time. Pretend for a moment that the earth is a car and the sky overhead is a windshield. When the sun sets, we are looking out the side window of the car, with the front windshield to the east. As the night wears on, the earth rotates in such a way that the front windshield is overhead around dawn. Now pretend the debris that enters the atmosphere are bugs hitting the imaginary windshield. If we are looking out the side window at sunset, as you were when you saw the earthgrazer, the bug would have just barely skimmed the glass and made a long streak down the window. If you had seen the same bug strike the windshield around sunrise the next morning, the streak would have been brighter but much shorter, as you would have been looking out the front window of our imaginary car. Hope this analogy helps, and I’m glad you got to see an earthgrazer!





Zach

Weekend Weather Wrap-up

Three storm systems tracking along the northern border of the U.S. caused everything from damaging winds, to snow, and heavy rain this weekend. The first storm to mention is the same system that brought gusty winds to Virginia Sunday and scattered light rain showers continuing into Monday morning. But farther to our north, this system disrupted flights in the Northeast with gusty winds up to 74 mph. Before the front moved through Virginia, near-record highs occurred in many locations. Richmond's Sunday high was 74 degrees, just three degrees short of the record high for December 28 of 77 in 1984.

The next system on the map moved through Wyoming and Montana, with gusts up to 71 mph at Bordeaux, WY, 61 mph at Arlington, WY, and 60 mph at Miles City, MT. This small system is moving through the Dakotas Monday morning, bringing a light snowfall of a few inches.

The last storm system in the country right now is moving into the Pacific Northwest, and it has produced impressive rainfall totals so far. Here are some of the totals late Saturday into Sunday:
3.5” rain in 6 hours at Obrien, OR
3.2” rain in 9 hours at Powers, OR
2.9” rain in 12 hours at Brookings, OR
3.3” rain in 23 hours at Myrtle Point, OR
2.3” rain in 24 hours at Scottsburg, OR

This storm system will approach the East coast by New Year’s Eve, and will bring us cooler weather in time for New Year’s Day. At most, this system may squeeze out some flurries in the Virginia mountains west.

The next storm system to bring us a chance of rain will follow quickly on the heels of the previous one, bringing us a decent chance for rain and possibly a wintry mix on Friday.
--Carrie

Patchy fog Sunday morning

(Updated Sunday afternoon)
A Dense Fog Advisory was in effect for parts of south-central and southeast Virginia Sunday morning until 8 a.m. Air temperatures and dew point temperatures were very close to each other this morning, which put relative humidity values in the 90% range. Patchy fog also occurred in the Richmond area. Winds increased in speed by mid-morning, though, which helped to mix the air near the surface and disperse the fog. Drizzle and light rain showers will continue to be possible today, but chances in Richmond are low through the afternoon.

High temperatures today will climb to the upper 60’s and low 70’s in Central Virginia before the cold front passes tonight. Average highs for late December are in the mid to upper 40’s. The record high for December 28 in Richmond is 77 from 1984, so today’s high will be on the upper end of our range of recorded temperatures in late December.

This unseasonably warm weather will end with the frontal passage, putting our temperatures back closer to average levels into New Year’s Eve.
--Carrie