Monday, January 20, 2020 ...

Colder Weather Upon Us
A cold front passed through the region yesterday and now that 'continental polar' air mass is upon us. It will be clear but temperature will only be in the 40s along with blustery NW winds making it feel a good 10 degrees colder. Tonight and tomorrow night lows will drop to the upper 20s west of the Intracoastal Waterway to the lower 30s on the islands. See the FORECAST TEMPERATURES. However, the winds will continue through the night generating wind chill values around 20. This will quickly draw heat from the ground and any exposed and non-insulated pipes with a potential of them freezing. With that in mind, additional protection will be needed to prevent ice within the pipes. Perhaps this is a rude awakening to many, but this cold air is needed for many environmental conditions particularly in pest control and vegetative hibernation sequences. It is January after all and it's suppose to be cold!

Not Cold For Long
The beginning and middle portion of the week will be cold but by the end of the week into the weekend, temperatures will rebound back into the 60s and perhaps even flirt with 70 in our southern counties. Our next rain chance will be Friday night through Saturday morning.

Weather Discussion:
A complete & comprehensive meteorological discussion is available from the National Weather Service, Charleston and from the NWS, Jacksonville, FL

Heavenly Backyard Astronomy

A Rose in the Heavens ...
Friday evening was the first clear one in 10 nights, for a bit, but I was only able to capture 27 minutes worth of data before more clouds moved back in. I would like to have at least 2 hours of exposure on a target like this one. However, it was long enough to capture this beautiful rose in the heavenly sky.

The Rosette Nebula, also known as Caldwell 49, is a lovely nebula about 5,000 light-years away. The brilliant colors are produced from the radiation from the young stars illuminating a surrounding dust cloud. There are numerous new-born stars inside the optical nebula. In the sky, it is located on the upper left side (East) of the famous constellation of Orion the Hunter in the constellation of Monoceros (Unicorn).
Click on picture for a larger view

For more of my astro pics, please visit my astronomy blog at HeavenlyBackyardAstro.com. Click on the image for a larger view.

So, what elese is up in the Nighttime Sky Now? Click Here to Gander at the Autumn Nights Sky

- Patrick Prokop (patprokop49@gmail.com) -

Pat's 6 Week Weather Outlook

Radar Views

Doppler Radar Level 3 Data from KLX, Grays, SC ... NWS Charleston

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Doppler Radar Level 3 Data NOAA Radar From KJAX, NWS, Jacksonville, FL

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