Syzdekistan

The water year runs from July to June and so far, 2007-2008 is looking very dry. We haven’t seen rain since March 16 (0.07 inches) and April is a dry month. Some of the models show rain next week but the Weather Service forecasters and myself will believe it when we see it.
From the NWS:
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Do snow flurries count when you are sleeping? I like to say that just about every winter I see snow flurries here in the Las Vegas Valley. This year has been an exception. Not only am I working inside a lot more, this winter was a bit more mild than other winters. Most of the […]

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My estimate about the relative brightness of last week’s lunar eclipse was wrong (hey, it was behind a cloud!). It turns out that the brightness of the moon during eclipses is dependent on the path the moon takes through the earth’s shadow and the clarity of the earth’s atmosphere. In fact, there is a scale […]

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Although I was able to see the partial phases of the eclipse before and after totality, the total lunar eclipse was hidden by clouds here in Syzdekistan. The sky was partially cloudy but a large cloud obscured the moon during totality. I’m thinking this eclipse was very dark because I couldn’t see any hint of […]

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News reports state that tonight’s spy satellite shootdown may be delayed due to rough seas affecting the area where the US Navy cruiser Lake Erie. Here is a Pacific ocean wave height map from Weather Underground.

It’s good to see that the ballistic missile defense tests need perfect and contrived conditions for there to be success. […]

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Yesterday, February 13, 2008, Syzdekistan experienced some brutal winds associated with the passage of a cold front. The temperature dropped 17 degrees in about two hours and I estimate winds were gusting over 60 miles per hour. I could hear shingles banging as they popped off the roof. This is the third time we’ve lost […]

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Yesterday was my bone marrow donation. More properly it was a Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Donation (PBSC) which presumably was a bit easier on me than the other method which involves a big hollow needle, an operating room, and a few days with a sore back.
Wednesday I picked up Big Brother and we went to […]

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Good article about the Army lending the USDA Forest Service a World War II 105-mm howitzer to induce controlled avalanches in the Lee Canyon Ski area just outside Las Vegas. This resort had a tragic avalanche in 2005 that killed a teenager while he was riding one of the chairlifts.

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From the National Weather Service
.. 2007 climate review for Las Vegas…
Temperature
observed normal departure
High 81.9 79.9 2.0
low 60.2 56.3 3.9
mean 71.1 68.1 3.0
***this was the warmest year on record***
***low temperatures were the warmest on record***
Highest temperature of the year: 116 degrees on 07/05
lowest temperature of the year: 23 […]

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The weather in the week before and after Christmas in Las Vegas has been pretty chilly but it has finally warmed up in advance of a strong winter storm event coming in from the Pacific. While temperatures were nowhere near record lows, it was a bit below average with highs in the 40s and lows […]

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