Moons and Folklore A Blue Moon is simply two full moons within the same month. Below are the Native American Folklore names of every full moon in every month. We mentioned the full Wolf moon last week.

January: The full Wolf Moon- Cold and heavy snow would bring hungry wolf
packs out of the mountains.

February: The full Snow Moon- Usually the big snow month when hunting was the
most difficult.

March: The full Worm Moon- It's the mud season. Warmer temps soften the ground
and outcome earthworms. The full moon closest to the Vernal Equinox.

April: The full Pink Moon- Lots of spring wild flowers, i.e. the pink ground
Phlox.

May: The full Flower Moon- Flowers in full bloom everywhere.

June: The full Strawberry Moon-Strawberry season.

July: The full Buck Moon- The time of year when new antlers of the buck deer
push out.

August: The full Sturgeon Moon- Best time for fishing for this large fish.

September: The full Harvest Moon- Farms and gardens are ready for the big
Harvest. The full moon closest to the Autumnal equinox.

October: The full Hunters Moon- Hunting season to prepare for winter, first full moon after the Harvest moon.

November: The full Beaver Moon- Time to set beaver traps before the swamps
freeze.

December: The full Cold Moon- Winter cold is here, nights are their longest
and darkest.  ¶ 6:03 PM 2 Comments Links to this post

  The Knickerbocker Storm of 1922 On this date in 1922 the “Knickerbocker” storm dumped 28" of snow collapsing the Knickerbocker theatre killing over 100 movie patrons. This remains Downtown’s greatest single storm snowfall with 28”and twenty four hour snowfall record with 25”. The storm began on the 27th and ended just after midnight on the 29th. The 1899 Valentine’s Day Blizzard is our second greatest snowfall with 20.5”. By the way the winter of 1898 – 1899 was historic. It was so cold for so long over such a large portion of the U.S. that ice flowed down the Mississippi River into the Gulf of Mexico. Temperatures were below zero as far south as Florida !


These pictures are courtesy of WeatherBook.com














  ¶ 4:30 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

  The Arctic Express The arctic air Sunday and Martin Luther King day will be the coldest air since February 5 through 8, 2007 when highs held in the twenties ! If you have had problems in the past when arctic air moves in there are some things you can do to keep your pipes from freezing. Pipes usually begin to have problems when the temperature remains below freezing for over seventy two hours. I think with this arctic outbreak we'll see temperatures below freezing for a bit over sixty hours. Even this can cause some problems in the home. Temperatures will climb above freezing on Tuesday. Here are some easy things you can do around house:

- Leave the water running, just a trickle is all you need
- Leave the cabinet doors open under your sinks, this allows ambient heat to get to the pipes
- Close your chimney flews
- Drain your hose bibs, then leave faucet on (You should have done this already.)
- Stop drafts (use towels or draft dodgers) (Add weather stripping around doors and windows.)
- Close curtains, but take advantage of sun
- Keep space heaters away from clothes and curtains
- Turn space heaters OFF when you go to bed
- Put a pan of water in family room and bedroom to increase the humidity
- Don’t forget the pets  ¶ 10:29 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

  How can it snow with temperatures above 32 ? As forecasters one of the first temperature profiles we check when forecasting in the winter is the upper level temperatures. In other words we need to determine what type of precipitation will fall before we worry about accumulation or flooding. A “normal” vertical structure of the atmosphere turns colder as you go higher. We are talking about the Troposphere, in which all weather occurs. Troposphere means turning, it is vertically mixed. If the temperature at 5000 feet is 28 degrees (F) and the temperature at 10,000 feet is 20 degrees and the temperatures at 18,000 feet is 10 degrees then if precipitation is dropped through that column of the atmosphere it would stay frozen and have to fall as snow. If the temperatures on the ground are above freezing then it might not stick or stick for long but it would still fall as snow. I have seen it snow in March with a surface temperature over 40 degrees. When we are experiencing sleet or freezing rain then you can bet that the atmosphere is not “normal”. When sleet falls there is a warm layer (above freezing) in the mid levels of the atmosphere. The precipitation starts as snow then melts as it falls through the warm layer then re-freezes as sleet and falls to the ground. Sleet falls as ice pellets that bounce off of your windshield and off of the ground. When freezing rain occurs that means the atmosphere is cold in the top and even mid levels but is above freezing in the lower levels but the surface temperature is below freezing. Freezing rain falls as liquid and freezes on contact with the ground, electrical wires and trees etc. Freezing rain is the stuff that no one can drive in at all. Weather balloons and reports from pilots provide temperatures of various layers of the atmosphere. Satellites are beginning to aid in that process as well. Next time it snows, you may not like it but you’ll know all is right with the atmosphere.  ¶ 11:36 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Handyman...Not ! I like to think of myself as fairly handy around the house. I paint, do some basic carpentry, cut the grass, replace glass and re-glaze windows etc but I sure felt inadequate today. Our furnace would not turn on last night. We were very lucky it was so warm but still it was a bit unnerving. I checked the circuit breaker and the furnace itself and found no apparent problem. I was stumped. We called the furnace guy and by that time we thought the problem was in the thermostat. Sure enough it was. It needed two new double A batteries. I thought the thermostat was hard wired into the electrical system. Silly me. If you have one of these programmable thermostats flip open the door to get to the programming menu then pull of that face plate. The furnace dude suggested replacing the batteries on a schedule. When we go back to Daylight Saving time we should replace the batteries in our smoke detectors and our programmable thermostats. Who knew ? Not me.  ¶ 10:19 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Writing Weather Forecasts We are often asked how we know what the weather will be tomorrow and the next day and so on. Kim, Howard, Tony and I are all meteorologists. We look at data from the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration) and from the National Weather Service. We will look at raw computer guidance, surface observations, satellite and radar images and arrive at a forecast. Every time you watch a weathercast on Channel 9 or visit our web site at wusa9.com you are getting a custom, hand written, so to speak forecast. We, as broadcasters are conduits of the National Weather Service. It is our job to pass along watches and warnings to the public to protect life and property but we deliver our own forecast. Truth be told writing the forecast every day is the best part of my (work) day.

Forecasting is very personal and when it’s your face on the air you want to be completely comfortable with and confident in your forecast. During weather events we will choose our words carefully. When we talk about two to four inches of snow north of Town we mean Rockville or Gaithersburg not Clinton or Waldorf. I remember some years back forecasting for two to four inches south and east of Town. An engineer came storming into my office asking me, well confronting me as to why it didn’t snow at his house. The engineer lived way past Leesburg, Virginia. I had to remind him that he lives north and west of Town. Maybe my next blog should deal with how important it is to know your local geography.  ¶ 7:03 PM 0 Comments Links to this post