Eyesonthesky.com- 4/25/13

The second video in this series explores how to understand the magnitude scale, starting with visible stars in the naked eye range, going up in brightness to understand the relative brightness of bright planets such as Venus and Jupiter and then the full Moon and Sun, and then heading back down the magnitude scale (but UP in numbers - all explained!) to dimmer objects.  In addition to visual magnitude, absolute magnitude, integrated magnitude and surface brightness are covered.

Link: Eyesonthesky.com

Wunderground.com - 4/25/13, Dr. Jeff Masters

Figure 2. The Arctic Oscillation (AO) is a pattern of varying pressure and winds over the Northern Hemisphere that can strongly influence mid-latitude weather patterns. When the AO is in its positive phase, jet stream winds are strong and the jet stream tends to blow mostly west to east, with low-amplitude waves (troughs and ridges.) Since the jet stream marks the boundary between cold Arctic air to the north and warm subtropical air to the south, cold air stays bottled up in the Arctic. When the AO is in its negative phase, the winds of the jet stream slow down, allowing the jet to take on more wavy pattern with high-amplitude troughs and ridges. High amplitude troughs typically set up over the Eastern U.S. and Western Europe during negative AO episodes, allowing cold air to spill southwards in those regions and create unusally cold weather.

Accuweather.com- 4/25/13, Joe Lundburg

In a follow up to Monday's post, I thought I would toss out a couple of other items of interest as it relates to the easing of the cold, stormy, snowy weather pattern we've been stuck with for a long, long time. Two main things jumped off the page to me this morning in terms of the big picture, and while they won't necessarily mean we flip a switch and go to summer, they do portend a much warmer pattern overall.

The first of these is the slow but very noticeable retreat of the jet stream. Look at how it appears across the country this morning:

The Extinction Protocol, 4/24/13

April 24, 2013 – AFGHANISTAN - A moderate earthquake hit Afghanistan Wednesday and its tremors were felt in Kabul, Islamabad and as far away as New Delhi. The U.S. Geological Survey said the 5.6-magnitude earthquake was 65 kilometers deep and struck 25 kilometers northwest of Jalalabad, the main town in eastern Afghanistan which is close to the Pakistani border. Pakistan’s meteorological office put the magnitude at 6.2. Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a provincial government spokesman, tells VOA that six people have died and 64 others were injured in the quake and that a large number of structures in Nangahar province have been damaged. Some buildings reportedly swayed in New Delhi, causing a mild panic. Last week a powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake killed 41 people in the Baluchistan region of Pakistan, and just a few days later a 6.6-magnitude earthquake killed about 600 people in southeastern China. –VOA NEWS

Weatherzone, By: Rob Sharpe, 04/25/2013

Anzac Day will be wet and windy in western Tasmania while the east will see patchy rain developing in the afternoon and evening. A cold front is arriving today bringing gale force winds and heavy showers to the western coast and ranges. Strahan has had a drier than usual April thus far with only 59% of its average rainfall of 117mm. Strahan will join most of the west coast and ranges in gaining 15-30mm today.

Northwesterly winds are increasing this morning up to gale force, before the cold front reaches the west in the middle of the day, bringing a strong westerly change. As the front moves across the state it will bring patchy rain into the east during the afternoon and evening, putting a dampener on the holiday.

For more on this story visit www.weatherzone.com