Snow and Rain: SNOW DAY # 2. We got 2” of snow followed by freezing rain and rain.UGH! Check out the weather map. All that rain is moving northward leaving us with a depressingly wet day with no way to play outdoors…Oh well, I have several days worth of papers to grade, so I’d better get working! I guess we’ll go to the beach again this weekend as the woods and pond are too rough to traverse again…I have never spent so much of a winter inside as I have this year.
Red-bellied Woodpecker: The belly of the male woodpecker is getting a long red streak on it…must be nearing mating season! Hopefully, I’ll get a photo later.
Birds: We have had lots of goldfinches, several mourning doves, a few bluejays, and chickadees frequenting the seed feeder all day long. Drew had to refill it midday as the poor soggy birds needed lots of food to keep from freezing to death. I also saw a grackle on the suet feeder along with the hairy, downy, and red-bellied woodpeckers.
Aughhh…more rain on the way: And, wintry mix, and ice, and a bit of snow…UGH…
Photographing Auroras: Check out Patrick Endres’ Alaska Photography blog:
• Put your camera on a tripod.
• A high ISO is best, between 400 and 1600.
• The length of your exposure will depend on how large of an f/stop your camera lens has, try 5-30 seconds. Set your f/stop to its largest opening.
• Use a wide angle lens, manual focus, self timer release.
• TAKE OFF YOUR LENS FILTER, otherwise you will get some strange concentric circles on the image which your really cannot remove in post processing.
• Switch your camera to single point focus, preferably the center one.
• Manually turn your camera lens to the infinity focus mark. Find the brightest object in the sky and center your camera on it by looking through the view finder. Turn on LIVE VIEW and maximum zoom in on the object.
• Adjust the focus ring until you are satisfied the object is sharp.
• TURN OFF LIVE VIEW and shoot.
• Shoot in RAW format
• Have 2 batteries and 2 flash cards
• Cleaning cloth for condensation. Using a lens hood might help.
Aurora Alert: Well, we might have auroras tonight, and the sky should become mostly clear by 7pm! Go outside and check the northern sky periodically!
Message from Spaceweather.com: As predicted by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, a CME hit Earth’s magnetic field on Jan. 24 at ~1500 UT (10 am EST). A geomagnetic storm is brewing in the aftermath of the impact, but as this alert is being written it is too soon to say how weak or strong the storm might be. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras after local nightfall; the hours around local midnight are often best for seeing the Northern Lights. Chances for a good display favor observers in northern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, Canada, Alaska, and possibly northern tier US states such as Maine, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Check http://spaceweather.com for updates.
Walking on the pond: On Sunday, we had to abort our walk on the pond as the conditions were wretched. There was 9 inches of snow covering a thin crust, covering slush, covering ice. Each step was potentially jarring and my arthritic knee was none too happy when I took a major misstep. I had to go home and treadmill instead…but, at least I got outdoors and enjoyed the sunshine in lovely 21F temps. with calm skies.
The Rain in Maine falls mainly on the Haines: UGH…Rain overnight with temps. up to 39F. Fog will form overnight and the snow will be a mess…puddles, puddles everywhere.
Snow: We got 9” inches of snow overnight. Off to school we go! Luckily, this was an all snow event. The temps. are suppose to rise up to 40F by next Monday and Tuesday, at which time we are due for more rain. Why, oh why can’t we get to enjoy snow for more than a day at a time?
Snow: We got 3.25 inches of snow this morning. At 5pm, we are supposed to get freezing rain which will turn to rain overnight. It should be a slippery ride in to work tomorrow morning.
