Can you stand another supermoon?! This month is our last for the year and shows up August 11 at 8:36pm! If the skies are clear, I’d expect a pretty fabulous moonrise in the east, opposite the setting sun. This one is called the Full Corn Moon although, as we are seeing, Texas corn is not doing so well as production is generally less than half of normal. So we can go with the other name: the Full Sturgeon moon--one of the ugliest fish I’ve ever seen but August is peak season for catching them in the Great Lakes.
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Sturgeon roe is used for caviar, despite the fish itself not looking very appetizing!
So back to that full moon. You’ll see the planet Saturn near it, especially August 14th when Saturn is in opposition to Earth. You can read more about that set up right here from Earthsky.org.
The downside to our big, bright beautiful full moon this month is that the rather famous Perseid meteor shower happens at the same time--August 11-13th---meaning it will be difficult, if not impossible, to see any meteors this year. Again, Earthsky has some tips for watching meteor showers in the moonlight--like trying to locate a moonshadow and optimizing the night sky. Still, we’ve seen some amazing fireballs in our skies the past couple of weeks and those are still possible to catch!
FYI, July turned out as our hottest July on record, having followed June which was also our hottest on record and May, which was our second hottest on record! You may have heard there are showers possible each day as we start another very hot month, so fingers crossed for more rain. The Climate Prediction Center has our part of the country in for 30 days of above normal heat and below normal rain although Southeast Texas does have a 50/50 shot for average rainfall.
A lot of folks have been hoping for a shot of tropical moisture which has been inhibited by the Saharan dust this year. The American model does now show a storm in the Gulf of Mexico in ten to twelve days from now which is too far down the road for much credibility. However, it is getting to be that time of year:
UPDATE: THE LATEST AMERICAN MODEL SHOWS NO SIGNS OF A TROPICAL SYSTEM! See what I go through?
And as for the Saharan dust, there is definitely more of it over the Atlantic:
So stay sky savvy and weather aware this month as anything can happen! We’ll continue to keep you up to date!
Frank