Full moon almost here

[richhorodner]

And it will be a blue moon on June 30th, no less:

http://www.bergoiata.org/fe/digital3/Digital%20Blasphemy%20-%20Full%20Moon.jpg

[Andrew Khan]

I am excited for this event. I have a question. What would an optimal shutter speed be to capture the blue hue of the moon?

[Tim Vasquez]

This definitely doesn't belong in the Tropical Discussion section, but I'll let it go this time since there's palm trees in the picture. Don't anyone get any ideas though. :)

Tim

[B Ozanne]

I am excited for this event. I have a question. What would an optimal shutter speed be to capture the blue hue of the moon?

If that was a joke, forgive me, its funny.

If its not a joke I'd like to add that a blue moon isn't actually blue, despite the colorful adjective-like name. A blue moon is just the second full moon in the same month. To make it more confusing I suppose its possible for the blue moon to take on a blue hue, but so can any other moon.

One last thing, why is this thread in the tropical forum and please tell me that image is a joke? Bright stars, full moon, palm trees, and the Aurora.

[Terrence Cook]

Never thought that I would see the title: "Full moon almost here" in the Trop. Discussion thread.

Regardless the moon has been getting quite bright lately, makes for awesome night scenery!

[Jeff Snyder]

One last thing, why is this thread in the tropical forum and please tell me that image is a joke? Bright stars, full moon, palm trees, and the Aurora.

I hope so! It looks like the moon is about 1/2 the distance that it is in reality... The moon in that pic looks way too big! Of course, by "pic", I think I mean "image". If it was a real image at some time, some severe photoshopping went into making it what it is now. :)

[Mike Hollingshead]

For what it is worth, one can do the whole big moon thing without photoshop, as I'm sure you already know anyway. The moon in this image doesn't even appear to be a real moon, but maybe it is.

Since this is an off topic thread to start, here's some more. http://www.danheller.com/moon.html He's got some cool large moon photographs done with film, that weren't photoshop'd.

[rdale]

The moon in this image doesn't even appear to be a real moon, but maybe it is.

Earth's moon doesn't even closely resemble the one in that picture, so I'd say that there is no chance it's a real picture.

[Andrew Khan]

Actually despite what people think, the moon can and does appear blue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_moon#Visibly_blue_moon

Mr. Ozanne I am glad you found humor in my post. Yet, that was not my initial intention.

[Mike Hollingshead]

Earth's moon doesn't even closely resemble the one in that picture, so I'd say that there is no chance it's a real picture.

Maybe this photo was taken around Uranus. Could it be a Uranian moon?

[Marko Korosec]

Of course that image in whole is not real, its made by 3D rendering softwares like Bryce or similar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryce_(software). Tested it long time ago, great tool if you like playing with landscapes and such things, maybe for layouts for website, etc.

But we have to admit, such view over the Moon from Earth would be awesome.

[rdale]

Apparently Mike is staring at Uranus, I'm a little uncomfortable with him posting that publicly -- not that there's anything wrong with that!

[rdale]

...and to clarify - it won't be a blue moon for most of the US. That happened in May, only the Pacific timezone and points west get it in June.

[Terry Tyler]

One last thing, why is this thread in the tropical forum and please tell me that image is a joke? Bright stars, full moon, palm trees, and the Aurora.

i agree with bill on this one...

dont get me wrong, i enjoy the picture...but i think this is more of a bar and grill post then a tropical discussion...there isnt anything tropical about it exept maybe the palm trees...

[Andrew Khan]

The picture was just meant to be inspirational, I believe. I hardly believe the person who originated this post, meant for people to believe that the actual event would resemble this image in any way, shape or form. The clarity of 3D rendering materials in this image are very evident, why are you picking every little thing apart?

[richhorodner]

Actually, the first post of this thread was a subtle forecast.

The forecast was a "bust" though, as no tropical storm formed during the 3 day full moon period. But, as the sign on the door of the Roanoke Weather Service office says, "We reserve the right to be wrong."

There is a positive correlation between the full moon and tropical cyclone development in the Atlantic basin. More storms have their genesis during the full moon phase than any other period of the lunar cycle. I first heard this from Gilbert Clark in the 1960s.

http://www.pr-inside.com/retired-us-forecaster-part-of-hurricane-r140719.htm

Gil was the most respected forecaster at the NHC for over 30 yrs. There were charts on his office walls of perigee/apogee of the moon and moon phases.

I was quite skeptical of this claim, until he showed me statistics from decades earlier, and, lo and behold, there was more Atlantic Basin hurricane formation during full moon (defined as day before, day of, and day after dead center full moon) than any other 3 day period of the lunar cycle: and quite a lot more formation at this time, not just a small percentage higher.

From that day on (over 40 yrs. now) I have observed this "theory" continue to be valid.

Of course there is not formation every full moon. There are some years when this holds 4 or 5 out of six full moons during a hurricane season, though. There are some years it does not apply; especially El-Nino years. Like any meteorological indicator or enhancer of some type of activity, the full moon is only one indicator, or more likely one enhancer as well as an indicator of formation in this case.

There are many other indicators and some enhancing factors that come into play in situations where a storm might or might not form. Any one of the enhancers, (like 85 degree ocean or slilghtly more difluent flow aloft downstream) might tip the scale on whether an existing active easterly wave begins to spin.

The cause, or causes, of the initial drop in pressure in a pre-existing disturbance (easterly wave, itcz disturbance, etc) that begins the tropical cyclone development and organization process is still a mystery.

When statistics of genesis are studied closer, it also appears that when the moon is in perigee at full moon, tropical cyclone development spikes even higher. Go figure.

The second most active period for genesis vs. moon phase is at the new moon. These statistics imply some sort of atmospheric tide taking place (similar to neap and spring ocean tides, I suppose) that is enhancing hurricane formation. The WHY is another discussion.

Statistically, though, full moon and tropical cyclone development "coincide" much more often than random formation suggests. Some seasons, formation occurs every time, except June or July often, as there is only one storm on the average from June 1-July 31 in an average hurricane season.

So happens, though, that Barry this year formed on the full moon phase, so I dropped the subtle "picture forecast" and hoped the second full moon would be productive, as well.

To those who have lived and died each hurricane birth and miscarriage for the past several decades, the original post was obviously "appropriate" for the tropical discussion area. Like most ocean fisherman when the bite is slow: "Just wait a bit, the high tide is coming, things will get better." They often do. Not always. The subtle forecast did not verify. Darn.

The Picture: Well, to those concerned on the validity of it's color, perspective, photo-shop qualities, planet from which it was shot, computer it was generated on.-----I have no idea, just did a google search for Blue Moon and besides the picture came up with these artists who sang or recorded "Blue Moon.": Billy Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Mel Torme, Dean Martin, Frankie Lane, Tonny Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Elvis Presley.

In the article on Gil Clark there is some interesting stuff, including how he came up with the name list for hurricanes to come.. Hurricane Gilbert (most intense on record before Wilma) was named after him by his colleagues; Roxanne was named after Gil's daughter. Most of the rest from a baby-naming book Gil picked up at the corner grocery.

http://www.pr-inside.com/retired-us-forecaster-part-of-hurricane-r140719.htm

[Andrew Khan]

The moon is beautiful and huge, with a large halo around it.

[Jose Garcia]

hahaha great post Richard!

I remember in 2005 it seemed like whenever it was full moon everything exploded at the same time. If my memory does'nt fail me I think that Wilma was during a full moon period. Also Rita when I chased it in the Keys but I'm just too lazy to check right now...

Jose

[Tarmo Tanilsoo]

Good post, Richard. Estonia did have a storm earlier this week... and it was during Full moon... But be careful where you post - people who have been correlating Full Moons with tropical cyclones have become very hated people elsewhere in other forums.

[Jim Leonard]

The full or new moon does I believe have some effect on large scale weather patterns mostly during whenever the perigee occurs on or within a day or two of either full or new phase. This year one can see a flareup in the overall convection in the monsoon regions in the deep tropics during the last couple of days of each month since late May. This doesn't happen so much during El-Nino years in the atlantic basin as other perameters are so unfavorable for the monsoon and tropical cyclone formation is more sporatic with no 30 day cycle.