Perfect Lunar Eclipse Viewing in South Georgia

Well, as it turned out, the skies of south central Georgia were PERFECT for viewing last night's total lunar eclipse. I, of course, in true Dew fashion, captured it photographically. I had my tripod set up in the back yard and around dinner, homework and American Idol (who scheduled a Lunar Eclipse to occur at the same time as American Idol?! lol). I even got a text message from Rick at one point asking if I was shooting it... Was I shooting the lunar eclipse...? lol Did he really have to ask?




Then, as the Earth's shadow began to cast that reddish glow on the moon, I changed my settings to capture that. All the while, during this event, I would encourage Mini-Dew to come out and see the various stages. She was amazed at the near total eclipse after having seen the full moon not 2 hours prior. I'm glad to have been able to share the experience with her. I could hear several of my neighbors reacting to what they were seeing as well.Click on the icon for a link to Jeff Gammons's site, where he has a time lapse video of the lunar eclipse last night. I love his time lapse work! CNN has an article with pictures that people have submitted.

I actually have a funny story about shooting the moon last night. It was a nearly full moon, but the sky was so clear with only a few drifting cirrus clouds accentuating its brilliance, while it was still low in the eastern sky that it lit everything up nicely. I was on my way to Mini-Dew's practice, and I saw that the moon was beautiful and barely resting above a barn on the way down the road... completely photographable, so (yep, you guessed it) I pulled off the side of the road to shoot it. Given time constraints, I didn't have the time to set up the tripod to get a more steady shot, but I did the best I could. You get the picture. Anyways, while I was there shooting this beautiful landscape shot, a sheriff's deputy pulls up, lights on and everything, right smack dab in the middle of my shot (grrr)... and he looks over at me, camera in hand... and asks, "Is everything all right, ma'am? Are you OK?" My humble, almost embarrassed, response... "Yes, sir. I was just taking pictures of the... moon. (cracking up on the inside at this point) I'll be on my way shortly." I followed his eyes as he checked to make sure that my vehicle was safely off the road, and he said, "Oh no, ma'am. Take your time. You are fine." I guess in retrospect, I should have gotten the tripod out at that point. It really was picturesque.

Now... let's explore the weather, shall we? I woke up this morning, to see that there was a (still ongoing) tornado watch in southern Louisiana. It looks like a bulk of the strong convection has moved out of the watch area, and some has actually moved further east than the slight risk area defined by the Storm Prediction Center, looks like it's a fast moving low with more storm activity than they might have foreseen. I expect that the updated outlook will move that slight risk well east shortly. Currently, the MCS appears to be moving east on I-10, so westward travel on I-10 could be a tough ride today... happens to be the direction bf is headed today. Storm chasing without me?! So not cool! It's OK though, Thursdays aren't my chase days. Tomorrow though... it looks like I am still solidly in place for a slight chance of a severe weather outbreak. The text isn't strong, the tornadic threat is conditional... heck, even the severe threat is limited by the potential cloud cover, but it could happen. Rick and I are exploring the possibility of a chase. Looks like Meso Mike will be ditching us for w**k... I guess it comes down to timing. I will keep an eye on things and see what happens. Here's what the SPC is saying...

WIND PROFILES IN WARM SECTOR WILL BECOME LARGELY UNIDIRECTIONAL. STORMS MAY EVOLVE INTO SUPERCELLS AND BOWING SEGMENTS WITH DAMAGING WIND EXPECTED THE MAIN THREAT...THOUGH HAIL MAY ALSO BE POSSIBLE DEPENDING ON MID LEVEL LAPSE RATES AND DEGREE OF DESTABILIZATION. ANY TORNADO THREAT APPEARS CONDITIONAL UPON HOW QUICKLY THE LOW LEVEL JET VEERS AND SHIFTS EWD AWAY FROM THE DESTABILIZING WARM SECTOR.

Let's see what the Dewvoid does to this one. Stay tuned.

Oh, I almost forgot, I wrote about my friend's daughter who lives in Prattville, AL, and I received a aerial shot of the tornado damage in her neighborhood from the February 17th EF-3 tornado that caused a tremendous amount of damage in that city. According to Celina's mom:

Here is a shot of Celina's neighborhood after the tornado went through on Sunday afternoon. Celina and family rode out the storm in the bathroom with blankets and pillows over them. Give thanks to God that they are safe and healthy.

Update 2:45PM: This tornado watch #70 was just issued for much of Southern Louisiana. Looks like bf will be going chasing without me, whether he wants to or not... he is headed just east of this watch box; in fact, he's on his way now, driving through torrential rains along I-10 in the panhandle... just rainy, drizzly day here, though I just heard some thunder.

God bless,
~Dewdrop