HAPPY NEW YEAR

SKY WATCH FRIDAY time! Welcome all sky fans!!! I truly appreciate your visit and comments. I might not have time to respond to you, but I will try my best to visit!!!

Our hosts: Klaus Sandy Sylvia Wren Louise Fishing Guy

Thanks, also,to Dot and Tom, who were instrumental in the success of this blogging event. You should definitely come fly with us!HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Ahh, another year is about to pass us by. What a year it's been!! Blizzards and floods and fires, oh my. Many records were set this year regarding rainfall and flooding. Then, some records were set for early snowfall and cold temps. Tropically and tornadically, we were generally below the average, but I wouldn't try to tell that to the person who lost their child off the coast of Maine to Hurricane Bill, nor would I tell it to the little south Georgia community of Thomasville, who lost their homes to the tornado that ravaged their area in February. Here's how the year compares though.Granted, the average was slightly skewed by the overactive years of 2008 and 2004. As for hurricane season, it came and went without much fanfare (unless you look at the far east where typhoons tore apart much of the Philippines and surrounding areas), but the Atlantic Basin hurricane season was the least active one since 1997 (source). I've seen maps (such as 2005) where you couldn't even easily distinguish which track went where, but this year's map of activity is rather easy to make out. Incidentally, this is the one from the 2005 season, where we went well into the Greek alphabet with naming, which is a rare thing. We had named storms into JANUARY that year! That year actually set the record for the most named storms.

Many blessings for a safe and prosperous New Year!
~Dewdrop