Remembering 9-11-2001 (9/11)

REMEMBERING SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 ... It has been 6 years since America was attacked by terrorists on that fateful day of September 11, 2001. A good friend of mine described over lunch his horror of seeing the collapse of the World Trade Center from New Jersey 6 years ago on that fateful day.



In rememberance, please visit the link below to remember those lost as we will NOT forget all lost on that terrible day...

http://www.sky-chaser.com/america.htm

Eric Nguyen Passes (9/9)

Eric Nguyen, a close storm chasing associate of mine, passed away on September 9, 2007. Eric was a fantastic storm chaser, forecaster, scientist, and meteorologist and will be missed by many. He is survived by two kids, his wife, and many relatives as he passed at only age 29.



Our love and sorrow goes out to all, especially friends and family, after such a sensless and unfair passing of such a great and enjoyable person. Please visit the link provided below to see more information, including a special scholarship foundation in his name...

www.ericnguyengathering.com

Skydive Monterey Bay (9/1)

Cool trip to California this past Labor Day weekend of 2007 included a trip to Skydive Monterey Bay near Marina, California. Two jumps from over 18,000 feet were done, the second one a really nice 10-Way RW attempt!



Be sure to check out the pictures in my SKYDIVE section on this site. You can go right to the link by clicking the link provided below ...

http://www.sky-chaser.com/skydive.htm

Hurricane Felix (9/4)

Landfalls of category-five hurricanes are rare, and this is the second one this year. Before hurricanes Dean and Felix, hurricane Andrew was the last category-five hurricane to make landfall in the Atlantic basin back in 1992. The storm came ashore, ironically, near a town called Punta Gorda along the northeastern Nicaraguan coast. As one can imagine, anything in the path of the eyewall of a storm like this would be obliberated, period.



Another Category-Five hurricane! The two pictures above show Hurricane "Felix" with 160-MPH sustained winds slamming ashore in Northeastern Nicaragua during the morning of September 4, 2007. This is just two weeks after another category-five storm (Dean) came ashore farther north.

Lunar Eclipse (8/28)

A lunar eclipse took place on August 28, 2007 and is much different than a solar eclipse. Solar eclipses are caused by the Moon's shadow crossing the Earth, and since the Moon is much smaller than the Earth, the event does not occur planet-wide. A lunar eclipse, on the other hand, can be seen from anywhere on Earth that has a view of the Moon at the time of the eclipse.

An oberver on the Moon during a total lunar eclipse would also see the entire sun blocked out by the Earth from pretty much the entire surface within view of the Earth. The Earth's atmosphere also adds the red tint to the edges of the shadow of a lunar eclipse due to the scattering / filtering of sunlight.



Above is two pictures taken during the pre-dawn morning of August 28, 2007 in South Florida of the full lunar eclipse. To the left, a commercial airliner, leaves a trail of lights as it crosses the camera's view during a time exposure. To the right, the partial light refracted by the earth's shadow paints the face of the moon a red color.

Hurricane Dean (8/21)

Hurricane "Dean" made its category-five landfall with 160 to 165 MPH sustained winds just north of Chetemal, Mexico during the early morning of August 21, 2007. Winds under the northern eyewall included gusts near (or even exceeding) 200-MPH and a minimum central pressure of 906 MB was measured by aircraft prior to landfall. This makes for a rare event having a category-five hurricane, the highest on the Saffir Simpson Scale, to come ashore in the Atlantic Basin. The last category-five hurricane to make any landfall in the Atlantic Basin was hurricane Andrew in 1992. As you can imagine, the devastation under the eyewall of this storm is catastrophic.



In the pictures above, a close visible satellite of hurricane Dean's eye is to the left, showing an incredible "stadium" or "cup" effect. The picture to the right is an enhanced-IR satellite image showing the landfall of Dean in Mexico's Yucatan Penninsula near Chatamal in southern portions of the state of Quantana-Roo during the night / morning of August 21. No chase plans were done on this storm due to the dangers involved, a night landfall, and the threat of being "stuck" for a long time abroad. Some hurricane chasers I know already were held-up in Jamaica after the hurricane brushed them as they chased the storm there during the prior weekend.