JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — First Alert Neighborhood Weather Network. Scan below &/or click * here *:
The 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is over. As expected, an above average season with Helene & Milton taking center stage as far as the Lower 48 is concerned. Beryl ravaged parts of the Lesser Antilles early in the season. A full recap in “Talking the Tropics With Mike” * here *.
A video recap of the season by the First Alert Weather Team:
November is in the books & was unseasonably warm. The first part of Dec. is trying to average things out with well below avg. temps. & a series of early morning frosts/freezes. Mother Nature loves to try to balance things out.
December averages for JIA:
December night skies (from SkyandTelescope):
Dec. 4 (dusk): The waxing crescent Moon is 2½° to the lower left of Venus. The view becomes more dramatic as twilight deepens.
Dec. 7 (evening): The Moon, one day shy of first quarter, is 4° lower right of Saturn in the southwest.
Dec. 7 (all night): Jupiter arrives at opposition (opposite the Sun in the sky) rising at sunset and setting at dawn.
Dec. 13 (evening): The waxing gibbous Moon gleams 5° left of the Pleiades star cluster in Taurus. Jupiter shines to their lower left.
Dec. 13–14 (all night): The Geminid meteor shower is expected to peak. However, the almost-full Moon will severely hamper viewing.
Dec. 16 (evening): The Moon, one day past full, sits about 5° to the right of Castor and Pollux, Gemini’s bright lights, and forms a neat triangle with them.
Dec. 17 (night): The waning gibbous Moon is perched 1½° above ruddy Mars. Seen from northern Alaska and northernmost Canada, the Moon will occult the planet.
Dec. 19 (evening): The waning gibbous Moon is about 2° upper left of the star Regulus.
Dec. 21: Astronomical winter begins at the solstice at 4:21 a.m. EST (1:21 a.m. PST).
Dec. 24 (dawn): The waning crescent Moon is 3° right of Spica, Virgo’s alpha star.
Dec. 28 (dawn): In the southeast, a thin lunar crescent will be just ½° right of Antares, the Scorpion’s heart, while tiny Mercury shines a bit farther left of the pair.
Moon Phases
New Moon December 1 1:21 a.m. EST
First Quarter December 9 10:27 a.m. EST
Full Moon December 15 4:02 a.m. EST (Cold Moon; also Full Long Nights Moon)
Last Quarter December 22 5:18 p.m. EST
New Moon December 30 5:27 a.m. EDT
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