Here
is the story. This past week we had a Northern Lights show that only
happens once in a generation. It was incredible. I learned a few
things. On my hit counter I saw 70,000 hits in less than 24
hours.It was about then that my web
host pulled the plug on my site.No
warning.They just replaced my site with
a rude message and no explanation.They
also took away my email.So, for those
who emailed me I had no way to get back to you.It was then that I found out they no longer have tech support on
weekends.As you can imagine, My
frustration level was off the charts.Getting
shut down in the middle of one of the biggest Aurora shows in decades was infuriating.The next morning through a chat I signed up
for a VPS plan.This more than tripled
my hosting fees.It was the only
solution.It took two days to get my
site set up on the new server.
I
gave them my backup gmail email address and they started to communicate through
that.They informed me that I had over
339,000 hits in 17 hours and an automated system shut me down.They also permanently banned me from using a
shared server.I found out that there are several webcam apps
that are using my images.They auto-refresh
and each time they do, it is a hit.
The
response from the community has been overwhelming.A very kind community member put up a GoFundMe
page to help with these additional expenses.I have also received some very generous donations via PayPal along with
some very kind messages.This really
means a lot to me.
Now,
full disclosure,,,,I have never made a
dime from this site,All of the fundsfrom advertising, donations and consulting fees
go directly into my reserve fund. I
report this revenue and pay taxes on it through my business license. My goal has always been to have the site fund
itself.I funded it out of pocket for
many years in the beginning.These new
hosting fees would deplete my reserve fund and I would be back to funding it
out of pocket.So, this new infusion of
cash is going to make my reserve fund look much better.
It
has been my pleasure to provide this service for the past 18 years.I am looking forward to continuing this incredibly
fun hobby for many years to come.
Thursday, February 29, 2024
Somewhat rare March snow events are in the forecast. Cliff Mass does a great job of sharing some details.
Editors Note: I have no control over the ads that show on this page....
This year is the 20th anniversary of a horrific
storm that clobbered Northern Puget Sound.It did serious damage to the Mukilteo Ivars and sank a 60 foot purse
seiner off Foulweather Bluff.The Martle
is still at the bottom of Skunk Bay as far as we know.
This storm came up very fast.I was on the Edmonds/Kingston ferry coming
home from work.The wind just exploded
out of the north and gave us all a good ride on our way to Kingston.On my drive home to Hansville, the road was littered
with debris.I had a few “religious”
moments as the trees were dropping all around me.The power was out when I got home.I went in the house to check on things and saw two large fishing boats
out front crashing their way through the nasty seas.I noticed one of the boats seemed to be
riding reasonably well and the other was getting slammed.I watched it bow under to the pilot house and
then three quarters of the hull went airborne when it came out of the
trough.I watched it for a minute or two
and then went to the back of the house and got the generator going.By the time I got back inside I checked on
the two vessels.I could only see
one.I grabbed my binoculars and found
the second boat….It was turtled (capsized
upside down) off Foulweather Bluff.I
called the Coast Guard and was on the phone with them for about 30 minutes giving them updates.
There was no local media news coverage at all about this event.The main coverage was about the damage to Ivars.I was very disappointed that this wasn’t
covered.I finally found this article
that came out 3 years later.The rescue
of the crew of the Martle was a very heroic act of seamanship.They risked their lives to save that crew.
Here is a link to the story from the Seattle Weekly that
gives the details.It’s a very good read….
Every morning when I first get up, I let the dog out, make a latte and sit
down at my computer. On a typical night
there are 4 computers and 4 cameras running all night. This time of year there is about 12 hours of
darkness. All of the cameras capture an
image about every 30 seconds. Quick math… That is 1,440 images per cam per night. That translates to 5,760 images for all cams
combined every night. It would take forever to look
at each individual image. That’s where
time lapse comes in handy. I make a slow time
lapse from each cam at 10 frames per second. This allows me to see each image rapidly. I can then back up easily to find anything
interesting because there is a date/time stamp on each image. I have to watch carefully for meteors and
fireballs as they only appear for 1/10th of a second. Conversely, events like Northern Lights, Noctilucent
Clouds, Light Pillars, Comets, etc. are actually easier to see when moving in a time
lapse.
Virtually every night there is something interesting to
see.I have to make a judgement opinion
of what is “post worthy”.Right now I
actively post on Twitter (X), Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.Occasionally I post here on this “blog” for
those who don’t have social media.
I thought I would put together a review of the last couple
of nights of captures to share what I see.First, an aircraft flying over can make an interesting pic.A lot of the high flying planes are mistakenly identified as
meteors.After years of doing this I can
easily tell the difference.Here is an
interesting one from last night.(Not
Post Worthy).
This morning we had a small meteor that I didn’t post.
Yesterday we had a fireball that I did post. The difference between a fireball and meteor
is very subjective. They are rated by magnitude. The smaller the number the brighter they
are. Typically the minimum magnitude for
a fireball is -4 which is approximately the brightness of Venus. Here is a fireball from the night before
last.
I reported this fireball to the American Meteor
Society.https://www.amsmeteors.org/They collect all these reports and provide
very interesting information.For
example, there were 5 reports of this fireball and they were able to triangulate
the path.It was visible from Nanaimo to
Seattle.Here is their graphic.
We also had a good example of light pillars last night.These are ice crystals that are refracting
light from a source on the ground.These
are NOT Northern Lights.Here is the
example from last night:
All of this happened in the last couple of nights.
We see Northern Lights frequently on my cams.Here is a good show from February 27, 2023
Noctilucent Clouds are visible around the Summer Solstice,
June through July. Here is a nice one from 2020.
Lightning storms are always best at night because of the
slow shutter speed.The more the shutter
is open, the better chance of capturing a strike.I have only captured one strike in
daylight.Here is a nice storm from 2019.
Of course there are always the mysteries that are a lot of
fun.This one was good.It was solved…. Or was it….Queue the Twilight Zone theme song….
I have only touched on a few of the bigger night topics.I have left out a lot of events like Comets, Moonrises, Night Virga, MoonBows, house fires on Whidbey, etc. A lot of interesting stuff happens at night and thankfully my cams run unattended. I do my best work when I'm sound asleep.... 😁
This morning we had a decent Northern Lights show through the clouds.
This is a time lapse of this mornings show.
This could just be the beginning of several shows. According to Dr. Tamitha Skov there is a lot of solar activity going on right now and most of it is coming our way for several days. Here is a forecast from her that was posted late November 4th.
This morning's sunrise gave us a glimpse of what we have coming. The intersection of altocumulus clouds and smoke on the horizon made for some interesting textures and colors.