Buresh Blog: Pollen has peaked... hurricane season forecast... April night skies... eclipse time!

Mike Buresh
·3 min read
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Jacksonville/NE Fl./SE Ga. - the late winter/early spring pollen has peaked! Great news as the numbers for pine & cedar pollen are very low & oak pollen will now steadily decrease.

Dr. Phil Klotzbach, Colorado State University & a renowned hurricane researcher & forecaster has issued his first seasonal forecast for the ‘24 hurricane season. It’s the highest preseason forecast in the history of CSU (began by the late Dr. Bill Gray). Klotzbach sites the already unseasonable warm ocean temps... the potential for a developing La Nina (cooling of the equatorial Pacific which sometimes correlates with more active Atlantic hurricane seasons)... & long range forecast models indicating an active pattern throughout the tropical Atlantic.

Rainfall continues to be above average since a wet November. Some neighborhoods nearly had their April average rainfall in a single day April 3rd. That’s critical moisture as we approach the peak of our wildfire season.

The April night skies (Sky & Telescope):

April 6 (dawn): Look very low in the east-southeast for the waning crescent Moon, Mars, and Saturn.

April 8: A total solar eclipse occurs along a path crossing northern Mexico, southern/northeastern U.S., and eastern Canada.

April 10 (dawn): Mars and Saturn are just ½° apart low in the east-southeast. Catch them before the sky brightens.

April 10 (dusk): Face west after sunset to see the waxing crescent Moon 4° to the upper right of Jupiter.

April 11 (evening): The lunar crescent, in Taurus, hangs 6° upper left of the Pleiades.

April 14 (evening): The Moon, one day shy of first quarter, forms a triangle with the stars Castor and Pollux in Gemini.

April 18 (evening): The waxing gibbous Moon trails Regulus, in Leo, by 6°.

April 22 (evening): The almost-full Moon is in Virgo, about ½° from Spica.

April 21–22 (all night): The Lyrid meteor shower peaks, but moonlight will severely hamper the display.

April 27 (morning): The waning gibbous Moon, in Scorpius, trails Antares by 5° as they rise in the southeast.

Moon Phases

New Moon April 8 2:21 p.m. EDT

First Quarter 3:13 p.m. EDT

Full Moon April 23 7:49 p.m. EDT (Pink Moon)

And so.... it’s time - “The Great North American Eclipse”! April 8th. I’ve waited 7 years since the last U.S. total eclipse. Get a whole bunch of handy & interesting eclipse info on the Action News Jax eclipse page.

* Historical perspective of past U.S. total solar eclipses * here *

* UNF students prepping for a high altitude balloon launch within the path of totality * here *

* Making your own viewing devices - simple & cheap - * here *

* A glossary of terms related to a total solar eclipse * here *

* “Buresh Blog” - includes a look back the 2017 eclipse & totality in South Carolina * here *

After the 2017 eclipse with Paige Kelton: