NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has provided scientists the first close-up, visible-light views of a behemoth hurricane swirling around Saturn’s north pole.

In high-resolution pictures and video, scientists see the hurricane’s eye is about 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) wide, 20 times larger than the average hurricane eye on Earth. Thin, bright clouds [...]]]>

Click for Full Image

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has provided scientists the first close-up, visible-light views of a behemoth hurricane swirling around Saturn’s north pole.

In high-resolution pictures and video, scientists see the hurricane’s eye is about 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) wide, 20 times larger than the average hurricane eye on Earth. Thin, bright clouds at the outer edge of the hurricane are traveling 330 mph(150 meters per second). The hurricane swirls inside a large, mysterious, six-sided weather pattern known as the hexagon.

“We did a double take when we saw this vortex because it looks so much like a hurricane on Earth,” said Andrew Ingersoll, a Cassini imaging team member at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. “But there it is at Saturn, on a much larger scale, and it is somehow getting by on the small amounts of water vapor in Saturn’s hydrogen atmosphere.”

Scientists will be studying the hurricane to gain insight into hurricanes on Earth, which feed off warm ocean water. Although there is no body of water close to these clouds high in Saturn’s atmosphere, learning how these Saturnian storms use water vapor could tell scientists more about how terrestrial hurricanes are generated and sustained.

Both a terrestrial hurricane and Saturn’s north polar vortex have a central eye with no clouds or very low clouds. Other similar features include high clouds forming an eye wall, other high clouds spiraling around the eye, and a counter-clockwise spin in the northern hemisphere.

Learn more

Tweet

The agency plans to develop a mechanism to capture an asteroid and redirect it to a stable orbit in the Earth-moon system, and begin designing a mission to send humans to it using the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft.

Tweet

While this weather phenomenon on the shores of Lake Michigan are not unusual, the ice balls are not normally this large…

Video and report wildwx.com

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition discovered some serious facts that should raise a red flag on diet drinks and products.

1) Diet sodas raised the risk of [...]]]> While many folks drink diet soda to cut back on sugar and calories possibly to avoid extra pounds, recent information is enough to give pause those thoughts.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition discovered some serious facts that should raise a red flag on diet drinks and products.

1) Diet sodas raised the risk of diabetes more than sugar-sweetened sodas.
2) Women who drank one 12-ounce diet soda had a 33 percent increased risk of type 2 diabetes and women who drank one 20-ounce soda had a 66 percent increased risk.
3) Women who drank diet sodas drank twice as much as those who drank sugar- sweetened sodas because artificial sweeteners are more addictive and are hundreds to thousands of times sweeter than regular sugar.
4) The average diet soda drinker consumes 3 diet drinks a day.

A study through the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics explains more reasons why the body reacts to diet drinks over the sugar drinks.

• Artificial sweeteners are hundreds to thousands of times sweeter than regular sugar activating our genetically programmed preference for sweet taste more than any other substance.
• They trick your metabolism into thinking sugar is on its way. This causes your body to pump out insulin, the fat storage hormone, which lays down more belly fat.
• It also confuses and slows your metabolism down, so you burn less calories every day.
• It makes you hungrier and crave even more sugar and starchy carbs like bread and pasta.
• In population studies there was a 200 percent increased risk of obesity in diet soda drinkers.

 For more healthful living, I recommend that you follow Mark Hyman, MD .  While you are checking out his site, you may want to sign up for his newsletter.

Tweet

NASA Television will provide commentary starting at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. EST) on Friday, Feb. 15, during the close, but safe, flyby of a small near-Earth asteroid named 2012 DA14. NASA places a high priority on tracking asteroids and protecting our home planet from them. This flyby will provide a unique opportunity for [...]]]>

NASA Television will provide commentary starting at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. EST) on Friday, Feb. 15, during the close, but safe, flyby of a small near-Earth asteroid named 2012 DA14. NASA places a high priority on tracking asteroids and protecting our home planet from them. This flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close.

The half-hour broadcast from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., will incorporate real-time animation to show the location of the asteroid in relation to Earth, along with live or near real-time views of the asteroid from observatories in Australia, weather permitting.

At the time of its closest approach to Earth at approximately 11:25 a.m. PST (2:25 p.m. EST / 19:25 UTC), the asteroid will be about 17,150 miles (27,600 kilometers) above Earth’s surface.

The commentary will be available via NASA TV and streamed live online at: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv and http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

In addition to the commentary, near real-time imagery of the asteroid’s flyby before and after closest approach, made available to NASA by astronomers in Australia and Europe, weather permitting, will be streamed beginning at about 9 a.m. PST (noon EST) and continuing through the afternoon at the following website: http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

A Ustream feed of the flyby from a telescope at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, will be streamed for three hours starting at 6 p.m. PST (8 p.m. CST / 9 p.m. EST). To view the feed and ask researchers questions about the flyby via Twitter, visit: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc

Tweet

A large wedge tornado tore through areas of southern Mississippi on Sunday, injuring more than a dozen people and causing widespread damage.

So far, no one has been reported killed, which authorities hope will remain true.

“We’re really blessed because we don’t have a fatality that we know of right now, and no major [...]]]>

A large wedge tornado tore through areas of southern Mississippi on Sunday, injuring more than a dozen people and causing widespread damage.

So far, no one has been reported killed, which authorities hope will remain true.

“We’re really blessed because we don’t have a fatality that we know of right now, and no major injuries. But we have a number of major damages to our structures around town,” said Johnny DuPree, mayor of Hattiesburg, where the tornado hit.

“If there is a good thing about this, it happened on a Sunday when most of these structures were vacant,” he said.

Hattiesburg, which straddles Forrest and Lamar counties, is home to the University of Southern Mississippi. It suffered damage to several buildings, but there were no reports of injuries there. University police declared a state of emergency and urged those not on campus to stay away until further notice.

Nearby Oak Grove High School also suffered damage. Randy Wright posted photographs to his Twitter account of the school, showing debris strewn on what looked to be a parking lot and a truck upside down in a baseball diamond.

The Hattiesburg Public School District canceled classes Monday. The university campus will also be closed.

“There’s quite a few homes without power at this point. Quite a few trees on houses, on cars, that type of thing,” said Forrest County Sheriff Billy McGee.

He said that from 10 to 15 people were taken to the hospital, but that none suffered serious injuries. Another three were reported injured in nearby Marion County.

Report

Tweet

Heavy Snow is just one of the main threats with this system, the other one that people often forget, is the wind threat. [...]]]> The Blizzard of 2013, and possibly one of the most powerful blizzards in at least the last decade or so, is just hours away from beginning to barrel down on New England.

Heavy Snow is just one of the main threats with this system, the other one that people often forget, is the wind threat. This is a very intense storm, likely a sub 980 mb low pressure system, winds are going to be very strong with this storm.

The entire coastline from New Jersey to Maine can expect winds gusting 50-60 mph during the height of the storm, with gusts of 60-80 mph possible across eastern Long Island, coastal Rhode Island, the Cape and Islands, up through extreme southern Maine. The combination of these powerful winds and excessive snowfall will take down trees and branches, as well as cause power outages.

Confidence continues to increase that somewhere across Connecticut and Massachusetts, someone will receive more than 30 inches of snow. It’s not out of the question that a few spots try and top the 3 foot mark, likely rivaling many previous snow records across that region.

It’s not out of the question that cities will be forced to shut down for some time during the height of the storm, and major roadways are closed.

Tweet

With pump prices at their highest level on record for this time of year, the stage is set for an even greater climb in gasoline prices and expenditures than in 2012. Retail gasoline prices have surged 17 cents in a week [...]]]> Consumers have been spending more on gasoline than they have in nearly three decades.

With pump prices at their highest level on record for this time of year, the stage is set for an even greater climb in gasoline prices and expenditures than in 2012. Retail gasoline prices have surged 17 cents in a week to top $3.50 a gallon on average, posting the highest prices on record for the beginning of February.

According to AAA, the national average price of regular gasoline is $3.52 a gallon, 4 cents higher than the average price a year ago. The average price was $3.35 a gallon a week ago and $3.30 a gallon a month ago. 　

Meanwhile, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported Monday that gasoline expenditures in 2012 for the average U.S. household reached $2,912, or just under 4 percent of income before taxes. This was the highest estimated percentage of household income spent on gasoline in nearly three decades, with the exception of 2008, when the average household spent a similar amount. Gasoline prices averaged $3.63 a gallon in 2012, according to EIA.

Although overall gasoline consumption has decreased in recent years, a rise in average gasoline prices has led to higher overall household gasoline expenditures, according to the EIA. – CNBC

So this leaves me to question, Why the recent surge in prices at the pump? Analysts say the price rise for diesel and home heating oil are also due to refinery issues around the country. I don’t buy that excuse for one minute, and how about you?

Tweet

A strong tornado moved through the city of Adairsville, Georgia around 11:00 am Wednesday morning.

Governor Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency in Gordon and Bartow counties, where up to 100 homes were damaged and 17 injuries were reported. There was one report of the death [...]]]>

A strong tornado moved through the city of Adairsville, Georgia around 11:00 am Wednesday morning.

Governor Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency in Gordon and Bartow counties, where up to 100 homes were damaged and 17 injuries were reported. There was one report of the death of a man that was killed in his mobile home.

The tornado produced extensive and wide spread damage to homes, businesses and automobiles along its path.

The tornado crossed Interstate 75 near exit 301 and tossed and flipped around 100 vehicles in the process.

Tweet