The Skies

Sun and Moon Data

To find sun and moon rising and setting times for your park or office, go to the U.S. Naval Observatory’s Complete Sun and Moon Data for One Day webpage.

Night Skies

An update on the moon, planets and night skies for January.

Visible planets during the period:

• Mars is low in the southwest after sunset all month.
• Jupiter is high in the east after sunset and is visible in the night sky until the early hours of the morning.
• Venus rises shortly after twilight in early January but becomes progressively harder to see as the month goes on.
• Saturn rises shortly before 3 a.m. local time on January 1st and then about 30 minutes earlier with each successive week.  

Calendar of upcoming celestial events:

• Friday, 1/11 – New moon (dark).
• Sunday, 1/13 – The moon passes six degrees north of Mars.
• Monday, 1/21 – The waxing moon passes a half degree south of Jupiter.
• Saturday, 1/26 – Full moon.

For more information on stars, planets and other night sky phenomena, go to “The Sky This Week” page at the U.S. Naval Observatory page at http://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/tours-events/sky-this-week

The Weather

Watches and Warnings

The principal watches and warnings posted as of early this morning were as follows. Note that these change over the course of a day and represent only initial daily forecasts. Click on this link for a full-sized map showing these hazards:

• Winter storm watches, warnings and advisories – Most of the Rocky Mountain and Northern Great Plains region, northern New England, and areas in Oregon, Washington and southern California.
• High wind watches, warnings and advisories – Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and western Oklahoma, Texas and Nebraska.
• Flood watches, warnings and advisories – Western Nebraska and an area encompassing all of Louisiana and extending into Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi.
• Coastal flooding warnings, watches and advisories – Southwest California.

For additional information on severe weather, go to the NOAA Storm Prediction Center at http://www.spc.noaa.gov/ .

In Memoriam

There were no NPS line of duty deaths on this date. Click here for a full list of on-duty deaths.

From The Morning Report Archives

Today’s incident from the Morning Report archives:

Yosemite NP – Early on the morning of Wednesday, February 22, 1989, rangers, DEA agents, US marshals and officers from several local agencies executed search warrants on 11 people for distribution of controlled substances in the park. Eight of the eleven were employees of Yosemite Park and Curry Company and resided within the park; the remaining three lived outside of Yosemite. The arrests resulted from a lengthy investigation conducted by rangers with assistance from the concessioner.

Contact Information
Name: Bill Halainen, Editor