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 the next few weeks. Visible planets during the period:

• Mercury climbs higher and higher in the evening sky just after dusk and is at its greatest elongation on February 16th. It then drops back toward the horizon.
• Mars is low in the southwest after sunset until about mid-February, when it begins fading slowly from view.
• Jupiter is high and bright in the evening sky – at magnitude -2.4 it shines brighter than any other point of light in the sky.
• Venus is visible before dawn in early February but soon disappears into the pre-dawn twilight.
• Saturn rises shortly before midnight by mid-February and appears highest in the south as morning twilight begins.

Calendar of upcoming celestial events:

• Sunday, 2/3 – Last quarter moon.
• Friday, 2/8 – Mercury passes less than a half degree north of Mars.
• Sunday, 2/10 – The moon is new (dark).
• Monday, 2/11 – Mercury appears between the crescent moon (above) and Mars (below) about a half hour after sunset.
• Saturday, 2/16 – Mercury appears at its 2013 best in the evening sky.
• Sunday, 2/17 – First quarter moon.
• Monday, 2/18 – The moon passes a degree south of Jupiter.
• Monday, 2/25 – 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:

• Red flag warnings – Central Texas.
• Winter storm watches, warnings and advisories – Almost off of the Northwest into Montana, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico; areas in southern California and central Arizona; the upper Midwest; and the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, except for far northern New England.
• Flood watches, warnings and advisories – Indiana, Illinois and Michigan; also areas in Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana.
• High wind watches, warnings and advisories – Areas in west Texas, east Texas and southern California.

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

In Memoriam

On January 28, 1933, James Grove, 46, a Park Police officer at Rock Creek Park, died when his motorcycle was struck by a car.

On January 28, 1955, Murrell Trosper, 42, a carpenter at Mount Rainier, was crushed to death while tearing down an old building when he removed vertical studs against a supervisor’s orders. The building’s roof was weighed down by snow.

Click here for a full list of on-duty deaths.

From The Morning Report Archives

Today’s incident from the Morning Report archives:

Mount Rainier NP – On the morning of March 19, 1989, a Cessna 210 piloted by a 54-year-old Washington man flew into the Willis Wall at the 12,500-foot level of Mount Rainier. Rangers were able to spot the rear stabilizer section of the aircraft, but were not able to reach the accident site because of the extreme danger from falling rocks, ice and snow. At the time of the report, it was not known when or if it would be possible to recover the pilot’s body.

Contact Information
Name: Bill Halainen, Editor