DeeDeeHCue

That comet will be visible before and after 10/12, but easier to spot with binoculars or a small amateur telescope and from urban areas *after* it passes the earth. While it is closest to us on 10/12, it is still hugging twilight, which is no bueno (and under-discussed by media to my major chagrin, it leads to lots of disappointed people who could have otherwise enjoyed a great view). While its brightness will drop as the month moves on, it will climb higher and out of twilight, making for much better assisted views from the DMV suburbs. If you possess at least a 70mm refractor, *and* the current light curve holds, you'll get a really, really nice view.

One lesson learned: cloud forecasts aren’t worth the anxiety. It looked overcast in Dallas on Monday morning, clouds burned away just around totality- as observers have noted for years. It’s a thing: along the path of totality at least, it’s a cloud killer! https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-024-01213-0

Paid for a hotel in Dallas and taking the family on a roadtrip down there. Weather is my primary concern and I’d expect much of the Great Lakes and the Midwest to be cloudy. The further SW you travel, the stronger the odds of clear skies. Unlike with the last eclipse, motels and hotels along much of the path are cheap. Good to get my astronomy fix in. My 10” dob mostly gathers dust since we moved from Southern California.

How much rain does this mean for Georgetown?

See? You throw the first “thread” out there as a sacrifice to Boreas, if the despair amuses him, he delivers.

Grew up in SW Baltimore County. I remember 3 storms that closed school for a week: 2003 (my senior year of HS), 1996, and 1993. 1993 was close to my eighth birthday. I moved out to California and lived there for well over a decade, and missed the 2009-2010 winter, the 2016 winter...and arrived for our current dry spell. I haven't experienced a real storm in 21 years.

100% success rate.

How much will the existing storm system affect the dynamic of the 1/19 one, @psuhoffman?

We already know what we need to do to reel in 1/19: create a sacrificial storm thread thread, then create a new one bring it back.

Make a thread to jinx, then make another one to xnij to jinx.

Can’t wait to see what the 1620z THC model shows…

Excellent shot- that appears to be the Andromeda galaxy if I'm not mistaken (I recognize the arc of stars)! I haven't seen a view like that since I was dragging my scope out to Route 66 in California. I miss dark skies.

I’d say “light snow” more than flurries now. Pleasant surprise.

Flurries in Ellicott City!

GFS came back like it "forgot" Howard County in the previous run