Ok I know it's the start of Star Trek but take a look at the picture below.

The guy in the picture is my best friend Henry, We've know each for.... well longer than both of us care to remember. I'll put it this way I had a full head of hair and Henry didn't have gray in his. Anyway Henry flys a helicopter and lives in Alaska. Tough life!

Earlier this week he sends me a picture with a smug look on his face after he landed on a glacier. Wrong he says I landed in the glacier, wait a minute Henry, nobody lands in a glacier... Look below

The Picture is at the bottom of the White Out Glacier, it's about 75 miles north and a litte east of Anchorage. We all know the arctic ice pack is melting and many glaciers like the White Out are retreating. You can now fly and land a helicopter (if you're very careful) in a hole at the very bottom of the glacier.

Not only has Henry gone were few have gone before but he's also gone back in time. The ice walls surrounding the landing site are several stories high meaning ol' Henry and his helicoptor are resting on Ice that's not hundred or even thousands but millions of years old!

Strange he doesn't look a day over 500,000 does he!

Regards
Dave

Posted by at 10:21 AM | Permalink

Wow, what morning. The phones here in the KGW Newsroom started lighting up around 5:30 this morning. Reports came in from viewers about a bright green flash streaking across the sky.
We had calls from Cannon Beach on the coast to La Grande in Eastern Oregon. All reporting the fast moving fireball.

The FAA confirmed the reports as a meteor, shortly after the calls started coming in. Experts with OMSI and Dick Pugh a retired high school science teacher say the meteor was about the size of a basketball to be seen over such a wide area.

Most meteors are actually metal and not rock. A typical meteor is composed of 91% iron about 7% nickel and the rest cobalt.When a meteor enters the atmosphere it heats up to a bout 3000 degrees. Usually a meteor break up when it hits the lower denser atmosphere, about 5 to 7miles above the earths surface. Oh, one more thing the difference between a meteor and meteorite. A meteorite is simply a meteor that survives entry into earths atmosphere and hits the earth. One of the best examples of that, the Willamette Meteorite Found in West Linn, back in 1902. That 15 ton chunk of iron now sits on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

If you want to learn more about meteors I've added a link at the bottom of the page.

Regards
Dave

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/meteors

Posted by at 10:11 AM | Permalink

Ah what a weekend! Sunny and mild high temperatures in the 60s and it's only the middle of February. Russ Lewis, told me this morning that the sound of lawn mowers and leaf blowers was deafening on his street this weekend. Knowing how Russ likes to preen over his lawn I'm sure his mower was also raising the decibel levels across the city.

Just in case you missed it the sunrise was perfect Pacific Northwest. Louis Bowerman, one of our viewers had his digital camera working early this morning and fired off a great shot of the sun coming up over Mt. Hood.

Enjoy the view today. Rain will arrive by Tuesday afternoon and most of the week will be the typical February gray skies, damp and cool weather we've been used to most of the winter.

Posted by at 9:18 AM | Permalink

I'll admit it, I've got the fever-spring fever. It has been a very long,dark and cold winter. This weekend we've got a taste of things to come. For the first time this year temperatures are likely to climb into the lower 60s in Portland. Since the start of the year we've seen almost 6 and 3/4 of an inch of precipitation. Starting today Temperatures will begin to warm and should keep rising through the weekend.

If you're traveling into Washington State today or tonight you'll need your rain gear. A weak weather system will bring rain to the Seattle area tonight.

Even when rain does return by early next week amounts will be light and scattered. Temperatures will continue to remain just above average for this time of year. Maybe just maybe we've turned the corner on the winter of 07/ 08.

Regards
Dave

Posted by at 10:15 AM | Permalink

Well it's been a while since I've been on the blog. With all the HD conversion, new weather computer and general madness that's TV news getting a link set up from our weather computers to the blog has taken sometime.

It's Valentines Day and there is a lot of love in the forecast. Dry and milder conditions are arrving today and will be sticking around for a while. This weekend we're going to see high temperatures in the 60s. A first for 2008.

Valentines day is an important day in the weather forcast for Western Oregon & Southwest Washington. It usually means and end of our chances of seeing low elevation snow. From now on sun angles are getting higher and temperatures are becoming warmer. The chance of seeing snow on the valley floor falls of rapidly. I won't go out on a limb and say it's impossible to get snow after Valentines Day-especially this year, but it's a slim chance and best.

Enjoy the next few days looks like a taste of spring is on the way. This weekend I'm sure we're going to smell back yard BBQs and maybe even somebody will fire up a lawn mower! Can summer be far off?

Cheers
Dave

Posted by at 9:06 AM | Permalink