Weekly Notes ~ Twilight

 

Despite it being the ‘dead of winter’, the evening skies of this past week hint of the lengthening days ahead.  A cold and blowing nor’easter it was, for the better part of two days.  The old fashioned kind that  folks would talk about round the kitchen table in years to come, ended with a sunset that lingered, forever, it seemed.  The sun itself somewhere between yellow and orange but could not be described as either.  I watched out the window, lost in the deep purple drifts with pink under-clouds that floated against the darkening sky, wondering, looking west what a person might see looking east, from far away, on the other side of day.

Twilight is that wonderful time between darkness and daylight that often lingers with a beautiful glow.  Twilight is defined differently for civil, nautical or astronomical reasons, click here to learn more about twilight

If you are curious to know the exact times of twilight in your town click here….

Tuesday’s full moon is called the Snow Moon and Bernie Reim tells us about Jupiter at its best in his Astronomical Report for February here

The season of winter encourages us to pause and reflect on the subtleties of nature’s beauty in the face of its fierceness.  Snow brings an opportunity to see the natural world against a stark and barren landscape and notice things we may not have seen before.

The National Weather Service has a new Snow Information Page with snow depth and other maps

Looking Ahead:

Bryant Pond 4-H Conservation Camps Summer 2015 registrations are open….

Friends of Baxter State Park are accepting applications for the summer 2015  Youth Wilderness Leadership Program ….

I have read several reports that the winter will not be cold enough to completely kill invasive insect pests such as the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (HWA) and others such as the Asian Longhorned Beetle (ALB) and Emerald Ash Borer (EAB).  The Maine Forest Service will be offering several Outreach Volunteer Trainings for Invasive Forest Insects