Vince_Condella's Blog

Does it get much better than this?  A rhetorical question, I know.  You must admit that the sun and gorgeous weather we are having is what makes this part of the country a special place to live.

 

In my business I usually hear complaints from people about the weather.  Most folks hate the winter, others loath the spring chill, while still others can't stand the summer heat and humidity.  It's human nature to complain.  But this weather is just about complaint-proof.

 

Part of the appeal to autumn is the changing of the colors.  Trees know that winter is coming when daylight hours shrink and temperatures get colder.  In order to survive the freezing temperatures, leaves need to shed their leaves.  Autumn is when leaves stop producing chlorophyll.  It's what gives them their green color.  Chlorophyll captures sunlight and begins the process of photosynthesis, taking in carbon dioxide, producing sugars for the tree, and releasing oxygen.

 

Those photosynthesis days are long gone.  Once the green color is gone, the true colors of the leaves start to show.  Carotenoids are present in the yellow, orange, and brown leaves.  Anthocyanins produce the red color.  Eventually each leaf is shut off from the tree and falls to the ground.  Once on the ground, leaves can soak up moisture from rainfall and morning dew and create mold spors.  So if you are sniffing and sneezing with allergy symptoms right now, a moderate mold count is probably the culprit.

 

Enjoy the weekend warmth and sunshine.  The colors of autumn should be splendid.

 

For the latest fall color report across the state, click HERE.

It's great to have clear skies this evening (Wednesday) for viewing the International Space Station (ISS) as it flies overhead. Actually it will be low in the southwest sky around 7:30 p.m.

 

Specifically, look for a bright white dot to appear low in the west at 7:26 p.m., then move from right to left, passing a little below halfway up in the sky in the southwest at 7:28 p.m., then continuing towards the south, eventually fading into darkness at 7:31 p.m. low in the south-southeast sky.

The ISS is the bright white dot, in low Earth orbit and containing 3 astronauts: 1 U.S. and 2 Russian.  They are currently packing up a Soyuz spacecraft that is docked with the ISS.  It will take 2 astronauts back to Earth later this month.  Meanwhile, another Soyuz spacecraft will launch from Russia on October 12 and dock with the ISS on October 14.  It is carrying 2 U.S. and 1 Russian astronaut.

                          

 

The ISS is being built as a cooperative effort between many countries of the world.  Construction began in 1998.  It is about 85% complete.  It orbits approximately 217 miles above Earth, moving at a speed just over 17,000 miles per hour.  It completes nearly 16 orbits of our planet each 24 hours.  That's a lot of sunrises and sunsets to see everyday!

 

When you view that bright white dot, you are seeing the ISS due to reflected sunlight.  When it seems to disappear and fade to black in the southeast sky tonight around 7:31 p.m., it will really be entering the Earth's shadow.  Without the Sun illuminating the spacecraft, we can't see it.

 

If you would like to see a schedule of when the ISS will be visible to us again, or when any other satellites are visible to the naked eye, go to the Heavens Above web site HERE.

When we step outside and feel the wind in our face, that is only one component of the global wind system.  What really matters is the wind aloft, not near the ground.  I'm speaking of the jet stream, a fast river of wind found above 25,000 feet.  It represents the boundary between warm and cold air masses, and this time of year it begins to snake south across the central United States.  That's when the ski resorts in the western U.S. get happy.

 

During the summer months, most of the lower 48 United States are under the influence of a warm air mass.  Cold air is trapped well to the north across northern Canada and the Arctic region.  So the jet stream remains well north of the U.S. - Canada border. 

 

However, now the colder air is beginning to creep south of the U.S. - Canada border as daylight hours get shorter and the Sun angle gets lower in the sky.  Here comes the jet stream, too, and with it low-pressure systems bringing rain and snow.

 

Tonight (Tuesday) we are getting a steady dose of rain as a surface low-pressure center located over Missouri rides northeast with the jet stream, tapping Gulf of Mexico moisture.  The long range computer models, however, are indicating an even bigger change this weekend.  A huge dip in the jet stream over the Rockies will allow cold air to spill south from Canada and produce areas of snow showers in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana.

 

Meanwhile, the upper winds will pass north of Wisconsin this weekend as a huge ridge of high pressure builds over the eastern half of the country.  With the upper air winds north of us, cold air is pushed north of us and mild air moves in from the south.  Good news for us: a lot of sun and warmth this weekend.

 

So the upper air wind pattern produces cold air in the Rockies, warm air east of the Mississippi.  At least for this weekend.  But the jet stream is always on the move, meandering and changing shape.  Soon it will be our turn to be located under one of those dips in the jet stream and a shot of cold air.

 

For now, though, we'll enjoy the warmth and sunshine for the second half of this week!

The Moon and the planet Jupiter are making a nice pair in the sky this evening.  Look south after 7 p.m. and the two bright celestial objects will be easy to find.  And it looks like we will have enough breaks in the overcast to allow us to view this pair.

 

The Moon is around 225,000 miles away, while Jupiter is hundreds of millions of miles from Earth.  So they aren't really as close to each other as it looks!  Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system, one of the so-called gas giants.  The other gas giants are Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.  These huge planets are mainly made up of gasses like hydrogen and helium rather than the solid surface we are used to on Earth.

 

The Moon is right around the first quarter phase, headed toward full moon on October 14.

This fireball occured with the Leonid meteor shower in 1998.  Photo courtesy of Sky & Telescope Magazine and Lorenzo Lovato.

The real show in Earth's atmosphere tonight won't be visible to us.  However, on the other side of the world a large meteor approximately 10 feet in diameter is expected to enter the atmosphere and burn up as a giant fireball.  It will enter the atmosphere over northern Sudan at a speed of approximately 8 miles per second and release energy equivalent to one kiloton of explosives!  This will light up the sky and potentially be visible over northern Africa, the Middle East, and perhaps southern Europe.

 

The rock was spotted in a telescope over Mt. Lemmon in southern Arizona last night.  Since then it has been tracked by dozens of telescopes and its orbit precisely measured.  The rock should completely burn up before reaching the Earth's surface.

 

 

The news headlines in Phoenix last week were proclaiming a big cool down on the way.  Meanwhile in Milwaukee, forecasters were warning of our first frost of the season.  Both cities were seeing signs of autumn, but for the folks in Phoenix it was a relief they were looking forward to for over a month.

The Phoenix metro area has experienced another summer with over 100 days seeing highs above 100 degrees.  Every day in September had highs of 90 degrees or higher.  Most residents of the Valley of the Sun had reached their limit: it was time for some relief.

My wife and I were in Phoenix this past week visiting her brother and family, so we chuckled when the weather reporters on TV proclaimed that big weather changes were on the way.  Then when we saw their extended outlooks we knew what the fuss was all about.  Highs this week would drop into the 90s.  That was a cool down?  After another blistering summer in the desert, they spell relief with highs in the 90s.

Our cool weather last week was also a sign of the transition to autumn, and the first hard frost for most areas took place Friday and Saturday mornings.

Two different parts of the country, two different signs of the changing season.  Personally, I prefer our seasonal changes here.  In the summer we get some variety.  In Phoenix, summer is hot and humid (nope, it's not a dry heat in the monsoon season) with torrential monsoonal rainfall and strong winds.  The Valley of the Sun is a wonderful place to visit in autumn and spring - they have typical highs in the 70s and 80s in October, November, March and April.  But once the furnace turns on beginning in May, Phoenix residents hunker down for a long stretch of triple digit heat.

This week ahead we can look forward to comfortable autumn weather with occasional days of rainfall.  But hopefully no notable weather headlines.

With the cooler weather for Milwaukee this week, the feeling of autumn is truly in the air.  And that means the Banded Woolly Bear is on the ground.  You may see this little caterpillar frantically crawling along the sidewalk or roadway on its way to a safe shelter for the winter months.

 

The woolly bear caterpillar has captivated people for many years because of its so-called predictive powers.  Weather folklore claims that the area of black banding on the woolly bear determines the severity of the upcoming winter.  More black means a harsher winter.  Cute story, but not true.

 

The woolly bear is the larva of the isabella tiger moth.  Larvae from the same clutch of eggs can vary in color from nearly all reddish brown to nearly all black, even when raised under the same conditions.  This natural variability cancels any predictive power.  The amount of winter cold and snow is due to other forces above the ground, like the jet stream and other variables of the atmosphere.

 

The larvae emerge from the cold of winter after the little woolly bear survives some pretty harsh conditions.  The caterpillar emits a cryoprotectant to protect its tissue from freezing conditions.  In spring, it "wakes up", eats as much grass and leaves as it can, pupates, and then becomes the adult phase, or isabella tiger moth.

Isabella Tiger Moth

The banded woolly bear caterpillar has evoked many festivals celebrating its life and lore.  Since 1973, Vermillion, Ohio has their Woollybear Festival.  There are two Woolly Worm Festivals each year: one in Beattyville, KY (began in 1987) and another in Banner Elk, NC (started in 1977).

Matching shirts at the Woollybear Festival in Vermillion, Ohio

Logo from the Woolly Worm Festival

That's pretty impressive for a little bi-colored fuzzy critter.  When you see one during the next month or so, make sure it stays safe and gets to the other side of the road or sidewalk.  It still has a difficult job ahead: surviving the cold winter months.

I heard a great add on the radio today.  I think it was for a window company or a furnace company or somebody that has something to do with selling winter weather-related products.  "The experts are calling for another harsh winter", the add begins.  "Be ready for the worst that nature has to offer by buying...."  etc., etc.

 

So I got to thinking about the so-called experts and their winter forecasts.  Who could that be?  Hmmmmm.  A-hah!  Then it hit me.  It's got to be the Old Farmer's Alamanac, or perhaps just The Farmers' Alamanac.  There are two you say?  Oh yes, and each one claims to be pretty good at predicting the weather.

 

First there is the Farmers' Almanac, now in its 191st consecutive year in print.  It began in Maine in 1818 and claims to have a weather forecast accuracy of 80% to 85%.  Hey, that's pretty good.  I'd better buy one of those.  They are predicting a split winter this year: cold east of the Mississippi and warm west of the Mississippi.  For those who live near the Mississippi - I guess that would be us - the weather will be variable, with many changes along the way during winter.  Hey, that's a bold forecast, eh?

 

Then there is the Old Farmer's Almanac, the oldest continuously published periodical in North America.  It began in New Hampshire in 1792, founded by Robert B. Thomas.  In the 216 years since they began producing forecasts, they are accurate 80% of the time.  Yep, that's what they say.  And how do they achieve these fantastic numbers?  They use local folklore and a super-secret scientific formula.

 

Folks, let's be real honest about this.  The almanacs are fun books with lots of really cool information in them.  They make great bathroom reading.  Leave a copy in the john for those times when you will be in there for a few minutes, and the almanacs become wonderful short-term reading.

 

But if you are going to base your planning on their long-range forecasts, well.....good luck with all of that.  As you know, the truth is that there are no secret scientific formulas.  And folklore is simply that:  folklore.  It is all about the marketing and, of course, tradition.  In the early days when these two publications began, weather forecasting was all about folklore and some "secret" formula passed down from previous generations.  With today's worldwide weather data and computer models, that marketing ploy just doesn't fly.  But the almanacs are still popular, especially for their gardening tips and astronomical information.

 

Want to make your own almanac just like the big boys?  Take a blank calendar for a future month.  For each day on the calendar, write down a weather word, e.g. rainy, windy, sunny, cloudy, etc.  Remember, one word for each day.  When that month arrives, note how well you do with your advanced forecasting.  You might be surprised.  No doubt you will hit a few of the forecast days with 100% accuracy.

 

There.  Now I've told you the super-secret scientific formula.

Hats off to the lively grey squirrel.  Oh sure, you may regard it as simply a rodent, but this little critter is a powerhouse of energy.  And this time of year it is very busy.

 

The grey squirrels are scurrying around our yards burying nuts by the dozens.  It's fun to watch this ritual.  In fact, Sammy the Wonder Dog's favorite hobby is chasing the squirrels up a tree.  But they always return to carry on their business in the fall.  It's serious business, too, because the squirrels are caching nuts for future retrieval.  After all, in a few months the snow and cold will be here, and finding food will not be an easy task.

 

The big question is how do the squirrels know where they buried the nuts?  Is it memory or smell?  There is some debate about this.  Some scientists who study squirrel behavior believe the squirrel has an expansive spatial memory and, based on landmarks in the yard, knows how to find a buried cache of food.  Other scientists believe it is the squirrel's keen sense of smell that does the trick.  It is believed that squirrels have the ability to smell through several feet of snow and find the nuts using their nose.

 

Research going back to 1884 aims to determine why squirrels eat some nuts right away in the fall while burying other nuts.  The thought is that nuts with a high tannin content, like acorns, don't taste very good and can be potentially poisonous.  The squirrel can taste the tannin content of the nut and decide to bury it, allowing the tannin to leach out into the soil.  After a few weeks or months, the squirrel then goes back to find the nut and safely eat it.

 

No matter which research finding is true, the grey squirrel is one energetic creature.  When you see one scampering around the yard these days, give it a salute and appreciate how it is preparing for winter.

The autumnal equinox occurs Monday at 10:44 a.m.  This is your second chance to welcome the new season of autumn.  Fall Part 1 took place on September 1 when we began meteorological autumn.  Yes, I know.  We meteorologists sure know how to confuse things.  But really, we just want to keep things simple.  So for the purpose of weather records, we consider the autumn season to be the months of September, October, and November inclusive.

 

The astronomers have other ideas.  The astronomical beginning of autumn occurs when the Sun is directly overhead at the equator.  This occurs twice a year - around March 22 for the vernal equinox (beginning of spring) and now.  At the time of the equinox (from the Latin for equal night), the hours of daylight and night are approximately equal.  On the equator they are 12 hours apiece.  For us, we will have a sunrise of 6:39 a.m. and a sunset of 6:48 p.m.  That equates to 12 hours and 9 minutes of daylight Monday.

 

The Earth is tilted on its axis by 23.5 degrees, so during the winter and summer solstice (first day of winter and summer), the Sun is directly overhead at 23.5 degrees south latitude or north latitude respectively.  If you can find a globe or a really good atlas, you may see something that sort of looks like a figure 8.  This is called an analemma.  It represents the path of the Sun over the Earth's surface, i.e. which latitude the Sun is directly overhead throughout the year. (see chart below)

 

Some people think it is all downhill from here.  Afterall, it gets to be a bit depressing when the Sun sets earlier and earlier each day, rising later and later each morning.  By the time of the winter solstice, our hours of daylight will have dwindled to a mere 9 hours.

 

But diminishing daylight also sets nature in motion.  I recently wrote about the flight of the Monarch butterfly to Mexico and its magical migration.  Other species begin to get moving when they perceive lesser daylight.  Even trees get into the act.  I'll have more about that in Monday's blog.

It's always nice when good people get rewarded.  I was pleased to read that meteorologist Tammie Souza of FOX 32 Weather in Chicago will soon be taking over as chief meteorologist at WTSP-TV in Tampa, Florida.  Some of you may remember Tammie from her days at Channel 58 weather in Milwaukee.  She has been at FOX 32 in Chicago for two years and for 6 years prior to that she worked at WMAQ (Channel 5) in Chicago.

Tammie Souza

Some are calling this a bold move for WTSP-TV because Tammie will become the first female chief meteorologist in the Tampa-St. Petersburg television market.  I just call it a smart move.  She is a talented broadcaster who can handle the challenges of Florida's weather very well.  And besides that, she is a very nice person.  In the TV business, that's a bonus.

Born in Pittsburgh and raised in San Diego, Tammie is a pilot and has always had a keen interest in the weather.  It must run in the family.    Her sister Patty is a meteorologist for a television station in Sacramento, CA.  Like me, Tammie has served on the Broadcast Board of the American Meteorological Society and is a multiple Emmy winner.

I spent two days with Tammie and the other FOX 32 weather crew members in March 2007 when I was training to use a new weather graphics computer.  FOX 32 had the same type of computer that we would be getting, so my news director sent me to our Chicago sister station to learn the system. 

FOX 32's chief meteorologist is Amy Freeze, also terrifically talented.  Meteorologist Steve Baron was a huge help as well.  They were wonderful hosts and really taught me a lot about the new computer weather system.  I spent the evening shift looking over Amy's shoulder and using the weather system off the air.  Amy had just arrived in Chicago as the new chief meteorologist after working in Philadelphia.  The next morning I worked alongside Tammie during her Wake-Up News morning shift learning more about the new weather system.

                     

  Amy Freeze                  Steve Baron

Amy and Tammie are part of a growing number of women who are broadcast meteorologists.  According to a recent survey from the Radio-Television News Directors Association, 21% of weather staff members at TV stations in the U.S. are women.  The day of the "weather girl" or "weather bunny" from the 1960s is long, long gone.

Tammie's challenge in Tampa will be learning more about tropical weather systems.  Her other challenge will be replacing a legend.  Dick Fletcher was WTSP-TV's main weather person for nearly 30 years.  He died last February.  I don't think Tammie will have any problems winning over the viewers.

Television viewers can have very short memories.  Three months after somebody goes off the air, people may have a hard time remembering.  I often joke that soon after I leave the airwaves, most viewers may say, "Yeah, wasn't he the guy with the moustache who wore those hats on the weather deck?"  No false modesty here, just facts.  Out of sight, out of mind.

When I came to WITI-TV in February 1982, I replaced Albert the Alley Cat.  Talk about following a legend!  By the time I arrived, Albert had moved over to doing sports with Earl Gillespie.  Hey, now there is another legend.  After a few months of hearing "You're no Albert!", I was accepted by the viewers of Milwaukee.  Tammie will have no trouble in Tampa.

Shine on, shine on Harvest Moon.  No, I won't be singing, but so far I haven't heard Ted Perry howling tonight, either.  But he very well could throw his head back and let out a yelp tonight because the full moon looks absolutely spectacular.

This is the famous Harvest Moon, which is defined as the full moon nearest to the autumnal equinox.  This year, the equinox - the astronomical beginning of autumn - occurs on September 22 (next Monday).  Most of the time the Harvest Moon occurs in September, but sometimes it takes place in October.

This full moon is called the Harvest Moon because farmers can harvest their crops late into the night aided by the light cast by the bright moon.  Normally the moon will rise 50 minutes later each night.  But around the time of the Harvest Moon, it rises only 25 to 30 minutes later in the U.S., and 10 to 15 minutes later in Canada and Europe.

The October full moon, this year occuring on October 14, is called the full Hunter's Moon.  Once again the name refers to the light cast by the brightness of the full moon, only this time the light can be used by hunters looking for game at night.

Each month's full moon has a different name, often coined by Native American tribes years ago.  A list of lunar names is listed HERE.

Okay, now let's hear ya.  Throw back that head and howwwwwllllllll....

It is tempting to think the world's weather has gone crazy as Hurricane Ike pummeled the Texas Gulf coast region Saturday.  Despite the media over-coverage of this event, and despite television coverage that used superlative language to describe this storm, Ike was a run-of-the-mill category 2/3 hurricane that struck a vulnerable and populated area.  (As it came ashore, Ike was right at the threshold of category 2 and 3.)

 

In no way am I diminishing the anguish and fear of the residents who suffered at the hands of this hurricane.  Our thoughts and prayers should continue to be with the residents of Texas and Louisiana affected by Ike.  However, as you know, there was ample warning and pleading by officials for residents to evacuate Galveston, yet thousands decided to stay and tough it out.  One resident who stayed said on TV, "I didn't think the storm was going to be this strong."  Really?  Are you serious?  Okay, enough said about the judgement of some people.

 

This is the peak of hurricane season.  Statistically speaking, September 12 is the peak date for hurricane and tropical storm activity.  (See chart below.) This is prime time.  Category 2 hurricanes are not rare.  What made Ike so spectacular was the fact that it struck a part of our country that is so vulnerable to hurricane destruction.

 

Fifty percent of our population lives within 50 miles of an ocean.  It is a desirable place to live, I'm sure.  And for most locations near the ocean, it can be spectacular all year.  But Gulf coast residents know that from June through November, they are prone to hurricane or tropical storm strikes.  That includes wind, rain, and storm surge.

 

Ike was also the perfect media storm.  The National Hurricane Center predicted its path many days in advance, so TV crews had a chance to set up along the bullseye and give you those "reporter gets blown away" live shots we so love.  :)

 

Statistically speaking, from 1944 - 2002, the Atlantic Ocean hurricane season averages 6 hurricanes and 10 named systems (either tropical storm or hurricane).  So far in 2008 we have seen 5 hurricanes and 5 tropical storms for a total of 10 named systems.  But there is wide variability.  In the record-setting season of 2005 that gave us Hurricane Katrina, there were 15 hurricanes and 28 named systems.  The chart below shows the year-to-year variability for Atlantic tropical systems from 1850 to 2004.  It does NOT include the record season of 2005.

The yellow are named systems (hurricanes and tropical storms), green are hurricanes, and dark red are Category 3 or larger hurricanes.  It is difficult to know the accuracy of the early years because this was before the age of satellites and extensive weather data like we have today.  It is likely that in the 1800s and early 1900s, some tropical weather systems occured that were not detected or recorded.

 

And while 2005 was a record year, 2006 was a very quiet tropical season with only 10 named storms, 5 of those being hurricanes.  The only storms to hit the U.S. mainland that year were 2 tropical storms.  2007 saw 17 named storms including 6 hurricanes.

 

Why were there so few hurricanes in 2006 following such an active 2005?  One study suggests that a high concentration of African dust in the air over the tropical Atlantic may have tempered the atmosphere in such a way that it became less conducive to tropical storm formation.  And there has been recent evidence showing that tropical storm numbers have nothing to do with global warming, but rather depend on other factors such as the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO).  The AMO refers to Atlantic sea-surface temperature variability and its fluctuations over time periods of decades.

 

The bottom line for this tropical storm season is that so far it has NOT been unusual, Ike was not an out-of-line monster but a large category 2/3 hurricane that happened to hit a vulnerable area of the U.S. Gulf coast, and there is tremendous variability in season-to-season tropical activity that could be due to numerous reasons.

 

As is usually the case with phenomena of the atmosphere, there is rarely a simple relationship between cause and effect. 

Mortals like me may never understand what keeps a sports warrior going and going, even past retirement.  The recent announcement about Lance Armstrong coming out of retirement to pursue another Tour de France has my head shaking.  Going out on top?  I guess that’s not acceptable these days.  Just ask Michael Jordan or Brett Favre.

My first thought about Armstrong:  does he need the money?  There will be a documentary following his training regimen.  I’m sure there is additional endorsement money and perks along the way.

My second thought:  why is he tempting fate?  He didn’t get caught doping, but can a mere human win seven consecutive Tours without doping?  I’d like to think so, but I doubt it.  Does Lance want to get caught this time?  Or with international cycling so weakened right now, overloaded with doping scandals, perhaps he wants to return and resurrect the sport and prove that he can do it without cheating.

There is no way to know what truly motivates Armstrong.  Afterall, he and Cheryl Crowe split.  And now Kate Hudson?  But I digress.

I just read where Detroit Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios has signed another one year contract with the Wings at the age of 46.  This will be his 25th year in the National Hockey League.  He will be the oldest person to play in the NHL besides Gordie Howe.  Chelios has often called himself “a freak of nature”, and he may be correct.

Sports fans everywhere have to admire and stare in wide wonder and some of these elite athletes who keep coming back for more.  Favre’s year is off to a good start.  Let’s hope his comeback story, along with Armstrong’s and Chelios’, has a happy ending.

I'm a big fan of Ted Perry and his feature "Ted's Take" on FOX 6 News at 10.  He hit the nail on the head last night when he referenced the mud-slinging that has become the hallmark of this presidential campaign.  Barack Obama made reference to putting "lipstick on a pig", the McCain campaign thought he was calling Sarah Palin a pig because of her "hockey mom" reference during her acceptance speech at the convention, and the whole thing has disintegrated into a name-calling contest.

As Ted rightfully pointed out, how does this benefit the 140 employees that will be laid-off from Bemis Corporation's Menomonee Falls facility?  Thousands of people are being laid-off across the country, and all we hear are schoolyard names and accusations.  Issues, anyone?  Anybody?

Perhaps it was naive of me to believe that we could have a presidential campaign where both sides stuck to laying out their solutions to the problems of this country.  Yes, we can all get a list of proposed solutions on the candidates' websites.  But truth be known, most voters don't dig that deep.  We get most of our political news from the sound bites we see on TV and hear on radio.

Okay, okay, I get the main thrust of each campaign.  Both sides are agents of change.  I understand that notion.  Everybody wants to distance themselves from the Bush administration and a do-nothing Congress.  And I get the fact that Sarah Palin has been brought in to energize the Republican party.  Making rock stars out of politicians is now working for both sides.

Solutions to the issues of this country?  Lost in the name-calling.  Ah yes, politics as usual.  Silly me, I thought things would be different this time around.

Never wrestle with a pig, as the old saying goes.  You both get all dirty, and the pig loves it.  Anybody offended by that?

How do those little guys do it?  They appear so light and flimsy, hardly able to hold their own against a light breeze.  And they can fly all the way to the mountains of Mexico?  Yes they can, and their journey begins now.

 

The Monarch butterfly is a classic symbol of summer in Wisconsin.  We see them flitting and flying around from flower to flower without a care in the world.  At least that's the way it seems to us humans.  Little do we realize that the typical Monarch adult lives only 3 to 5 weeks.  Before they die, they mate, lay eggs, and set the stage for the next generation of Monarchs.  And with a life span so short, there can be several generations in just one summer.

 

Something magical occurs this time of year, however.  Instead of dying off after a month or so, the adult Monarchs in September keep living.  Something triggers their migration.  Their destination is over a thousand miles away in the mountains of central Mexico.  And here's the weird part - they have never made this journey before.  Their great, great grandparents made the trip a year ago, but Monarchs this fall have never seen the map.

 

The Monarch migration is one of my favorite nature mysteries.  How do the Monarchs know where to go if they have never been there before?  How does a light and fragile butterfly survive the long flight?  The Monarchs must get to a warmer location because they are a tropical species.  They cannot survive the cold of our winter.  So they head to the mountains of central Mexico where it is cool but not frozen.  Millions and millions of Monarchs congregate from all over the country to the Mexican mountains.

In Spring, the Monarchs in the mountains of central Mexico begin travelling back into the United States.  They mate, lay eggs, and then die.  The next generation is born, keeps flying north, mates, lays eggs, and die.  The cycle continues until Monarch adults return to Wisconsin and other norther locations.

So when you look around during the next few weeks and see a Monarch butterfly, wish it well.  It has a long journey ahead, a magical adventure to south of the border.  No GPS needed, no roadmap.  Just a mysterious ability to get to a place it has never been.

 

How do those little guys do it?