Buresh Blog: End of the ‘23 Atlantic hurricane season...High temps. dip below 70... Dec. night skies

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The 2023 hurricane season has wrapped! While active from a numbers standpoint, the bark was *generally* worse than the bite. An obvious exception would be Cat. 3 Idalia in late Aug. which made landfall on the Big Bend of Florida. And there were a couple of Pacific exceptions: (1) Hilary brought flooding to parts of California in mid Aug.... (2) Cat. 5 Otis slammed Acapulco, Mexico.

Read a recap of the season - “Talking the Tropics With Mike”.

A Review of the 2023 Hurricane Season

It’s winter, Florida style. The average high temp. has dipped below 70 degrees F & stays in the 60s through mid Feb. (18th). Jan. 5 - 21 is the avg. coolest high temp. for Jax at 65 degrees.

Dec. night skies - “Sky & Telescope”:

Dec. 8 (dawn): The waning crescent Moon is 2° above Spica; much brighter Venus is at lower left.

Dec. 9 (dawn): A slim lunar crescent and Venus are 3½° apart over the southeastern horizon before sunrise.

Dec. 13, 14 (all night): The Geminid meteor shower is expected to peak. Viewers from dark sites might see up to one meteor per minute. The Moon (almost new) won’t interfere with viewing.

Dec. 17 (evening): Face southwest to see the waxing crescent Moon 2½° to the lower left of Saturn.

Dec. 21 (evening): The waxing gibbous Moon is 6° to the lower right of Jupiter. The gap between the pair closes throughout the night as they sink toward the western horizon.

Dec. 21: Winter begins at the solstice at 10:27 p.m. EST (7:27 p.m. PST).

Dec. 28 (dawn): The waning gibbous Moon is 2° from Pollux, the brighter of the Twins in Gemini.

Dec. 31 (dawn): The waning gibbous Moon is in Leo, 2½° to the upper right of Regulus.

Moon Phases

Last Quarter Dec. 5 12:49 a.m. EST

New Moon Dec. 12 6:32 p.m. EST

First Quarter Dec. 20 1:39 p.m. EST

Full Moon Dec. 26 7:33 p.m. EST (Cold Moon)