Buresh

Buresh Blog: Nov. averages, warm year so far, set clocks back

By Michael Buresh
By Michael Buresh

Nov. 1, 2017 — We are rolling into fall now & have had the first of the season nights inland dropping into the 30s.  Rarely Jacksonville will get a Nov. freeze but the avg. is the first week to two weeks of Dec. (earlier for inland SE Ga.).  Our average Nov. temps. @ JIA:

low / high - 1st: 55 / 77.... 30th: 47 / 70

Rainfall: 2.11" - the driest month on avg. of the year

Sunrise / Sunset: 1st - 7:42am EDT / 6:39pm EDT; 30th - 7:05am EST / 5:25pm EST - lose 37 min. of daylight.

While we've had a few below avg. days, the year as a whole remains well above avg. with an especially warm Jan., Feb. & Oct.  Only June has averaged below avg. this year so far.

So we fall back one hour Sun., Nov. 5th

EARTH GAUGE (NEEF).... Sarah Blount:

Most people living in the United States (excluding many of the US territories, Hawaii, and residents of Arizona outside of the Navajo Nation), it's the end of Daylight Saving Time (DST). You’ve probably heard the mnemonic “spring forward, fall back,” and hopefully you’ll remember to reset your clocks, but do you know why we have this adjusted summer schedule?

Due to the tilt in the Earth’s axis, summer days have more hours of sunlight than do the days in winter. As the sun creeps up over the horizon earlier and earlier in the day, we end up with lots of sun in the early morning hours when much of the population is still asleep. The idea of DST is to shift the clocks an hour earlier, so that the extra daylight instead occurs at the end of the day, when people are awake and out and about, avoiding “wasted daylight” in the wee hours of the morning.

In the United States, DST was originally adopted near the end of World War I in an effort to conserve fuel domestically and repurpose these resources for the war effort. By shifting the clocks earlier, people would have daylight to illuminate their after-work activities, reducing the need for electrical lighting and thus decreasing their fuel consumption.

Daylight Saving Time fell out of use after the war, but was again taken up and then subsequently dropped over the course of World War II. It wasn’t until 1966 that DST legislation was passed without being attached to a war, and today we observe this adjusted schedule from the second Sunday in March through the first Sunday in November. Across the world, only parts of Australia and Europe also change the clocks during their summer months, and in Europe this period is called “Summer Time.” 

As we “fall back,” look around your home at your lighting. Daylight Saving Time was designed with the goal of saving energy on illumination, so it’s a good reminder to see if there are ways that your lights can be more energy efficient. Are you using traditional incandescent bulbs around your home? By switching to an ENERGY STAR certified bulb, you could realize energy savings of 70-90%, saving you between $30 and $80 in electricity costs over the bulb’s lifetime. Learn more about energy-efficient lighting and determine what kind of lighting is best for your home.

Sources:

Puerto Rico is still reeling after hurricane "Maria".  The N.W.S. Doppler radar in San Juan was knocked out by the storm so meteorologists had to try to use satellite imagery to help in issuing storm warnings.  As of Oct. 31st, a temporary solution has been erected - 2 mobile Doppler radar systems.  The radars have a much shorter range but will at least offer some coverage until a new radar can be installed.  Photos below from NOAA.... full story - here.

Cox Media Group

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