Where the elements come from

In the stellar astronomy class I teach, we've been studying the life cycle of stars...from their birth out of clouds of dust and gas to most of their lives in a stable state, to their deaths ranging from just fading to white and black dwarfs or ending as a spectacular supernova explosion.

The bottom line is that every single element in the universe, other than hydrogen and helium, is manufactured in the fiery interior of a star, including the elements you're made of.

Need a lift to your day? Just remind yourself that you're made up of "star stuff"

This March could be one for the record books

So far, March in southern Colorado has featured record highs, gusty winds and little, if any precipitation. Between Colorado Springs and Pueblo, Colorado Springs is the champ, with .07" through Friday the 13th. Pueblo has had a couple of days with a trace of moisture, but that doesn't count as "measurable" precipitation (in order to be measurable, it must be at least .01").

If this trend continues, that would make it the first March since records have been kept (since 1888) that Pueblo hasn't received "measurable" rain or snow.

The month is only half gone, but the chances for rain/snow over the next 10 days or so doesn't look terribly likely.

I'll keep you posted.

El Nino, La Nina and your weather

You've probably heard of either El Nino (according to the old Chris Farley SNL skit, that's Spanish for "The Nino"), or La Nina. I'll give you a brief overview and point you to a great source for more information. Why do you want to know more? Because these are two global weather conditions that affect what happens in your backyard.

Let's start with the more famous El Nino, which we diagnose by observing warmer-than-average sea-surface temperatures off the coast of South America. The worldwide effects include reversing the flow across the Pacific Ocean and causing drought (usually followed by wildfires) in Australia and Indonesia. I'll point you to a source where you can see what El Nino effects tend to be closer to where you live in just a paragraph or two.

Then there's La Nina, the other side of the coin. These conditions result when we measure COOLER-than-average sea surface temperatures off the coast of South America. We've been in La Nina conditions for the past few months.

The effects tend to be less dramatic than with an El Nino, and, in fact, the La Nina appears to be weakening, but in the past, the condition has lead to...
Lower than average precipitation in the southern United States
Lower than average temperatures in the Pacific Northwest
Higher than average temperatures in the southwestern and southcentral states (that's us)

To find out more, point your browser to www.elnino.noaa.gov (it will tell you about both El Nino and La Nina, and give you access to lots of other information about past, present and future conditions.