Weather
By Dan Skeldon
2023 is off to an active start in terms of severe weather, with a rare February tornado outside of Trenton and multiple tornadoes across Burlington, Ocean, Monmouth, and Atlantic counties on April 1. It may signal a busy year for New Jersey storm chasers.
But if you’re a New Jersey sky watcher and are hoping to be dazzled by some incredible astronomical displays, 2023 may not be your best year. Sure, 2023 has the standard 12 full moons, including a few supermoons and even a blue moon later this summer(late August). Of course, there is the standard lineup of annual meteor showers, from the Lyrids later this month to the more popular and potent Perseids and Geminids later in the year. And if we’re lucky, NASA will launch a rocket or two from its facility in Wallops Island, Virginia just to our south on Delmarva, giving us our usual front row seat for the launch.
But for sky watchers, 2023 lacks a good eclipse, really any notable eclipse for us here at the shore. Now that’s no surprise with respect to the most coveted but quite rare total solar eclipse, when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun. You may remember the last “Great American Eclipse,” which occurred during the summer of 2017. Sure, the band of “totality” where the entire surface of the sun was covered stayed well to our south over the Carolinas, but it was still a rare and memorable event to witness even here in South Jersey as 75% of the sun was covered by the moon.
As luck would have it, we’re just one year away from the next Great American Eclipse, and the band of totality is even closer, but to our north this time. Mark your calendar for April 24, 2024, when 85% of the sun will be covered by the moon in South Jersey. Or you can venture a trip to Erie, PA or Syracuse, NY, which will see 100% of the sun covered in the band of totality, which this time stretches from Texas to Maine. Now we’ll naturally need Mother Nature to cooperate and for skies to be clear, which can sometimes be a challenge in the spring in the Northeast. The April 2024 eclipse is our best viewing opportunity until May 1, 2079, just 56 short years away. But it will be worth the wait, as parts of South Jersey will actually be in the band of totality that year, a very rare occurrence indeed.
Now solar eclipses are rare, but lunar eclipses, when the Earth passes between the sun and moon and casts what is often a “blood orange/red” shadow onto the moon, are a little more common. In fact, we were treated to a flurry of them over the past decade or so. But in 2023, our options are rather limited. There’s a partial lunar eclipse just before Halloween on October 28, but we’ll only get to see the very end of the eclipse as the moon rises that evening, and even then, it may only appear a little darker than normal. If you still have those calendars out, March 13-14, 2025 is the next total lunar eclipse visible for us, although there is another better-timed partial one in September 2024.
So with an eclipse “drought” of sorts, we can thankfully fall back on the more regular meteor showers that take place each year for some entertainment. Again, it requires the cooperation of the clouds, meaning that they stay away and we have clear skies. And as little moonlight as possible during the peak meteor shower times is also a big help. So here’s the annual rundown:
- Lyrids: peaks April 22-23rd. An average meteor shower at best, but our next opportunity for a few shooting stars.
- Eta Aquarids: peaks May 6-7th, but during the full moon. Normally, up to 30 meteors per hour can be seen. But the natural light pollution from the full moon may dull the show this year.
- Delta Aquarids: peaks July 28-29th, and a lesser known meteor shower that is usually only average, with up to 20 meteors per hour. Think of it as an appetizer for the much more popular Perseids, which follow a few weeks later.
- Perseids: With up to 60 meteors per hour in a typical year, the Perseids is one of the more popular annual meteor showers, also since it occurs midsummer during vacation season. There’s a crescent moon this year, so light pollution shouldn’t be too much of a factor. The peak this year is August 12-13th, so find a dark spot and enjoy!
- Orionids: October 21-22 is the peak this year for this average meteor shower, with up to 20 per hour if the weather cooperates. Most meteor showers are named for where many of the meteors originate, so with the Orionids, look for the constellation Orion, although meteors can still appear anywhere in the sky.
- Leonids: November is Leonids time, just before Thanksgiving, peaking this year on November 16-17th. It’s an average but usually a consistent shower, with 10-20 meteors per hour. It’s unique in that every 33 years, there’s an extra-intense Leonids shower that can produce 100+ meteors per hour. The next time that’s scheduled to occur is 2034.
- Geminids: This is the gold standard of meteor showers, peaking this year on December 13-14th. Coinciding with a new moon only helps further the intensity this year, with 100+ meteors per hour, usually among the most brightest and colorful of all of the annual displays. Of course, December can be a colder month for viewing, and a cloudier one too. So as with any astronomical event, root for clear skies and a little luck!
Meteorologist Dan Skeldon has a degree in meteorology from Cornell University. He has forecasted the weather in South Jersey for the last 18 years, first on the former television station NBC40 and then on Longport Media radio. Dan has earned the American Meteorological Society Seal of Approval for Broadcast Meteorologists, and now does television broadcasts on WFMZ-TV in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley.
