Wonders of nature

Last night at work we had customarily clear skies and a pretty good crowd for the Perseid meteor shower, which peaked in the early morning hours today (HST). The shower was good but not spectacular: without trying particularly hard I saw about a dozen meteors, including a couple of near-bolides. I saw a few meteors as Perseus rose on Friday night, too, and we’ll probably see more tonight as the shower tapers off.

Additionally, we had another clear view of the 21 July lava flow on Kilauea last night. We’ve been seeing it from here at 9,200 feet for the last couple of weeks, but last night was one of the better views I’ve seen. Standing on the east side of the building, watching Perseus rise above the shoulder of the mountain in the northeast and the lava about thirty miles to the southeast was, as my friend Jed described it at the time, a great double feature.

Then this morning I was reminded of another major natural event to be aware of: Hurricane Flossie, whose wind speeds have continued to increase to ~130 miles per hour today, bumping it up to a Category 4 storm. The five-day prediction for Flossie brings it right along the main islands, although that same prediction includes weakening wind speeds as the hurricane moves to the cooler surface water near Hawai`i. Nonetheless, it could make things a little interesting for life at the summit on Wednesday this week.

Stay tuned for updates.