The main change to the weather forecast brings in stronger winds through the region as a low pressure center off the California coast moves closer, tightening up the pressure gradient. The winds, combined with dry air, sunshine and warm temperatures will create enough of a fire danger that a Red Flag Warning has been posted from Thursday afternoon through Friday morning. Temperatures in the low 90s over the same time period will rise into the mid-90s through the weekend and into the work week.

Even though the haze from the California Fires dimmed the brightness of the Perseid Meteor Shower a bit, conditions have been pretty good for the peak after midnight Thursday morning. People often ask why conditions are better after midnight to see meteor showers.

The reason is after midnight (standard time), we begin to come out from the “back” of the earth with respect to the direction the earth is travelling in its orbit around the sun, and we move into the leading edge of the earth. Think of a car driving in the rain: the back windshield gets hits a lot less with raindrops than the front does. Before midnight, we are riding on the back windshield. After midnight, we move to the front.