Tonight's unusually conspicuous winter full moon is orbiting at perigee, making the disc of the moon in the night sky appear larger and brighter, especially when viewed near the horizon. This close approach also amplifies lunar tidal effects. Oceanic high tides will spring up a little higher than usual, producing a measurable tidal surge increase ranging from a couple inches to half a foot, depending on other factors.
NASA's advice? Go out tonight and look at the moon:
"This is both the brightest and (in the northern hemisphere) the highest-riding full Moon of the year. If you go outside around midnight it will be close to overhead and act like a cosmic floodlamp making the landscape absolutely brilliant, especially if there's snow. Full moons are always high during winter and, indeed, the solstice is right around the corner on Dec. 21st.
A fun experiment: Take a friend outside on Friday evening and ask if they notice anything unusual. Is the Moon big and bright enough to impress the unwary?"
It was only four years ago, almost to the day that we experienced the Cedar fire, which at that time was one of the biggest fires in California history, after investigation it was proven to be Arson.
Every year at this time the weather in Southern California becomes very dry and dangerous for fire.
You would think our government agencies would have learned something from it.
You would think that in four years... they would have figured out how to be prepared for this, but as you can see, the response has been totally inadequate. The numbers are staggering whether you are talking about money, homes, animals or the environment.
It's all devastating.
Did this tragedy have to happen? The answer is -- No. The technology to put out these monstrous fires already exists, but "our government" refused to use it in 2003, because it was made in Russia. The Russians designed the Ilyusian IL76 Water-Bomber plane with the capacity to carry 16,000 gallons of water, able to put out a fire the size of 10 football fields lined up end to end, in fifteen seconds.
Why did we refuse it then? Did politics and historical animosity get in the way of saving our land, our animals, and our homes?
Why was it not called in for this fire?
These are questions that the citizens should be asking their Government representatives.