On this day in 1917, a severe storm struck the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes region. It produced 25 inches of snow and wind gusts to 78 mph at Buffalo, NY. The storm produced 26 inches of snow at Vevay, IN with drifts to 14 feet high.

On this day in 1988, a winter storm blanketed the Southern and Central Appalachians with up to ten inches of snow. Arctic air invaded the north central U.S. bringing the subzero cold to Minnesota and North Dakota.

Today, the first major snow storm of the season has landed on New England. Up to 12 inches or more of snow is forecasted in the northern areas while southern and coastal areas will have less accumulation with a mix of rain and sleet. How much snow did you get? (Snow events from the historical records of the National Weather Service and the Weather Channel)

The Leonid Meteor Shower is in progress and the peak of the show could yield 20 to 30 meteors per hour between the hours of 2100 and 2200 UT, today, November 17th. Folks in Asia could witness up to 200 or more per hour according to some forecasters.Right now, the Earth is passing through a zone of debris from Comet Tempel-Tuttle, and this is the cause for the annual Leonid shower. The show this evening will be enhanced in the fact that the moon will be new and NASA scientists say this could be one of the best showers in years.

Not able to view the Leonid meteor shower? Tune into Spaceweather radio and listen to the live audio feed from the Air Force Space Surveillance Radar. When you hear a ping, it indicates a meteor streaked across the sky above the Air Force facility. Visit here to listen. http://spaceweatherradio.com/

Visit www.spaceweather.com and http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/10nov_leonids2009.htm for further information on the Leonid Meteor Shower.

Another snow event occurred on this day in 1988 when powerful low pressure system produced high winds from the Great Plains to New England and produced heavy snow in northern Wisconsin and Michigan. Winds gusted to 64 mph in Knoxville, TN and the winds reached 80 mph at Pleasant Valley, VT. Historical weather data from the National Weather Service archives.

Word for the week is chosen by random finger pointing at whatever page opens in my Big Book of Science Terms.

Monday we had a high of 59F and the low was 50F, Tuesday was identical to Monday, except the night time temperature dipped down to 45F – both days had plenty of sun. Wednesday presented us with a good dose of rain with 0.82 inches for the day, even with the cloud cover, Wednesday’s high reached 58F and the low was 48F. It was very windy that day and the peak gust was 20MPH.

Thursday was another sunny day with the temperature reaching 56F for the high and the low was47F. Friday was mostly sunny with the clouds on the increase through the day and by 5:00 PM, a light rain / mist was falling, we had 0.05 inches of rain. Friday’s high was 55F and the low was 45F. Saturday was a windy day and it was overcast for most of the day with the sun peeping out occasionally. The high was 56F and the low was 38F, there was 0.07 inches of rain that fell in the hours just past midnight. How was the weather for you this week?

A planned lunar impact is coming up on this Friday when NASA will send its LCROSS spacecraft and its booster rocket crashing into the surface of the moon. Further details available on NASA at www.nasa.gov, and the event will be televised on NASA TV.

It was an easy find once we located the trail leading out of the cemetery – many wandering roads and due to poison ivy, it was not advised to go bushwacking your way through. Once the trail was located, it was short walk and then a quick find. The area had many old foundations and it looked like it might have been a ‘staging’ area for quarry workers in the nearby quarries.

Another significant thing about this area is this cemetery is where Christa McAuliffe, America’s Teacher in Space that lost her life in the tragic shuttle accident, is buried. She has a nice monument and even today, has many visitors that will stop by to read her memorial plaque and her statement of why she wanted to venture into space.

On this day in weather history, October 1, 1987, it was just a tad bit nippy as was recorded in this historical record from the archives of the National Weather Service. A blast of cold arctic air hit the north central U.S. An afternoon thunderstorm slickened the streets of Duluth MN with hail and snow, and later in the afternoon, strong northerly winds reached 70 mph. Unseasonably warm weather continued in the Pacific northwest. Afternoon highs of 90 degrees at Olympia WA, 92 degrees at Portland OR, and 89 degrees at Seattle WA, were records for the month of October. For Seattle WA it marked the twenty- first daily record high for the year, a record total in itself.

The cache for the week was another in the continuing ‘Rail Trail’ series. In the good old days of yesteryear, New Hampshire was blessed with an abundance of rail road activity, after all there were not many cars on the road and one of the main mechanisms for commerce was to move goods from community to community by rail.

The cache was about a 15 minute drive from work (had to go the long way due to road construction). Upon arrival at the parking area, it was time to set out on the trek – almost ½ mile walk to the cache. Now, this particular rail trail – the rails were still in place even though no active train traffic traveled on this track. It is known that there are small carts that will travel along this particular rail.

It was gorgeous early Fall day with a crisp feeling in the air and just a tinge of color in the trees as the foliage is just starting to change. The cache was easy to find once we arrived at ‘ground zero’ and I am glad that it was not too far off from the trail as the property that boarders the trail is state prison property and it has the big signs ‘no trespassing – violaters may be shot’!