Since it has been so long since we have seen the sun, and that bright yellow ball may seem unfamiliar to you, how about some fun sun facts courtesy of NASA…
* The sun is about 4.6 billion years old and is comprised of 92.1% Hydrogen, 7.8% Helium and a small amount of heavier elements.
* The sun weighs 4,385,214,857,119,400,000,000,000,000,000 lbs, or about 333,060 times what Earth weighs.
* The sun is about 864,337 miles across at its equator, or about 109 times as wide as Earth.
* On average the sun is about 92.96 million miles away from Earth. BUT, the sun is actually a bit closer to us in early January (yes, our winter!) and a little farther away in early July (yes, our summer!).
* The surface of the sun is about 10,000 degrees F. Here’s a scary side note to keep in mind the next time you hear thunder…lightning is about 50,000 degrees F…that’s 5 times hotter than the surface of the sun!! (The core of the sun is much hotter though.)
* The sun also rotates, just like Earth, but it takes the sun about 26.8 days to complete one rotation. Earth takes about 24 hours as you know.
* Coincidentally, there will be a little black spot on the sun on Monday…that would be Mercury. Mercury passes between Earth and the sun only about 13 times a century, its last trek taking place in 2006. This "transit," as astronomers call it, will occur between 7:12 a.m. and 2:42 p.m. EDT. Due to Mercury’s small size, unlike a total eclipse, viewing this event safely requires a telescope or high-powered binoculars fitted with solar filters made of specially-coated glass or Mylar. If you don’t have the necessary equipment to see it, check out NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory for great images and live video.
When will we finally see the sun?!? A brief round of showers is likely around midday on Mother’s Day due to a cold front. Here’s the catch…the air behind the front isn’t much colder, but it is much DRIER. So, skies will begin to clear by dinnertime and stay that way for the most part for several days!!
Some passing clouds are likely on Monday as a weak disturbance passes by to our north. Either way, there will still be more sun on Monday than we have seen in over a week. The sunshine will help temps rebound to the mid 60s. There will be enough of an offshore wind to prevent a sea breeze so even the coast will be mild!
Nothing but sunshine is expected on Tuesday and temps will continue to climb to the mid and upper 60s.
This trend of warmer weather and mainly sunny skies continues through Wednesday and Thursday. However, winds will be lighter by then and a sea breeze will probably develop. So, the interior sections will warm to the low 70s but the coast will be much cooler.
One more catch…clear air warms up very quickly, but it also cools off very quickly. So, the daytime temps will be slightly warmer than normal, but the nighttime temps will be slightly cooler than normal for most of this week.
Enjoy the sun!!