News - Blogs - A reason to be glad Earth is 93 million miles from the sun

A reason to be glad Earth is 93 million miles from the sun
Published: 9/5/2012 2:20 PM
Last Modified: 9/5/2012 2:27 PM

It’s time for another reminder about how tiny we all are and how mind-boggling enormous and vast this universe is.

Late last week, our sun spit out a corneal mass ejection that was massive and wildly impressive. The CME, an enormous release of radiation and solar matter from the surface of the sun, shot particles into space at more than 900 miles per second. The CME did not shoot directly at Earth, but its effects were still seen on this planet (which is about 93 million miles away from the sun, by the way) in the form of aurora borealis.

The good folks over at NASA managed to grab a high definition photo of last week’s CME and impressive is an understatement.

For some perspective, they showed an image of Earth next to the CME to show just how enormous it would be.

Image courtesy of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Solar Dynamics Observatory

Click here to see the full size and resolution of the photo for the full picture. Also, check out the Solar Dynamics Observatory website for more amazing photos of the sun than you can handle.

So, good thing we aren't really that close to the sun...

And hey, while you're here, let's take a look at the weather for a tiny speck on that tiny planet.

Currently, it feels like we're that close to the CME, with temperatures climbing into the triple digits at 900 miles per second. But very soon we can expect some relief in both temperatures and drought. There is a 50 percent chance of rain here Friday with highs this weekend forecast to stay below 80. I know, I know. I'll believe it when I see it. That would be about a 40-degree temperature change between today's high and Saturday's forecast low.

Is that fall I smell?

--Jerry Wofford

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Almanac

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec

	Temperature		Precipitation
Date	High Temp	Low Temp	Total	Month to date	Historical average
1	44°	16°	0	0.00	0.05
2	59°	24°	0	0.00	0.11
3	57°	33°	0	0.00	0.16
4	68°	37°	Trace	0.00	0.21
5	69°	29°	0	0.00	0.26
6	66°	33°	0	0.00	0.32
7	59°	38°	0.05	0.05	0.38
8	51°	34°	0	0.05	0.44
9	44°	36°	0.01	0.06	0.51
10	62°	37°	0.07	0.13	0.57
11	54°	28°	0	0.13	0.64
12	44°	30°	0.25	0.38	0.70
13	55°	40°	0.01	0.39	0.76
14	°	°			0.83
15	°	°			0.89
16	°	°			0.95
17	°	°			1.02
18	°	°			1.09
19	°	°			1.16
20	°	°			1.23
21	°	°			1.31
22	°	°			1.38
23	°	°			1.46
24	°	°			1.53
25	°	°			1.61
26	°	°			1.69
27	°	°			1.77
28	°	°			1.85

TEMPERATURE

RAINFALL

SNOWFALL

Weather World

Follow Jerry Wofford on Twitter for updates during severe weather conditions.

Tulsa weather milestones of 2013 (as of Feb. 12)

Highest temperature: 70 on Jan. 11 (Record: 115 on Aug. 15, 1936)
Lowest temperature: 15 on Jan. 16 (Record: Minus-16 on Jan. 22, 1930)
Hottest month (average): 40.5 degrees in January (Record: 91.7 degrees on July 1980)
Coldest month (average): 40. 5 degrees in January (Record: 21.7 in January 1918)
Most snowfall (day): 0.1 of an inch on Feb. 12(Record: 13.2 inches on Feb. 1, 2011)
Most snowfall (month): 0.1 of an inch in February(Record: 22.5 inches in February 2011)
Most rainfall (day): 0.91 of an inch on Jan. 29 (Record: 9.27 inches on May 26-27, 1984)
Most rainfall (month): 1.54 of an inch in January (Record: 18.18 inches on September 1971)
Highest wind speed: 30 mph on Jan. 30
Previous day with any rain: Feb. 12
Previous day with 1 inch or more of rain: Oct. 17, 2012
Previous day with any snow: Feb. 12
Previous day with freezing temperatures: Feb. 12
Read regular updates on Oklahoma's unpredictable weather and learn more about meteorology from the Tulsa office of the National Weather Service.

>> Visit the main weather page
>> Send us your weather photos
>> Meet the forecasters

Contributors
Staff Writer Althea Peterson started writing for the Tulsa World in March 2007 after previous stops at the Norman Transcript in 2006 and the Oklahoma Gazette in 2005. She followed her older brother from rural Wisconsin (with a public school that never seemed to call snow days) to the University of Oklahoma, but did not follow his pursuit to study meteorology. However, she tries to find as many opportunities to report on the weather as possible.

Staff Writer Jerry Wofford came to the Tulsa World in 2010 from The Manhattan Mercury in Manhattan, Kan. Originally from western Arkansas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Jerry has lived in Tornado Alley his entire life and is one of those people who goes outside when the sirens go off.

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