‘Best meteor shower of the year’ peaks this week

Happy Monday and welcome to Beyond The Forecast!

We’re turning our attention to the night skies this week as what is considered to be the best meteor shower of the year, the Perseids, peaks.

Why is it called the Perseid meteor shower? The radiant point of the shower (where the meteors appear to be coming from) is the constellation Perseus.

Perseus is in the north-northeast sky, but you can actually see the meteors anywhere in the sky. It’s best to just look at the darkest part of the sky to give yourself the best chance.

This year, up to 60 meteors per hour can be seen at the peak of the shower Tuesday through Thursday nights. The best time to view? In the period between midnight and dawn.

The moon won’t be a factor this year, due to it being in a waxing crescent phase and setting in the evening.

Now to the question that you’re probably asking: will the weather be nice enough to see the show?

Well, it is summertime and we will be in a pretty active weather pattern with daily storm chances. Any areas that get rain during the day could see fog develop at night.

Forecast models are hinting at some clouds in the mix each night as well, so I’ve put our meteor shower visibility forecast in the “fair” category each night.

If you catch a photo of the shower this week, we want to see it! The best way to share with us is via the Pin It! feature on our weather app.

I already mentioned the daily storm chances, but we’ll also have high heat and humidity this week. Sounds like summer to me! Meteorologist Chris Michaels has a look at the forecast in our daily weather article.

You can always get specific forecast details for your zone, whether it’s the Roanoke Valley, Lynchburg area, the New River Valley or elsewhere around Southwest and Central Virginia, anytime at WSLS.com/weather. Know your zone!

In case you missed it, we’re posting great weather and science content on WSLS.com. Here are a few links from the past week to check out:

• Virginia Tech meteorology students, National Weather Service unite to close weather station gaps
• New theory: Earth’s longer days kick-started oxygen growth
• Rapid ice melt in Greenland has scientists concerned
• Impact of space station spin requires study, official says
• Forecasters: Hurricane season to be busier than 1st thought
• Massive forest fire in Greece still burning for 7th day

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— Justin McKee

Source: WSLS News 10