We will experience the strongest wind gusts tonight and tomorrow since tropical storm Irene hit Connecticut on August 27th, 2011. The atmosphere is set up perfectly for a tight pressure gradient from a departing low and strong high pressure area moving in. As the low pressure deepens to our north and strengths there will be wind gusts of 50-60 mph or more at times. Example: When walking through the caverns of skyscrapers in New York City don’t you notice the high wind squeezed between the building? Same analogy with the high and low pressure areas. The closer the high and low pressure areas are together, the stronger the “pressure gradient”, and the stronger the winds. On weather maps, lines of constant pressure are drawn which are called “isobars”. These isobars are usually labeled with their pressure value in millibars.

Picture taken tonight in West Hartford at 5:49pm
This year’s February presents the biggest full moon super moon of 2019. From around the world, the moon will look plenty full to the eye on both February 18 and February 19 as it parades across the nighttime sky. It reaches the crest of its full phase on February 19 for much of the world. What’s a supermoon? It’s a popularized term for what astronomers call a perigean full moon. In other words, it’s a full moon near perigee, or closest to Earth for this month. This February 2019 full moon reaches its exact full phase closer to the time of perigee than any other full moon this year. Hence the year’s closest super moon.