Category: Eye on the Sky | Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium's Blog

February Weather

Posted: February 1, 2021| Categories: Eye on the Sky, Skywatch Almanac Weather, What's Happening

We are now entering the second half of winter, which has a very different character. There is still a tremendous capacity for snow and cold, so it is not surprising that February holds the record for the snowiest month in many places, as well as the coldest. Yet the sun… Read More

February Astronomy

Posted: February 1, 2021| Categories: Eye on the Sky, Skywatch Almanac Astronomy

Orion dominates our February evenings, striding mid-way up from the southern horizon by 8 o’clock, accompanied by the brightest star in our night skies, Sirius, below and left of Orion, marking the nose of the Great Dog. High in the south, Taurus, the Bull charges at Orion, as the Big… Read More

December Weather

Posted: December 1, 2020| Categories: Eye on the Sky, Skywatch Almanac Weather

The darkest days of the year are not helped by the fact that they are also the cloudiest. This darkness is complete across the arctic regions, and nearly so in the sub-arctic, providing an increasing source of cold air that causes the average temperatures to drop nearly 15 degrees, and… Read More

October Weather

Posted: October 5, 2020| Categories: Eye on the Sky, Mark Breen, Skywatch Almanac Weather, Weather

Autumn’s stumbling progression is the very essence of October. There are moments still of grace and reprieve, enough that a true optimist might still hope beyond hope that the frost will wait another month. There are days of dark, laden skies, the clouds like a cloak that weighs us down… Read More

September Weather

Posted: September 3, 2020| Categories: Eye on the Sky, Fairbanks Museum, Skywatch Almanac Weather

When the calendar flips to September, we expect change, though we are not always ready to accept it. The key to all of the changes in September is the loss of daylight hours, amounting to 90 minutes or so. The longer nights and shorter days set the stage for cooler… Read More

July Weather

Posted: July 10, 2019| Categories: Eye on the Sky, Skywatch Almanac Weather

With our weather’s reputation for such variety and changeability, it is hard to imagine there is a time that it ever quiets down. However, the heart of summer in July features some of our laziest weather patterns. But we are not alone in this situation, for the better part of… Read More

May Weather

Posted: May 1, 2019| Categories: Eye on the Sky, Skywatch Almanac Weather

May’s beauty is more than just a poet’s notion. Apples and lilacs perfume the air, the trees and meadows display every shade of green possible, and the fresh blue skies are not yet spoiled with summer haze. The gardens are being planted, and the first fields are mown for hay. … Read More

Skywatch Astronomy

Posted: March 4, 2019| Categories: Eye on the Sky, Skywatch Almanac Astronomy

In March, Orion settles into the southwest for some great evening views. The evenings also feature the Big Dipper rising in the northeast, looking like a giant question mark. Follow the “handle” toward the horizon, where the star Arcturus rises by 9 o’clock. Venus sits quite low in the east… Read More

March 1, 4:00 – 5:30PM

Posted: February 22, 2019| Categories: Eye on the Sky, Fairbanks Museum

125 years of weather observation! On March 1st, 1894, the Fairbanks Museum was officially accepted as an observation site for the US Weather Bureau. Join us as we celebrate this milestone! At 4:00 our Eye on the Sky team marks the anniversary by taking the daily weather observations. A reception… Read More

January Weather

Posted: January 8, 2019| Categories: Eye on the Sky, Skywatch Almanac Weather

The month of January is named after the Roman god “Janus”, the two-faced deity, often associated with doors. Of course we could also apply this to January’s weather, which commands the coldest and snowiest weather most every winter. Yet within the month is winter’s contradiction, the January thaw. Though it… Read More