Todd Gross' Cape Cod and The Islands Weather Page!

Spring Peepers and Blooming - Signs of Spring

Each and every March, somewhere between the 10th and the 30th, (during the first extended mild period, usually a moist period as well) the Spring peepers, those noisy tree frogs that sound kind of like crickets emerge in area fresh water bogs. In some cases the sound they emit in unison can be deafening. While they are a sure sign of spring, there is usually one snowfall that happens after they come out on average. The size of a thumbnail, these tiny creatures fill themselves up with air, as you can see by clicking on the picture to the left. They let out that mating toot that becomes more shrill later in the season as they mature in early May. They probably will hold off until right after the cold snap due here through early next week, but they are sure to "hatch" later next week or certainly before April 1st.

LATE NOTE: THE FIRST PEEPERS WERE REPORTED TO ME THURSDAY OF THIS PAST WEEK RIGHT ON SCHEDULE... straight from the Cranberry bogs. Now, trilling wood frogs have been reported as well as of 3/27.

AND LOOK AT THIS SIGN OF SPRING, bulbs are now blooming through the area. This picture was taken on Monday on the Vineyard.

SPECIAL-->Incredible cloudless Monday

Save this map! Incredibly clear skies Monday with well over 100 mile visibility had resulted in this incredible satellite photograph obtained here at capeandislandsweather.com. Make sure to CLICK on this shot to appreciate the high resolution, including the sand on the beaches. The beaches I have read about , like in Sandwich , show up beautifully, I'm tempted more than ever to see them all. The beach up near Provincetown that shows up so nicely, and across towards Truro, I have already visited many times and is my favorite worldwide.

SUNSPOTS ARE BACK! - AND LOOK...

I looked through special filters at the sun the other day (shade 14 welders glass) and noticed there were NO sunspots. Well here it is, confirmation from NASA, we have hit sunspot "minimum", in the cycle that usually lasts for 11 years or so. If you click THIS LINK you will have an idea of what the sun usually looks like. You can find out about the activities of the sun at any time through SpaceWeather.Com. AND if you want to find out about some dire predictions about the solar maximum coming up in a few years CLICK HERE.

NOTE: IMAGE LEFT.. Sunspots have begun to return, and not only that, the grouping you see if you click on the photo left caused an aurora borealis (Northern Lights) which was caught by our own weather spotter John Lanoue. This was a subtle, but very true to how it looks aurorae in ultra dark Maine skies. I've made it my wallpaper!

INTERESTED IN ASTRONOMY, a FIREBALL was reported Wednesday night too, what is that? CLICK HERE

JUPITER'S NEW RED SPOT?

If this isn't a hoax, it is one of the biggest pieces of Astronomy News in a long time: A new Red Spot on Jupiter! What is the Great Red Spot? A huge hurricane ever-present storm on Jupiter that has been churning for centuries. Usually smaller "ovals" form, similar, but much smaller to the either red spot (which often look orange and not red at all)  but a truly new Red Spot  would be amazing, rare, and the big question.. is it there for the long haul. See the NASA link above, I hope this is for real.

GREAT SATELLITE PHOTO FROM MARCH 2nd STORM

Make sure to click on this image for one of the best satellite pictures you will ever see, even beyond some of the others I have been showing in recent days. A close up of SE Mass. shows clearly where there is snow on the ground and where there is not. Snow usually doesn't stick around long at this time of year, but with cold temperatures into midweek, it will this time round. Notice how Boston has no snow at all, and yet Providence received 6". Closer to home, Duxbury, covered in snow, yet Marshfield-Scituate, it is just about all gone!