Frigid weather that slipped in on Sunday caused temperatures to plunge Monday morning to the lowest levels so far this fall. Readings tumbled into the upper teens and low 20s. In Springfield, the morning low was only 4 degrees off the record low of 15° set in 2018. Morning lows were also close to 20° below normal.
Another cold night is on the way with temperatures falling into the low to mid 20s quickly under clear skies and calm conditions.
If you can stomach the cold for a bit, you might be treated with a fireball. No, not the whiskey, but a bright shooting star produced by the Taurid Meteor Showers.
The showers have actually been going on since early October and will run into early December, but the peaks are occurring now. One occurred on Wednesday, November 5th, and the second is occurring around this time.
The origins of the two meteor showers are a little fuzzy, but they are believed to be related to Comet Encke and its ties to several asteroids. All of these celestial objects may have come from a much larger source that broke up about 20,000 years ago.
This year, the timing of the shower hasn’t been ideal, and it has nothing to do with the weather. The full Beaver Moon washed out most of the visible meteors last week, but it is waning now.
The meteor showers are named for the location of their radiant, the spot where the shooting stars appear to emanate from. That happens to be near the constellation Taurus…