Bob Blog

Bob McDavitt's ideas for sailing around the South Pacific.
Disclaimer: Weather is a mix of pattern and chaos; these ideas are from the patterned world.
Compiled 07 September
Blood moon tonight
We are having a full moon locally Monday morning (6am in Auckland). And lunar perigee (closest earth-moon distance for the month) is on Wednesday. The moon is passing thru the earth's shadow tonight= a lunar eclipse. And since we are near perigee the moon is larger than normal so will receive some light that has gone thru the earth's atmosphere when in the outer or penumbral ring of the earth's shadow. This light is a brownish red (the blue part of its spectrum has been scattered away). Hence we are having A BLOOD MOON.

Timing in UTC on 7 September 2025
P1 Penumbral begins 1528UTC
U1 Partial begins 1627UTC
U2 Total begins 1730UTC
GE Greatest eclipse 1811UTC
U3 Total ends 1852UTC
U4 Partial ends 1956UTC
P4 Penumbral ends 2055 UTC
Moonset in Auckland is at 6:37am/ 1837UTC and in Sydney at 6:11am/2011UTC
So the kiwi may see a brief reddish glow on the setting moon, and the kangaroo gets to see most of the eclipse --- if the clouds don't get in the way.

A fortnight later we get the corresponding solar eclipse (moon shadow) which will be visible in New Zealand.
The sun will rise already partially eclipsed on Mon 22 Sep. In Auckland about 60% of the sun's disk will be covered. in Stewart Island as much as 75%
And this solar eclipse occurs one day before the vernal equinox.




TROPICS


. Minimal Tropical Storm Nongfa drenched parts of Vietnam that were already left soggy by Typhoon Kajiki a week before.
. Hurricane Kiko intensified to Category-3 force midway between Baja California and Hawaii and is expected to take a path north of Hawaii.
. Hurricane Lorena raked Baja California


Weather Zones

 Rain accumulation this week from Windy.com shows well defined SPCZ between Solomon Islands and Funafuti. There is a passing trough early this week between Tonga and Niue weakening late in the week over Southern Cooks and another over southern French Polynesia.

Wind accumulation from windy.com shows a windy area south of French Polynesia, and another over Coral Sea and west of Vanuatu. There are some gale wind zones southwest of NZ on the backside of L2 and also on the backside of L1.
Equinoctial gales.

LOWS and HIGHS
LOW L1 crossed NZ on Saturday and is expected to travel steadily to the east. Associated trough in the tropics expected to spread from Tonga to Niue next few days then fade over Southern Cooks. It is followed by a burst of rough SW swell.
HIGH H1 is expected to travel east and drift south to 35S.
Low L2 should travel quickly along 50S crossing NZ mid-week.
HIGH H2 is expected to travel east to northeast between 35S and 25S following the trough of L1.
Low L3 is expected to deepen into a storm over Vic/NSW on Wednesday and then weaken as it crosses the Tasman Sea May reach North Island on Friday, followed by a strong southwest flow.
H3 is expected to follow L3 across Vic/NSW by the weekend then travel NE across the Tasman Sea.
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Contact is bob@metbob.com or text 64277762212.
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