Skygazers could get quite a show early Tuesday morning.

The Leonid Meteor Shower peaks this year on November 17th.  The shower begins on Tuesday morning at around 4a.m. with a sprinkling of 20 to 30 meteors per hour over North America. 

Man went to the moon in 1969 and ... forty years later, we find water.

For some, this is a big discovery.  For others, not so much.

Over the past year, the buzz about paper, plastic and reusable bags has grown louder and louder by the day.

In the past two years alone, four states have enacted mandatory plastic bag recycling.

But what’s the big deal?  Why do folks care?

Well, as we get down to the bottom of the plastic bag, you might be surprised at what is found.

Sand gnats.  They go by several names:  No-see ums, punkies, blood-sucking vampires, sand fleas, etc. 

I don’t care what you call them.  They are simply terrible, and I’m ready for them to go.

The rain isn’t falling now, but it doesn’t matter.  Parts of the central and lower Mississippi River basin continue to flood.

Thump, bump, crunch!

Road Kill.

This time of year can be extremely rough on the wildlife in our area.

The Savannah River is the most polluted river in the state and among the most polluted in the country, according to a report just released by Environment Georgia.

Higher toxic chemical loads were found only for the Ohio, New and Mississippi Rivers.

Drastic temperature swings are incredibly hard on our leafy plant friends, and it can even cause big problems for our pets. 

But can weather ups and downs make humans sick?

It’s called the Float House.  And it could ride out New Orleans’ floods.

This week, Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation debuted the Float house, which aims to answer the challenge posed by the Big Easy’s flood risk.

The forecast is rain free, and it will stay rain-free for days.  This is good news not only to us here in the Coastal Empire and Lowcountry, but it’s especially good news to those who saw recent flooding rains.

The American Red Cross began client casework today as preliminary damage assessment shows that nearly 2,000 homes have been affected by flooding in 20 counties in the Southeast.

The death toll just now climbed to seven when rescuers found a victim of flooding in Chattooga County. 
Two teen-age boys waded into the water Monday afternoon to help someone they believed was trapped in a Jeep.  Both boys were swept away but one of them was rescued quickly.  Volunteers and Chattooga County emergency officials searched overnight before finding the body of the second teen.

It’s all so sad and unfortunate, but some of these deaths could have been avoided. 

Just a few days ago…it was supposed to be the peak date for tropical cyclones in the Atlantic.  But it has only bee quiet.  Why?

I enjoy all four seasons, and I especially enjoy when it first begins to change.

But there’s one thing I am not ready to give up just yet…and that’s the farmers market at Forsyth Park in Savannah.

Packing school lunches day after day, it can be a tedious and seemingly endless chore.  But with more than 50 million children eating lunch in schools across the country every day, the real burden is on the planet.

But there are things you can do to help. 

Making the best of a bad situation…

This is happening in a small south-central Kansas town.  Working to rebuild after a deadly tornado in May 2007, mangled nearly every building in town.  The new approach is for Greensburg to be reborn, “Better, Stronger, Greener.“

Down South, tornadoes often strike at night, when many of us are asleep.

For some of us, a tornado siren is enough to wake us up and spring us into action.  But what about those who don’t live near a tornado siren?  It’s a situation that presents a whole new problem.

So in an attempt to improve warnings, officials in Haskell, Arkansas, have been handing out weather radios, FREE OF CHARGE.  But they’re encountering one problem.  PEOPLE DON’T WANT THEM, even for FREE. 

Nothing, absolutely nothing.  It has been a quiet hurricane season so far, but things are starting to fire up.

When it comes to tornadoes, you can’t always see them coming.

Vegetation, rain, time of day and air quality all impact the visibility. 

Today in Glynn County, the public reported seeing a tornado near Jekyll Island.  In this thunderstorm, excessive rainfall was falling, which would make it difficult for many to even see the tornado.  This can the situation even more dangerous.  Because if you can’t see something coming, you may not take action.

Jellyfish…they are inflicting painful stings on swimmers along the shores of South Carolina and Georgia. 

Just yesterday, nearly 600 stings were reported on Tybee!  This number is extremely high. 

Weather and climate can really affect how we feel. 

For example, many suffer from the “winter blues” every year.  Many arthritis patients say they can feel the weather “in their bones.“ 

Well now, some doctors say you can also feel the weather in your head.

Flooding, golf ball sized hail, downed trees and powerlines…yesterday’s storms wreaked havoc for many in the Lowcountry and Coastal Empire.

Even one man in Burton got struck by lightning. 

Here at WSAV, we too took a hit.  And I have behind the scenes tour for you to check out!

We are now winding down July 2009, and we haven’t even had our first tropical storm!!!  The Atlantic Hurricane season is dead…at least for now.

We haven’t had a tropical storm, a tropical depression or even a strong tropical wave.  It’s just amazing. 

The atmosphere just can’t seem to get going, and there’s nothing on the horizon for the beginning of August.  This means the first two months of the season will end with NO activity.

So why is this happening?
Well, experts say there are two main reasons.

Nationwide, it’s estimated that 100 people drown from rip currents every year, and it’s NOT JUST IN THE OCEAN.

It can also happen in the Great Lakes.

Before moving here to beautiful Savannah, I worked in Michigan.  And there is one event I will never forget.

Making sacrifices for the environment

During Lent this year, reverends called for a “carbon fast.“

An impressive waterspout was spotted this morning by the Tybee Island Ocean Rescue.  The photo of the waterspout was taken by Lt. Todd Horne.

Waterspouts are basically tornadoes over water.  They can have winds speeds up to 190mph, so they shouldn’t be taken lightly.  They actually can be quite dangerous.

Some experts say that “a significant fraction of the so-called Bermuda Triangle incidents are from waterspouts.“

So…if you’re out in the water on a boat, would you know what to do if a waterspout formed?  Here’s what to do.

Here it is mid-July, and the tropics are very quiet.  And it looks like it will stay that way for a while.

One reason why it will stay quiet may seem a little strange.  It’s dust.

NASA is hoping to launch the space shuttle Endeavour Wednesday evening.  This is all if showers and thunderstorms don’t force the space agency to scrub liftoff yet again.

Weather is THE greatest cause of space shuttle launch delays.  Sometimes even just a few clouds or light rain can delay a launch. 

In July, more people are struck and killed by lightning than any other time of year.  And unfortunately, another fatality was reported today.

In Melbourne Beach, an elderly man was fatally struck at the beach near Ocean Avenue after suffering a direct hit (according to WESH 2 News). 

The holiday weekend is almost here, and July 4th is a time we tend to throw caution to the wind…take a moment to relax…and enjoy the long weekend and celebrate our country’s Independence.

That doesn’t mean that in our celebration we should forget about the environment. 

There are some ways you can go green and enjoy and eco-friendly July 4th.

It’s hot and it’s humid.  Most of us don’t want to leave the comfort of air conditioning.  And if we do decide to get out, it better be the beach or a pool…anything to provide relief.

Well, try telling this to little kids.  I know with my kids…once they get an idea, they will beg and beg to make it happen.

This even happens with going to the playground.  But when it’s this hot…you have to put say NO because it may not be safe.