Out & About
OUTSEE
Northern lights forecast
A recently improved Web site is taking some of the guesswork out of when to make a Thermos of hot coffee, throw on a scarf and venture out into the cold night to take in the northern lights.
The Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks has revamped its Web site for aurora borealis watchers. The University of Alaska Fairbanks site offers interactive world maps and three forecasts: daily, extended and long-term.
Forecasting isn’t so important if you live in Fairbanks, which averages about 243 nights a year of auroral activity compared with 30 good “northern lights” shows a year just 360 miles south in Anchorage.
The forecasts are particularly helpful in the lower 48, where New York and Chicago get about 10 nights of aurora activity a year, Seattle between five and 10 nights, and New Orleans and San Francisco about one glimpse of the aurora each year.
More than 11,000 users have signed up for the site’s e-mail Aurora Alert service.
Check it out: www.gedds.alaska.edu/ AuroraForecast.
OUTMEDIA
Idaho lakes charted
Lake Coeur d’Alene map, from Northwest Map Service, $6.95.
The two-sided color product, which includes land topography and water depths, was released this year by Northwest Map Service. The map also covers Fernan Lake, the lower Coeur d’Alene River chain lakes and the Spokane River to Post Falls Dam.
Northwest Map and Travel Book Center, 525 W. Sprague Ave., is the most complete map and travel book service in the region.
Info: www.nwmaps.com or (509) 455-6981.
Lake Pend Oreille map, from TerraPen GeoGraphics in Sandpoint, $12.
Also published this year, this color map on waterproof paper gives general lake contours and uses shaded relief to show land topography.
Info: www.terrapen.com or (208) 265-8883.
OUTLOOK
Best fishing times
Lunar tables from the U.S. Naval Observatory list peak fishing times. Be fishing at least one hour before and one hour after given times. Applies to all time zones.
(* indicates best days.)
Through Nov. 19
* Today
6 a.m., 6:20 p.m.
* Monday
6:45 a.m., 7:05 p.m.
Tuesday
7:25 a.m., 7:45 p.m.
Wednesday
8:05 a.m., 8:25 p.m.
Thursday
8:45 a.m., 9:05 p.m.
Friday
9:25 a.m., 9:45 p.m.
Saturday
10:05 a.m., 10:25 p.m.
* Next Sunday
10:50 a.m., 11:10 p.m.