Did you see the sunset last Friday?

With an abnormally nice stretch of weather this week, there isn't much to talk about. Several people submitted photos on semissourian.com showing the spectacular sunset and rainbow that appeared last Friday, Oct. 30, at the end of the big rainstorm. (See here, here, and here.) At first the sunset seemed fairly ordinary with the sun just barely peeking through the clouds as it dropped to the horizon. Then I happened to glance to the east to find a jaw-dropping 180° rainbow. How often does this happen? Meanwhile, the view to the west kept getting better. The sky turned yellow: And then turned red, with even a hint of purple: If you were stuck inside Friday evening, you missed what was probably the best sunset of the year -- maybe even longer. ** Hurricane Ida The only interesting thing on the weather map today is Hurricane Ida, now menacing Nicaragua. Ida will weaken and possibly dissipate as it travels through Central America, but one of the computer models suggests that Ida could move north into the Gulf of Mexico and strengthen somewhat before crashing into the Louisiana coast. Oh joy! If the system holds together and doesn't veer off track, it could possibly impact our weather next week. ** Still need your opinion for our winter storm naming convention It looks like we're going with another season of "The Simpsons" unless the voting shifts soon:

What naming scheme should the Weather or Not Blog use for winter storms during 2009-2010?  Keep using "Simpsons" characters  Switch to "Family Guy" characters  Adopt names from rock groups or song titles  Use names of famous villains, criminals, and politicians from history  Go with something else

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