Some sunlight was very welcome after many days of freezing, rainy weather. As I tracked NOAA-18 over the Atlantic at only 31 degrees maximum elevation to the west, three women and a dog came over to ask what I was doing. One of them turned out to be a former physics teacher and professor, and we discussed satellite orbits. The small, short haired dog kept bouncing across my laptop.

During the pass I thought of a recent rebroadcast of a 1970s radio interview in which the host described February as a month that is 'honest'. It doesn't lead you to think that things are any different than they are. It is miserable, and everyone knows it. Cheerful holidays like Mardi Gras are balanced by Ash Wednesday. If you make it through February, the host said, you will make it through the year...