If you get a chance over the next week or more to take some extra time looking up into the night sky, it might be worth it. The Perseid meteor shower will be strengthening over the next week, and is predicted to peak during the morning hours on Tuesday Aug. 12th. At its peak 50-100 meteors per hour will be visible. A great website for meteor shower information and pictures is www.spaceweather.com. Check it out!Now for some personal information in this blog entry:It’s very obvious that I enjoy the weather; learning about the weather, forecasting the weather, etc. But when I was a child I remember many nights looking at the stars and wondering whether I wanted to be a meteorologist or an astronomer when I grew up. I grew up in the country and the stars were very bright at night. My sister and I were allowed to sleep on blankets in our backyard on nights with meteor showers. And we never missed the Perseid! It’s one of the best of the year, both because of the number of meteors possible, and because it is in the summer and it’s easy to camp out and watch! Don’t forget, if you make specific plans to go watch the big show next Monday night/Tuesday morning, make sure you get outside the city limits and away from the light pollution. Good luck!!I’ll update the blog more about this as we get closer and we have a forecast for watching the show.