Last chance for Leonid meteor storm.

Big Meteor Show for Europe, N. America:

"Usually the Leonid meteor shower is not particularly intense - only 10-15 meteors pr hour. However, they have the potential of giving a real meteor storm.
History shows the Leonids have a dramatic peak with approximately 33 years of periodicity. Huge meteor storms were seen in 1799, 1833 and 1866. The meteor storm of 1799 was seen from Europe and South America and the famous German discoverer Alexander Humboldt wrote from Chile.
The night between November 11 and 12 was calm and beautiful. ... During 4 hours we observed thousands of huge fireballs, often with a brightness like Jupiter. Long smoketrails were left behind, lasting 7-8 seconds, often the meteors exploded leaving trails too.
In the following years the Leonid meteor storm vanished, but during 1831, 1832 and 1833 the storm regained its strength. In 1832, on the night between November 12 and 13, huge meteor streams were observed above France, Holland, Switzerland and Russia. One observer in Boston counted 8660 meteors during 15 minutes.
On the night of November 12-13 in 1833 probably the most dramatic meteor storm ever appeared. Huge displays were observed above the USA; during the 3 hours of maximum.
.The most recent storm which took place on November 17, 1966 and it was a complete surprise. Astonished observers in the USA could record a peak of 25,000 meteors during 15 minutes."

November the 18th (Mon 12 am to dawn best time) is the last chance for at least 33 years to see a "Storm". My astronomy prof. saw the storm in 1966 and said it was the most incredible thing he had ever witnessed. Monday is going to be a long day, but worth it for a once in a lifetime display.
Edit: Meteor shower starts on the 15th and peaks Nov 19th Tue. morning between midnight and dawn. Fri, Sat, and Sun will have nice views of the shower and the moon will set earlier leaving the sky dark.

 

Well you have to be on the right side of the planet, the storm is short lived. I'm much to lazy to actually travel to see this, but I couldn't afford to go around the world anyway. I'm from Texas bring the darn thing to me.

 

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20021111/leonids.html
FYI- This article from Dicovery is saying the peak is on Nov. 19th.
Two all nighters would be tough.

 

Thanks for the link Cohen, I think its going to be a late Sat. night and Mon. (Tue morning) now to play it safe in case of rain or clouds on the 19th. Hopefully we'll get lucky and catch the big show...