From: Peter V. Bias (pbias [at] flsouthern.edu) Date: Subject: In 1966, I was 13 years old and had no knowledge of meteors at all. But I happened to see in a Weekly Reader that there was some potential for a meteor storm, and it was that article that piqued my interest. So I set out to glimpse a meteor or two, not knowing exactly what I would see. Well, the big night came and of course it was completely cloudy over Cincinnati, Ohio. Every half hour or so I went out to see if it was clearing at all, but I could only see the bottoms of the clouds. Worse, on the radio were reports that the shower was being seen elsewhere and that it was growing more intense. Finally, around 5 AM EST in Cincinnati, the clouds started to break up just a bit. I was quickly witness to my first meteor ever. The Leonid shot straight overhead through a small seam in the clouds. Of Course I was thrilled, but I didn't have too much time to appreciate that first meteor as there were others seen within a minute. In Cincinnati the shower had not yet reached its peak (as a matter of fact, the shower only reached its peak during th daylight hours over Ohio) but there were plenty of meteors seen that morning. I think we counted around 75 meteors, even though we were watching out of the front window with the lights on behind us and most of teh sky still filled with clouds. I'm sure the ZHR was at least 10 to 20 times that amount although I have no data. All I know is that wherever there was a seam in the sky, it didn't take long before a Leonid shot through. Interestingly in retrospect, the meteors were not extremely bright like they were in the following two years of 1967 and 1968. All in all, it was one of the most memorable nights of my life, and I'm looking with great anticipation for a repeat performance by the Leonids this cycle.