  We observed dynamically new sungrazing comet ISON (C/2012 S1) extensively at
Lowell Observatory throughout 2013 in order to characterize its behavior prior
to perihelion. ISON had "typical" abundances for an Oort Cloud comet. Its dust
production, as measured by Afrho, remained nearly constant during the
apparition but its CN gas production increased by ~50x. The minimum active area
necessary to support observed water production rates exceeded the likely
surface area of the nucleus and suggests a population of icy grains in the
coma. Together with the flattening of the dust radial profile over time, this
is consistent with ejection of a large quantity of slow moving dust and icy
grains in the coma at large heliocentric distance. The dust morphology was
dominated by the tail, but a faint sunward dust fan was detected in March,
April, May, and September. We imaged multiple gas species in September,
October, and November. Excess CN signal was observed in the sunward hemisphere
in September and early October. In November the excess CN signal was in the
tailward hemisphere and two faint CN features appeared approximately orthogonal
to the tail with position angles varying by about +/-20 degrees from night to
night. Using numerical modeling, we best reproduced the orientation and shape
of these features as well as the bulk brightness with a pole oriented
approximately towards the Sun and a single source located within ~35 degrees of
the equator. The production rates and coma morphology suggest a nucleus that
was active over nearly its entire sunward facing hemisphere in September and
October but which underwent a significant mass loss event, potentially
including fragmentation, shortly before November 1. Significant mass loss
likely continued at the same site over subsequent days/weeks and may have
catastrophically weakened the nucleus prior to perihelion.
