Sunday featured sunny skies, warmer all day and in fact the warmest day (so far) of March, and warmest day since February 28 when I hit 63.3. Temperatures are once again warming quickly through the 40s this Monday morning, with highs in the 50s under sunny skies expected again today. During the mild afternoon around 1430, the Aqua Satellite flyover was occurring over my location, so I took my daily GLOBE cloud observation at that time. Today’s featured image was one of the images I recorded and sent into GLOBE. The sky was cloudless, but I did manage to catch a few contrails as shown here. The view is to the NW and the plane is heading SW I believe. The air was dry at flight level, so the contrail vapor trail was evaporating fast and not spreading. The Sunday maximum temperature from the VP2 (54.2°) was recorded at 1757 while the minimum temperature (31.5°) was recorded at 0725. Dew point temperatures were roughly the same as yesterday, ranging from a high of 31° at 0000 down to a low of 20° at 1048. Relative humidity values lowered a bit today (85% – 29%). Barometric values were also about the same today as yesterday, ranging from an early low of 29.89″ at 0028 up to a high of 30.04″ at 0945. I missed the taking of the VP2 data which I must do just prior to midnight, so I used my backup data recorded on Weather Underground.

Remember now you can get the VP2 data on Weatherlink. You can access the data through http://www.weatherlink.com/user/walrusman444

I am posting daily to weather underground. My ID is KMDROCKV200 and my station is called “Gardens of Traville.” Data is online, normally just about in real-time. The web address for my data on weather underground is: https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KMDrockv200#history/ I contribute daily to cocorahs as Rockville 2.8 WNW, Station ID MD-MG-115 on https://www.cocorahs.org/ Please remember that Weather Underground does not report snow data, and reflects what is recorded automatically through the tipping bucket VP2 gauge. I use the data I post to cocorahs as my “official” precipitation total each day.

It was clear and cold at sunrise early Sunday morning but warmed up quickly under the strong March sun, hitting the mid 50s by later in the afternoon. Overnight Sunday into Monday was clear and milder but still managed to lower to the freezing mark by sunrise. Monday should be partly cloudy and remaining warm, with high temps in the mid-upper 50s for highs and in the low-mid 30s for lows. On Tuesday and Wednesday incredulously temps will drop significantly, maxing out in the mid 30s for highs, lows in the mid-upper 20s, and a 100 POP for rain/snow on Tuesday and a 80 POP for snow on Wednesday. With the strong March sun and recent mild temps I don’t believe the snow that falls will accumulate a lot on the roads, mostly piling up on grassy areas. Several inches of snow are possible, but that remains to actually be seen. Normal high temps now are in the mid 50s and normal lows are in the low-mid 30s. We have not had an above normal day since the end of February/1st day of March. Thursday and Friday should clear out, partially so on Thursday with highs in the low 40s and sunny on Friday with highs in the mid 40s. Lows both nights should be in the mid 20s.

On the Channel 4 weather website at 1130 radar is showing clear skies in the 4 state mid-Atlantic region. The closest precipitation is off the South Carolina coast, tracking WNW through northern GA, southern TN in a jagged pattern of showers and thundershowers, and headed further west from there into AR and MO then further west as snow in Kansas and Nebraska.

As of 1130, the data from the VP2 (coming from the ground radiation shield about 4 feet off the ground just under and out from the balcony) and the Lakewood WXBug station are as follows:

Sunny, a few high clouds, warming up and dry.

Station Relative Location Temp RH DP BP Wind High/Low temp Sunday
VP2 Ground 53.3 36 27 29.93S NA 54.2/31.5

The total precipitation in the cocorahs gauge was 0.00″ through midnight Sunday. The VP2 tipping bucket rain gauge under my balcony had 0.00″ through midnight Sunday.

Sunday’s precipitation was 0
March precipitation is 0.44″.
Sunday’s snowfall 0
March snowfall 0.3″
Snow on ground 0 (reported to the nearest half-inch)
The seasonal snowfall total is 7.8″.
Year-to-date precipitation total is 7.07″

WX Bug Lakewood 4500 ft, 53 33 23 29.90″F NNE 3 G NE 9
140° from station 55/29 (estimated)

The Lakewood rain gauge recorded 0.00″ of precipitation on Sunday. It is now reporting a total of 1.05″ of precipitation so far in March and a 2018 year-to-date (YTD) amount of 8.56″.

At 2400 obs Wednesday night the temperature from the VP2 was 37.9 RH 60% BP 29.94″F DP 25.2.

Clear, a tad milder, dry, no snow on the ground

Good late morning from the sunny and milder home of the Walrus late on this Monday AM.