Tuesday featured cloudy skies, much colder temperatures, and precipitation most of the day (0.69″) of first rain, then sleet, then snow, mostly light (snow/sleet/ice total 0.8″). Temperatures started out in the low 40s, but slowly dropped into the 30s (36° when the rain commenced around 0600) then down to 33° by mid-morning when sleet then snow mixed in, further dropping the temperature to around 30° where it would stay the rest of the day. The Tuesday maximum temperature from the VP2 (43.4°) was recorded at 0000 while the minimum temperature (29.6°) was recorded at 2131. Dew point temperatures didn’t vary much with all the precipitation most of the day, a bit higher than yesterday, ranging from a high of 33° at 0007 down to a low of 28° at 1821. Relative humidity values predictably raised today (93% – 65%). Barometric values were lower than yesterday, ranging from an early high of 29.91″ at 0145 down to a low of 29.75″ much later at 2228.

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.

I was up early on Tuesday as I went to sleep earlier than usual. I was monitoring the storm all day, talking with Ray and Marty about it and comparing storm data.  I took one GLOBE observation out of this afternoon’s overcast, but with most clouds “obscured” from low clouds of fog and precipitation, there isn’t very much to report, though I did post my usual 5 pictures. One of them, looking directly up, is today’s featured image, taken about 1430. I continue to battle with the problem of sending out email through gmail and verizon through Thunderbird, as the outgoing SMTP mail server keeps timing out. Rebooting (warm or cold) keeps working as the only solution. I googled the error message I keep getting and I am going through all those scenarios at the present time. 

We really got light precipitation most of the day, and as it cooled to and below the freezing mark changing from rain to sleet then snow, but always light as I observed all day. Temperatures stayed in the mid-low 30s most of the day, and around 30° in the evening. Overnight Tuesday into Wednesday clouds and occasional light precipitation continues to fall. Temperatures remained steady all night around 30°. That was still cold enough to freeze up the precipitation collected in the VP2 rain gauge, so I am not getting any more precipitation recorded through that system. I went out to my gauge just after midnight amidst very light mixed precipitation and traded out my cocorahs outer cylinders, and brought the Tuesday “catch” in to melt it and measure it (0.69″). I have my doubts that originally forecasted amounts of total snow of 8-12 inches will be overforecast, as the radar doesn’t look that impressive to me. High temps on Wednesday temperatures will max out just above the freezing mark in the low-mid 30s, lows in the upper 20s. There is officially a 100 POP for snow on Wednesday. Thursday through Saturday will eventually should clear out, at least partially so with highs in the low 40s and lows in the low-mid 20s. Sunday looks to be mostly cloudy with similar low 40s/mid 20s temperatures.

On the Channel 4 weather website at 0610 radar is showing most of the region in snow right now, with mixed precipitation/rain to the south and east of I-95. There is a still a WINTER STORM WARNING posted currently, effective most all of Wednesday.

As of 0610, 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:

Cloudy, cold, light snow falling occasionally

Station Relative Location Temp RH DP   BP    Wind High/Low temp Tuesday
VP2          Ground           30.3  94 29 29.66″F NA     43.4/29.6

The total precipitation in the cocorahs gauge was 0.69″ through midnight Tuesday. The VP2 tipping bucket rain gauge under my balcony froze up and stopped recording additional precipitation in the late afternoon after 0.46″ was recorded (hence through midnight Tuesday). My tipping bucket has not recorded any further precipitation since midnight up through the current time.

Tuesday’s precipitation was 0.69″
March precipitation is 1.13″.
Monday’s snowfall 0.8″
March snowfall 1.1″
Snow on ground 1″ (reported to the nearest half-inch)
The seasonal snowfall total is 8.6″.
Year-to-date precipitation total is 7.76″

WX Bug Lakewood 4500 ft, 30 100 30 29.64″F Calm G Calm (could be frozen anemometer cups)
140° from station 41/27 T
The Lakewood rain gauge recorded 0.23″ of precipitation on Tuesday. It is now reporting a total of 1.11″ of precipitation so far in March and a 2018 year-to-date (YTD) amount of 8.61″. So far today it has recorded an additional 0.06″ of precipitation.

At 2400 obs Wednesday night the temperature from the VP2 was 30.3 RH 93% BP 29.78″S DP 28.5.

Cloudy, cold, light snow falling occasionally, 1″ of snow on the ground as of 2400

Good early morning from the cloudy, cold, slighly snowy home of the Snowywalrus early on this Wednesday.