Saturday started out cloudy, with dense fog moving in around 0700 and not burning off till around 0915 along with low temps in the upper 40s to low 50s. Visibility was down to less than 0.1 mile, as I could barely see the building across the street. I don’t recall ever seeing that dense a fog since I moved into my apartment early last year. Skies became partly cloudy with sun, as high temps reached the mid 70s by the mid-afternoon. Afternoon heating and an approaching frontal system caused a fairly rapid development of cumulus and stratocumulus, with scattered light showers falling in the region (0.01″ here at my location) and increasing SW winds that shifted NW later. In the evening skies started to clear out, the winds continued, and the temps started to drop though the 60s and most of the 50s. The Saturday maximum temperature was 74.6 @ 1534 while the Saturday minimum temperature was 49.3 @ 0652. The dew point temperatures rose a bit today then fell off late in the evening, ranging from a high of 58 @ 1049 down to a low of 40 much later @ 2349. The barometric pressure remained relatively low most of the day, but turned up late in the evening, reaching its daily minimum value of 29.71″ at 1643 right around the frontal shower action up to its high for the day of 29.98″ later @ 2355. Relative humidity started out high, particularly during the dense fog around sunrise but lowering through the day till the later part of the afternoon, reaching its high at 97% @ 0805, then decreasing through till the later afternoon, reaching its daily low of 31% @ 1651.

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.

Saturday was mostly cloudy in the AM with dense fog between about 0700 and 0915 and seasonably cool in the AM, then warmed up quickly into the mid 70s by mid-afternoon, after which convective type clouds moved in along with increasing NW breezes picking up with scattered light showers (0.01″) in the region during the FROPA. Cooler, breezy and cooler in the evening up through obs, temps falling into the low 50s by midnight. Overnight into Sunday skies cleared up and the temps dropped into the low 40s by sunrise with continued breezes. Proceeding into Sunday afternoon skies have clouded up some, cumulus and stratocumulus forming mostly a partial overcast with some sun but not too much so far. Breezes and cool temperatures have continued, with temps only rising into the low 50s so far. My daughter Tracy sent me some pics from her phone from Nats Park with the game just underway – to me she looked cold in the picture!! (see below – also see today’s featured image of the park and part of the sky at the start of the game around 1335 EDT) 

Temps tonight should be down in the mid-upper 30s, perhaps a chance at frost in the normally colder locations (not where I am unfortunately). Monday should warm up into the upper 60s with sunny skies and lows in the mid-upper 40s. Tuesday at the start of May should keep warming up, with highs in the upper 70s and lows in the mid 50s under sunny skies. Wednesday warms up even more, under mostly sunny skies with highs in the mid 80s and lows in the low 60s. Thursday should warm up some more, with highs in the mid-upper 80s and lows in the mid 60s. Outlook for the rest of the week looks to have this early season hot spell to continue with highs in the mid-upper 80s, lows in the 60s under mostly sunny skies, with the threat of rain/storms on Friday as a front approaches and should work to cool us off a bit in time for the weekend hopefully.

On the Channel 4 radar at 1510 showers are falling through a bit of northern PA, much of northern NY State and northern New England, with even some snow mixed in in favorable spots in upstate New York. It looks like the colder air hasn’t quite made it into New England yet as they appear to be only getting rain right now.

As of 1510 Sunday, 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 WX Bug station are as follows:

Partly sunny, cool and breezy – nice day!!

Station Relative Location Temp   RH    DP     BP      Wind High/Low temp Saturday
VP2           Ground          52.8°  50%  35° 30.12″S   NA     74.6/49.3

The total precipitation in the cocorahs gauge was 0.01″ through midnight Saturday. The VP2 tipping bucket rain gauge under my balcony also recorded 0.01″ through midnight Saturday. Since midnight it has recorded an additional 0.01″ of rainfall probably a very small, partial drip through from the backed up water in the gauge. It really hasn’t started to start to catch up as the water will start seeping more through the blockage.

Saturday’s precipitation was 0.01″
April precipitation 3.57″
April snowfall 0.0″ (will be reported till the end of April – I just brought in my snowboard Friday night)
The seasonal snowfall total is 12.0″.
Year-to-date precipitation total is 11.74″

WX Bug Lakewood 4500 ft, 51 45 30 30.11″S WNW 3 G WNW 26
                            140° from station                  76/48
The Lakewood rain gauge reported 0.00″ of precipitation on Saturday. It is now reporting a total of 3.84″ of precipitation for April and a 2018 year-to-date (YTD) amount of 14.72″. I still believe at times the great disparity between the Lakewood WX Bug station precipitation amount total for the month and year and my cocorahs gauge based data is that the Lakewood precip values are estimated/adjusted from radar.

At 2400 obs Friday night the temperature from the VP2 was 52.8 RH 61% BP 29.97″R DP 39.7
Clear, cooler, drying out at 2400

Good afternoon from the partly sunny, cool, and dry home of the snowless walrus on this Sunday.