The “heat wave” continues !!! We easily topped the 90° mark again today. In fact our 95.8° high today was the hottest temperature so far this year. We had a brilliantly sunny day, with a strong heat ridge over much of the Eastern US. The sinking air inhibits much if any cloud development. Overnight into Tuesday skies have remained clear with lows at sunrise in the mid 70s. The Monday maximum temperature was 95.8° @ 1526, while the Monday minimum temperature was 74.6° @ 0553. The dew point temperatures rose more today, hitting that rare 80° mark, ranging from a high of 80° @ 1149 down to a low of 71° @ 1322. The barometric pressure duplcated Monday’s values – the lowest value being 30.01″ @ 1615 up to a high of 30.10″ @ 2350. The relative humidity was a bit above yesterday’s, ranging from a high of 96% at 0648 down to a low of 46% at 1322.

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 precipitation data reflects what is recorded automatically through the tipping bucket VP2 gauge. I actually use the data I post to cocorahs from my 4″ cocorahs gauge I read manually as my “official” precipitation total each day.

Our heat wave marched on all day Monday. A heat advisory for the entire region (except for the high mountains to the West) is still in effect from Noon till 2000. What made it worse was the continued rise of the dew point temperature in the afternoon when values mostly stayed in the 70s all day and reached that rare 80° mark around noontime. The heat index (feels-like) temperature maxed out at 110° at the same time as the highest air temperature for the day around 1526. Monday did not quite make it to the predicted high of 98° (actual high temp of 95.8°) with lows in the mid 70s. Tuesday will be partly cloudy but a few degrees “cooler” with highs around 94° and lows in the mid 70s. Fourth of July Wednesday should be partly cloudy and a tad “cooler” with highs around 90° and lows in the low 70s. Thursday looks to be partly cloudy with highs in the upper 80s and lows in the mid 70s with a 50 POP for AM thunderstorms. Friday continues with a storm threat and an 80 POP for thunderstorms with highs in the mid 80s and lows in the mid 60s. Saturday is predicted to be partly cloudy with highs in the upper 70s and lows around 60°. But stay tuned, that could change as the week proceeds.

At 0840, Channel 4 radar is showing no action at all in the 4-state Mid-Atlantic region. Closest action are showers/storms over western Lake Superior into much of northern MN, and also in North Dakota. These storms appear to be moving NE over top of our infernal heat ridge. A tropical disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico is giving much of Louisiana scattered showers. They are not moving much, and most certainly not towards Maryland.

At 0840, 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:

Sunny, hot and muggy

Station Relative Location Temp  RH   DP     BP    Wind High/Low temp on Monday
VP2            Ground            84.6° 72% 75° 30.16″R NA       95.8°/74.6°

The total precipitation in the cocorahs gauge was 0.00″ through midnight Monday. The VP2 tipping bucket also had 0.00″. I think the generally greater amount in the VP2 tipping bucket rain gauge recently has been at least partially due to its proximity to a dense evergreen tree that frequently drips down and then blows the “catch” into the gauge. I mostly use this gauge to tell me when and how hard it rained. Marty will be visiting soon and make some necessary changes to the rain gauges that should help improve performance.

Monday’s precipitation was 0.00″
June final precipitation total is 3.77″
July precipitation total is 0.00″
Year-to-date precipitation total 22.19″

WX Bug Lakewood 4500 ft, 85° 61% 71° 30.21″S NNE 3 G N 9 
                              140° from station                     98°/73°
The Lakewood rain gauge recorded 0.00″ of rain on Monday. The precip records have been updated and now carry a July total precip of 0.00″ with the 2018 year-to-date (YTD) amount still at 34.41″. I definitely continue to believe that at times the disparities 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 Monday night the temperature from the VP2 was 82.7° RH 80% BP 30.09″R DP 76.0°
Clear, warm, muggy at 2400 Monday

Good morning from the sunny, warm and muggy home of the Walrus early on this Tuesday.