The “heat wave” continued to its 5th day (max temps of 90° or more). We easily topped the 90° mark again today with our 95.7° high today that was just 0.1° “cooler” than yesterday. But due to even higher dew point values, the max heat index temperature reached a computed 113.4° @ 1450, the hottest heat index temperature so far this year. We had a brilliantly sunny day until storms built quickly from an outflow boundary from the Chesapeake Bay and I experienced frequent rumbles of lightning and flashes of lightning between 1630 and 1730, with fading occurrences thereafter till 1830. I only had a light shower (0.02″) between about 1710 and 1730 out of all this thunderstorm action. The strong heat ridge over much of the Eastern US we have been under looks to be slowly breaking down over the next few days, with actually below normal (low-mid 80s maxs) temperatures by the weekend. Overnight into Wednesday skies remained relatively clear (some high cirroform clouds and haze) with lows at sunrise in the mid 70s. The Tuesday maximum temperature was 95.7° @ 1528, while the Tuesday minimum temperature was 76.6° @ 0544. The dew point temperatures stayed high like yesterday, once again hitting that rare 80° mark, ranging from a high of 80° @ 1643 down to a low of 69° @ 1705. The barometric pressure rose significantly on Tuesday – the lowest value being 30.09″ @ 0220 up to a high of 30.21″ @ 2244. The relative humidity was a bit “compressed” (not as great a range) from yesterday’s, ranging from a high of 86% at 0520 down to a low of 55% 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.

I slept long and hard and was up and about by late afternoon. I spoke with Ray in the afternoon and evening, discussing the present heat wave and studying his fine, hand-drawn surface analysis maps. Tracy called me on her way to work for a bit, and she gave me some tips on my 4th of July feast out of the crockpot. I had a few “tired” beer and bratwurst boiled in onion and seasoned water, then grilled for the final touch along with the brat buns. I had nice horseradish mustard, dill relish, chopped vidalia onions adorning the brat filled buns. I also had a bit of orzo, potato and macaroni salads on the side. I broke into my new “Fudge Chip” natural ice cream a bit and also a few chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I did have my usual water, medications and supplements. I finally picked up my mail for the first time since last Friday.

Our heat wave marched on most of the day on Tuesday. A heat advisory for the entire region (except for the high mountains to the West) is still in effect from noon till 2000. Once again the dew point temperature in the afternoon had values that stayed in the 70s most all day that reached that rare 80° mark just before the storms came in during the late afternoon. Ironically the dew point actually briefly dropped to 69° at 1705 when the storms were hitting, probably out of a cooling downdraft just prior to the rain. around 1700. The heat index (feels-like) temperature maxed out at 113.4° a bit earlier today today compared with the highest air temperature for the day (1450 vs. 1528). Tuesday did not quite make it to the predicted high of 97° (actual high temp of 95.7°) with lows in the upper-mid 70s. Fourth of July Wednesday should be partly cloudy and a tad “cooler” with highs in the low 90s and lows in the mid 70s. Thursday looks to be mostly cloudy with highs around 90° and lows in the mid 70s with only a 20 POP for isolated showers. Friday should be mostly cloudy with a 90 POP for thunderstorms, with high temps in the mid 80s and lows in the low-mid 60s. The weekend is looking good – Saturday is predicted to be partly cloudy with highs around 80° and lows in the upper 50s with Sunday sunny and a few degrees warmer than Saturday, low 80s and around 60°. But stay tuned, this weekend forecast could possibly change as the week proceeds.

At 0942, Channel 4 radar is showing no action at all in the 4-state Mid-Atlantic region except for some light, scattered showers up in parts of north-central PA into small parts of western New York state. . Closest action otherwise is in the upper midwest, from the Dakotas into MN and eventually into WI with numerous showers/storms..

At 0942, 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 (thin, high cloud partial overcast)

Station Relative Location Temp  RH   DP     BP     Wind High/Low temp on Tuesday
VP2            Ground         83.6° 80% 77° 30.28″R NA      95.7°/76.6°

The total precipitation in the cocorahs gauge was 0.02″ through midnight Tuesday. The VP2 tipping bucket also had 0.02″. 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.

Tuesday’s precipitation was 0.02″
June final precipitation total is 3.77″
July precipitation total is 0.02″
Year-to-date precipitation total 22.21″

WX Bug Lakewood 4500 ft, 84° 73% 74° 30.32″R ESE 3 G ESE 8
                            140° from station                      98°/75°
The Lakewood rain gauge recorded 0.02″ of rain on Tuesday. The precip records have not been updated from yesterday so still carries 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 Tuesday night the temperature from the VP2 was 81.1° RH 76% BP 30.20″S DP 72.0°
Partly Cloudy, warm, muggy at 2400 Monday

Good morning from the mostly sunny, warm and muggy home of the Walrus early on this Independence Day Wednesday.

Happy Fourth of July to everyone! Today’s feature image is courtesy of a google search for 4th of July images, website: happy4thofjulyimagex.com