Friday brought with it similar conditions to yesterday – partly cloudy, warm, humid skies with a light shower sometime before 4 PM (0.15″). My friend Marty was over for a visit till about 4 PM, and he read 0.15″ in the gauge around that time. I just read it again at midnight and still had 0.15″ (Marty clearly stated to me that he did not empty out the gauge at 4 PM). Marty is now suggesting some sort of vandalism, a sort of “illegal dumping”. There were showers/storm in the area today but mostly to my north, especially this evening, with numerous watches and warnings issued late in the day, and I thought if they fell at all would have been well after 4 PM. I don’t know what to do at this point but to record 0.15″ for the day upon future further analysis. Now at 0323 we have partly cloudy skies and warm temperatures around 75°, with dew points in the lower 70s. The Thursday minimum temperature from the VP2 in the shelter on the ground nearby (68.8°) was recorded at 0558 while the maximum temperature (89.9°) was recorded at 1610. Dew point temps were a bit warmer than yesterday, ranging from 68° up to 77°. Relative humidity values averaged about the same as yesterday (97% – 53%). Barometric values lowered some today, ranging from 30.04″ at 0007 to 29.84″ at 1827.
Remember now you can get the new ground-based VP2 data on Weatherlink. You can access the data through http://www.weatherlink.com/user/walrusman444 I got up and going by late morning, as my friend Marty was coming over to take me (ostensibly) out for our late birthday lunch at La Mexicana in Gaithersburg and do a few minor weather instrument modifications. We gathered at La Mex and met some friends there, then the neatest surprise in a really long time occurred, as my daughter Robin rushed in to La Mex and met Marty and I at the bar, accompanied by my grandson Gideon who I had never met personally face to face before. Shrieks of joy and utter amazement struck Tracy’s and my face! Lots of merriment and picture/video taking resulted through lunch and then on to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse and then on to La Mexicana in Germontown where Tracy was working her second shift of the day as she works at 2 La Mexicana’s on Fridays, one afternoon and one evening. Gosh what a momentous day! And I fortunately got a makeshift solution to my phone problem by turning my phone completely off while charging. I did this overnight and my phone was up to 100% when I woke up. And it got heavy use on Friday, with all the picture/video taking, emailing out pictures, taking/making phone calls, and posting highlights and more pictures on Facebook. I had some great Mexican food at lunch, then a nice peppery piece of prime rib with lots of trimmings for dinner, and of course, several beers (Robin and Marty were doing all the driving). And Robin is staying with me at my apartment till she has to go back to Las Vegas late Monday. So I have an unusually active and exciting weekend ahead!
We now have partly cloudy, dry skies and warm temperatures around 75° at 0323. Mostly to partly sunny conditions and comfortable below normal temps mostly in the 70s for highs and 60° to 65° for lows should dominate the weekend and into most of next week, save for mostly cloudy skies and an 80 POP for showers/storms on Monday and a 50 POP for showers/storms on Thursday.
On Channel 4 radar at 0323 most all of the rain activity has moved off to the N and E, over NE MD, Eastern PA into parts of NJ, northern DE, and southern NY at this time.
As of 0323 EDT, the data from the VP2 is coming from the ground radiation shield about 4 feet off the ground just under and out from the balcony and the Radio Shack thermometer is temporarily not working for some unknown reason (on the balcony – max temps especially read too high). The data from the Lakewood Country Club WXBug station and the USG VP2 station across the street are as follows :
Station Relative Location Temp RH DP BP Wind High/Low temp today
VP2 Ground 75.4 88 72 29.84F NA 89.9/68.8
Radio Shack Balcony N/A Not working – flatlining N/A/N/A
There was 0.15″ of rain recorded today that is somewhat of a mystery as to time of occurrence and to legitimacy (cocorahs gauge on ground below – in between the US and State Flagpoles out a bit from my balcony)
July precipitation finished out at 9.36″.
August precipitation is now 0.39″
Year-to-date (YTD) precipitation total is 27.30″
VP2 Across the street (USG) 75.6 90 73 29.87F NA 89.9/70.6
There was 0.01″ of rain recorded in the USG gauge on Friday. Another mystery to me, with several possible scenarios of explanation.
WX Bug Lakewood 4500 ft, 76 78.5 69 29.85F Calm G W 13
140° from station 90/70
The Lakewood rain gauge recorded no rain on Friday.
Temp on the VP2 at 2400 was 77.2 RH 82% BP 29.85S DP 71.3 The Radio Shack thermometer was N/A.
Good morning from the partly cloudy, dry but humid, warm Walrus early on Saturday morning.