Thursday continued our cloudy, muggy, showery (1.01″ – but no thunder heard once again) pattern that looks to finish out the week and finally end by Sunday. Temperatures held in the mid 60s all day for a very small diurnal range of 3.6°. Occasional light rain/drizzle/mist and clouds are continuing into the early AM hours of Friday along with some fresh breezes. On Thursday the heaviest rain hit well south/southeast of my location. Flood watches and warnings continue to be posted in the most flood-prone areas such as Fairfax VA, southern MD, and the Frederick areas. The Thursday maximum temperature reached 67.7° @ 1705, while the Thursday minimum temperature was 64.1° @ 0517. The dew point temperatures were a tad lower than yesterday, but still high, ranging from a high of 67° @ 1442 down to a low of a damp 63° @ 0456. The barometric pressure was roughly the same as Wednesday, reaching the lowest value of the day of 29.94″ @ 0420 up to a high of 30.08″ @ 2202. The relative humidity remained quite high all day, ranging from a low of 94% at 1144 up to a high of 98% at 0304.

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.

Clouds, rain showers (1.01″), and mugginess persisted all day on Thursday. We now have had 5 straight days with measurable precipitation (5 day total a modest 3.22″ – areas in Frederick earlier this week had about double that amount in one day!!!) As I write this in the late morning on Friday there still is a bit of occasional light rain/drizzle falling at times and a full overcast sealing in all this moisture. A 100 POP for rain is expected all day Friday and into Saturday, with possible thunder on Saturday. Temps should hold in the mid 60s (Friday) to the mid 70s (Saturday) with lows in the mid 50s on Friday, mid 60s on Saturday. Sunday may break through this slogginess somewhat with partly cloudy skies, highs in the low-mid 80s, lows in the low-mid 60s but still a 50 POP for AM Thunderstorms. Monday resumes cloudy conditions but only a 20 POP for rain, with highs around 80° and lows in the mid 60s. Tuesday looks to have AM clouds and PM sun, with highs in the low 80s and lows in the mid 60s. We continue to be in a persistent battle zone (along an old stalled out stationary frontal boundary) fluctuating from mild to warm temps and numerous threats of rain or thunderstorms through the weekend, though slowly improving into next week.

On the Channel 4 radar at 1204 shows most of the four-state region still in showery rain pockets, more consistent to the S and SE over sections of VA and southern MD at this time. All cells appear to be moving from SW to NE, in the general moist SW flow much of the mid-Atlantic is currently under. This pattern may keep my location in slightly drier conditions during the rest of Friday.

As of 1204, 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:

Cloudy, damp, somewhat cool with scattered light rain showers at times – same broken record all week……

Station Relative Location Temp RH    DP     BP    Wind High/Low temp on Thursday
VP2            Ground         65.8° 95% 64° 30.17″R NA   67.7°/64.1°

The total precipitation in the cocorahs gauge was 1.01″ through midnight Thursday. The VP2 tipping bucket rain gauge under my balcony recorded 0.00″ through midnight Tuesday as it continues to be clogged. Much thanks to my friend Rich H for giving me tips and tools to combat this clogged gauge problem, which I hope to address sometime soon.

Thursday’s precipitation was 1.01″
May precipitation is now 3.35″
Year-to-date precipitation total is 15.09″

WX Bug Lakewood 4500 ft, 65° 100% 65° 30.20″R E 3 G ESE 22
                            140° from station                        67°/63°

The Lakewood rain gauge reported 1.04″ of precipitation on Thursday. May is now showing 4.76″ for the month with the 2018 year-to-date (YTD) amount now at 19.56″. 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 Thursday night the temperature from the VP2 was 65.3° RH 96% BP 30.07″S DP 64.1°
Cloudy, cool, damp at 2400 Thursday

Good morning from the cloudy, damp, occasionally light rainy home of the muggy walrus on this Friday.