Thursday was mostly sunny through most of the day with a few scattered cumulus at times in the afternoon, hot and humid like it has been over the past several days. But then there was a “dry” thunderstorm about 1945, with numerous loud thunder claps and close by lightning, but strangely with no rain. I was in our party room playing Trivia on the 1st floor of Bldg A next door. We kept checking on rain but to no avail. The Thursday maximum temperature was 90.5° @ 1453, while the Thursday minimum temperature was 73.8° @ 0707. The dew point temperatures rose to the low-upper 70s but slumped on down nicely into the upper 60s after the dry thunderstorm, ranging from a high of 77° @ 0926 down to a bit more uncomfortable low of 69° @ 2052. The barometric pressure lowered from yesterday – the highest value being 30.19″ @ 0000 down to a low of 30.08″ @ 1759. The relative humidity was about the same as yesterday, ranging from a high of 95% @ 0706 down to a low of 58% at 1618.

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.

At our trivia game about 1945, we had that surprise “boom” and “flash” during the festivities from that dry thunderstorm. Walking back to my building from my Trivia site in the next building, I noticed towering cumulus in the nighttime sky, somewhat unusual for an hour after sunset. I had some triscuits after getting back and tuning in the first NFL game of the season, won by Super Bowl champ Philadelphia 18-12 over Atlanta which was delayed starting by a thunderstorm. Certainly not the same one we got, as there was heavy rain with this storm up in Pennsylvania. But with the East Coast atmosphere getting increasingly “juicy”, rain and thunderstorms are going to get more numerous over the next several days. 

Thursday was a tiny bit hotter than Wednesday temperature-wise under partly sunny skies. Numerous cumulus buildups were noted as we progressed through the afternoon. On Friday a change to our hot pattern will hopefully start to take shape, with highs in the mid 80s and lows in the upper 60s with a 50 POP for PM thunderstorms under partly cloudy skies. On Saturday there is an 80 POP for thunderstorms/showers under cloudy skies, but most notably a much cooler high than we have had in quite a while, with highs around 70° and lows around 60°. Sunday is expected to stay cloudy and even cooler, with high temps in the mid 60s and lows in the low 60s and a 90 POP for rain with moderate NE breezes. Monday and Tuesday will worm back up a bit into the low-mid 80s under partly cloudy skies and a 50-60 POP for scattered thunderstorms. Lows will be in the upper 60s..

At 1217, Channel 4 radar is showing virtually no rain returns at this time within the 4-state Mid-Atlantic region save for a few light scattered showers in WV. The closest rain is in parts of the Midwest (IL, IN, OH ) with the remnants of Tropical Storm Gordon coming into play. Tropical Storm Florence, weakened significantly due to wind sheet and other factors, should strengthen again to hurricane status as it approaches Bermuda. Destination points therafter are literally ” up in the air with landfall possible from the SE US up to the Maritime provinces of Canada or possibly out to sea.

At 1217, 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 skies, very warm and humid.

Station Relative Location Temp  RH   DP     BP     Wind High/Low on Thursday
VP2            Ground            83.5° 70% 73° 30.12″S NA     90.5°/73.8°

The total precipitation in the cocorahs gauge was 0.00″ through midnight Thursday.
The VP2 tipping bucket has also recorded 0.00″ through Thursday.

Thursday’s precipitation was 0.00″
September precipitation total is 0.86″.
Year-to-date precipitation total 38.94″

WX Bug Lakewood 4500 ft, 84° 65% 71° 30.17″F SE 1 G ESE 6
                              140° from station               Thur Hi/Lo 95°/72°

The Lakewood rain gauge recorded 0.00″ of rain through midnight Thursday. The September total precipitation total is still incorrectly showing 0.00″ with the 2018 year-to-date (YTD) amount still at 50.13″. 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 Thursday night the temperature from the VP2 was 77.9° RH 79% BP 30.14″F DP 70.9°
Partly cloudy, warm, humid.

Good morning from the sunny but warm and humid home of the Walrus on this Friday.