Sorry for the extended hiatus – I have had an extended birthday celebration the past week, mostly with a surprise visit from my daughter Robin and grandson Gideon from Las Vegas from Thursday July 25 through my birthday Monday July 29 , departing here to go back to Las Vegas on Tuesday July 30. Other than a gullywasher storm very early on Tuesday, July 23 which brought 1.06″ of rain down in an hour between about 0130-0230, I have not had any other rain up to the present day, Wednesday, July 31 at 1515 EDT, but with storms on the radar and predicted for later. I hope to give a more comprehensive update soon. It was a bit cooler (70s for highs) on the day of the rain and stayed moderately comfortable through the next weekend (80s and 60s) but then heated up into the 90s the past few days with dew points reaching into the 70s. 

There was 1.06″ of precipitation on Tuesday, July 23. As a testament to the intensity of the rain, my tipping bucket way over recorded 1.98″ of rain due to the intense rain coming off the pine tree directly above the bucket and recorded 20+ inch instantaneous rainfall rates (not really precise at all) . There has been a total of 7.03 inches of rain so far in July through mid-afternoon today, July 31. The year-to-date total is currently  29.69 inches.

My current online data (except for rainfall/snowfall – use the cocorahs link shown below) is showing regularly on Weather Underground. My data is posted there every 5 minutes. My ID is KMDROCKV200 and my station is called “Gardens of Traville.” Data is online, available in real-time as it is being updated on a 5 minute interval. The web address for my data on weather underground is: https://www.wunderground.com/personal-weather-station/dashboard?ID=KMDROCKV200

I contribute my precipitation data daily (but currently am a bit behind – I will catch up the records soon) to CoCoRaHS as Rockville 2.8 WNW, Station ID MD-MG-115 and can be found on the web at https://www.cocorahs.org

Please remember that my Weather Underground precipitation data reflects what is recorded automatically through the tipping bucket VP2 gauge, just as it does on WxLink 2.0. The tipping bucket has been producing erratic values every day of late so should not be used except for general precipitation timing.

I actually use the data I post to CoCoRaHS from my 4 inch CoCoRaHS gauge I read manually as my “official” precipitation total each day. Currently 83.4 degrees, dew point 69 degrees, barometer at 30.03 inches and falling with mostly cloudy skies, but still dry so far today. at 1613. 

This hiatus period went by so fast and was a bundle of activity. Robin is quite the social director. The biggest highlight was this surprise party they had for me on Saturday night, July 27 at my other daughter Tracy’s bar where she serves and bartends. She had a light buffet for everyone, and presents, drinks, presents, music and lots of merriment and fun. The turnout of friends and family was awesome and much bigger than planned. Today’s featured image is of me at the party about to blow out the candles on my birthday cake. Party on!