Monday started out clear/sunny, but gradually turned cloudy (high type like cirrostratus or altostratus) by the afternoon. No rain yet though later this evening radar was showing rain moving north up to central Virginia which should make it into my locale sometime Tuesday. Temperatures moderated a bit on Tuesday, reaching the lower 60s with lows in the mid 50s. Dew points were in the 50s and 40s all day. Now at 0525 we have mostly cloudy skies with temperatures in the comfortable upper 50s with dew points in the mid 50s. The Monday minimum temperature from the VP2 in the shelter on the ground below my balcony (56.2°) was recorded at 0651 while the maximum temperature (71.3°) was recorded at 1357. Dew point temps rose a tad from yesterday, ranging from 57° down to 49°. Relative humidity values were a bit lower than yesterday (84% – 49%). Barometric values started lowering from yesterday’s highest values, ranging from 30.35″ at 0633 down to 30.13″ at 2356.

Remember now you can get the ground-based VP2 data on Weatherlink. You can access the data through http://www.weatherlink.com/user/walrusman444

I rose late today only to learn that my scheduled physical therapy appointment was postponed till Tuesday late afternoon after I return from my toenail clipping. I arranged a ride with Mike to get to Kaiser to get my routine podiatry appt to get my toenails trimmed and feet examined early Tuesday afternoon. I talked with Ray a number of times throughout the day, including a long late-night session, discussing the problems of the world and also about football and of course, the weather. I watched most of the 2 Monday Night Football games, won by Minnesota over New Orleans 29-19 and Denver over San Diego 24-21. I made spaghetti and meatballs from scratch (sort of – used jarred spaghetti sauce as a base but added spices, onions, garlic and mushrooms to the mix) along with whole wheat pasta and gluten-free Italian meatballs. It was yummy and I have plenty left over for 1 or 2 more meals. I earlier had some seafood salad and pepperoncini as snacks. Later on I had dessert – a few chocolate chip cookies. I had some prune and spicy low-sodium V8 juices right around dinner time, and plenty of water and vitamins throughout the evening.

We now have cloudy skies with temperatures in the upper 50s at 0525 Tuesday. The remnant rains of Irma should be skirting west of our area on Tuesday with high temps in the low 70s under cloudy skies but only a 20 POP for rain with lows in the low 60s. Wednesday should be similar with clouds and the 20 POP, but warm up to the upper 70s for highs and mid 60s for lows. Partly cloudy skies on Thursday, with a 60 POP for showers/storms, highs in the mid 70s and lows around 60°. On Friday temps should right to around 80° and lows in the low 60s with partly cloudy skies and only a 20 POP for rain. Irma has weakened to tropical storm status over Georgia right now, heading NW into AL then TN later in the week. It will become more diffuse with much lighter winds and rains as it meanders in the Tennessee and Shenandoah Valleys. Therefore, Irma’s affects on our immediate area should be minor and non-damaging at most, with just clouds and slim precipitation chances for the most part.

On Weatherbug at 0525 the radar is showing light returns over the area, but not reaching the ground. Further south over parts of Virginia the action is a bit heavier and the precipitation is reaching the ground in spots.

As of 0525 EDT, the data from the VP2 (coming from the ground radiation shield about 4 feet off the ground just under and out from the balcony), the Lakewood 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 59.4 87 56 30.08F NA 71.3/56.2

There was no rain in the gauge on Monday (cocorahs gauge – now located off the apartment property across the street from my initial two locations just off the inactive putting green – near the Montessori School playground. No sprinklers there at all on this county property).

August precipitation was 4.39″ (believe this is in error – I will have to research the numbers in the next few days)

September precipitation through midnight obs tonight is 2.44″.

Year-to-date (YTD) precipitation total is 33.74″

VP2 Across the street (USG) NA NA NA 30.10F NA 77.6/57.4

There was no rain recorded once again in the USG gauge on Monday. Sometime after midnight the USG VP2 went offline and is not providing me any data for some reason.

WX Bug Lakewood 4500 ft, 140° from station 61 77.4 54.1 30.08F Calm G NW 8
High/low for the day 73/53

The Lakewood rain gauge reported no rain on Monday.

Temp on the VP2 at 2400 was 62.0 RH 77% BP 30.13F DP 54.7.

Good morning from the cloudy, dry for the moment and pleasant Walrus early on this Tuesday.