TSG

13 minutes ago, IronTy said:

That's a very cool site?   Can you explain the units for soil moisture?   My guess is cubic meter of water per cubic meter of soil but it's not clear from the graph.  Does it take into account the density of the soil type or is it just purely a volumetric measurement?  How do they track that in real time?

I think your guess is correct, looks like a volumetric percentage

18 hours ago, WxWatcher007 said:

Obscene warmth

 

Request: can you also post the avg OHC map for the date for comparison?

6 minutes ago, mdhokie said:

Definitely good advice. We unfortunately had to cut down some big oaks because they died and now our sunroom is really a SUN room in the afternoon. To the point we are spec'ing out shade material. We have re-planted some trees but I will probably be dead before they get big enough to help. Hopefully they work for the next people that own this house haha.

Love to hear it. A lot of the canopy around the Wash/Balt region is "aging out" as these 50s/60s/70s builds see their original plantings die off or need removal for other reasons. I've watched my parent's neighborhood become way sunnier in the last 10 years than it was when I was a kid as a lot of old oaks have come down.

“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”

On 6/2/2024 at 8:51 PM, Eskimo Joe said:

I'm in the market for a small window AC unit for our bedroom. It's on the SW side of the house and never cools down during the summer. We don't want to run the AC on full tilt, but need the room cool. The only problem is that we have a low profile window that only opens 10" and is too small for most window units. We got portable air conditioners but they're loud, bulky, and never last more than 2 years. Does anyone possible have an answer to this?

How exposed is that corner of the house to direct sun in the afternoon?

It's not an option for everyone, but one often overlooked way to lower energy bills or fixing situations like this is using vegetation to provide shade for the structure. Trees for mid-day sun, shrubs and bushes if you want to block early/late day rays. We've kind of forgotten as a society this used to be the norm and can still be useful. "old farmhouse style" or w/e you want to call it

2 hours ago, Paleocene said:

Ended up barely squeaking by April production thanks to a couple sunny days at the end of the month. First year, so no comparisons. But 919 in April versus 970 in May.

That's pretty significant. Your May production should typically be on the order of 15-20% above April 

4 hours ago, WxUSAF said:

911 kWh solar for May. Record low since 2017 when I got panels and about 75% of previous maximum May production.

Whats you're system size (AC and DC)? Curious about specific yield

Getting dunked on in Hooville. Very ominous looking sky

Gust to 51 at CHO

Has anyone seen any recent research or discussion related to the AMOC slowing down and it potentially being part of what we're seeing happen in the tropics?

An interesting concurrent piece of data is the arctic is so far having its best year in terms of ice cover since ~2013 despite the record global temps last year. April specifically ended up only 16th lowest overall and the highest for the month since 2012.

59 minutes ago, North Balti Zen said:

We knew that was coming, right? All the wasted weeks of no 70s we were gonna haul straight from the gloom to 90s with no in-between. 

We've had plenty of pleasant weather, but not much of it has been in the 48 hrs we care about most every week.

On 4/19/2024 at 10:40 AM, WinterWxLuvr said:

How we lookin?

On 4/19/2024 at 11:29 AM, TSG said:

Backdoor cold fronts and gloom through June 1 

 

I cursed us. I'm sorry.

I'm confused why people keep saying tonight we get another chance. I thought midday UTC today was the last pass of a significant CME?

Absolutely bananas.. looking NW from Ravens Roost near Wintergreen.

54 minutes ago, NorthArlington101 said:

Thanks for making the thread! Very interested in seeing the aurora somewhat locally. Became a bucket list item after a few great local chasers caught them in the Blue Ridge last year.

Really bummed by clouds tonight. Hoping for a miracle - don’t want to drive super far north and even then odds don’t look fantastic.

You could think about heading this way. West of Cville is looking okay for early tonight if you trust the 3k NAM. I'm planning to head up to Skyline or the BR Parkway around 9pm.

DCA: 98

IAD: 101

BWI: 99

RIC: 101

12 minutes ago, TheClimateChanger said:

Interesting. So on March 31, it's wet and cool. On April 16, still cool but drier. Meanwhile, it's been a very warm April. This forum is hilarious.

5th warmest [of 64 years] at IAD.

13th warmest [of 153 years] at DCA.

While only beaten out by 12 years since records began in 1871, the DCA ranking is misleading as heck as well. Prior to 2006, there are only four warmer Aprils to date (1941, 1945, 1980, and 1981). And one of those four (1980) is a negligible 0.1F warmer. This would have been considered an exceptionally warm April in the 1990s or early 2000s when I started observing the weather. That's only 20-ish years ago.

In one generation, what would have been considered a near record warm start to April is now considered "cool." How did we let this become normalized?

 

 

You crunching those numbers in Excel or is there a webpage that let's you create those tables?

Two thoughts:

1. Recency Bias. Yeah this would be a warm April pre turn of the century, but look at how many of the last 25 years are ahead of this year at DCA. #1, #2, and #7 are all in the last 7 years! That's what people remember, especially last year.

2. I'd be interested to see the average High / Low for the montth compared to normal. Avg temp only tells part of the story. A gloomy, cloudier than normal spring may have near average temperatures because of lower highs and higher lows. That doesn't mean it'll feel "warm"

Odd night in Albemarle. CHO hit 39 by 1am, but then the wind kicked up and we were at 45 at 3:15. Managed 36 before sunrise after the wind died off again.

2 hours ago, WEATHER53 said:

DCA messed up again , running mostly +10 versus surrounding stations 

53 minutes ago, MN Transplant said:

The 5-minute obs haven't been coming in since 2am.  But you are right, the 62 high is 5 degrees warmer than any of the local stations.  I've only been to 54 today.

Water temp in that part of the river is in the low/mid 60s right now, an East wind is the culprit.

21 minutes ago, WinterWxLuvr said:

How we lookin?

Backdoor cold fronts and gloom through June 1 

lol

41 minutes ago, wxdude64 said:

Well, as someone earlier posted, my experience was VERY different. In 2017 I was on top of a mountain off Foothills Parkway in eastern TN, seeing that darkness close in from a distance was awesome! Being in central TX with small elevation changes you couldn't tell/see it closing in. However, it WAS a longer period of darkness than 2017. We had partly cloudy skies and missed about 30-45 seconds of the start of totality because of it, but the rest was awesome. Their neighbor has chickens and both the roosters carried on like it was morning once the sun broke back out. We saw an awesome bright eruption on the south/lower side of the sun during, and then the ring once the moon started clearing the sun. We got to our location about 4 hours in advance (visiting her relatives) and then stayed another day, so travel was not an issue for us. 

Yeah we were close! I was just a bit further south at one of the overlooks on Cherohala Skyway

14 minutes ago, WxUSAF said:

F-ing wind

It's what we do best. Embrace it.

1 hour ago, RitualOfTheTrout said:

I hear you on this, I was looking at the maps (https://eclipsewise.com/eclipse.html) and really gets you thinking in timescales that illustrate just how brief a trip we get here even if all goes well and makes you appreciate getting to see this one. 2090s looking good for grandchildren though from an eclipse viewing travel perspective.. 

I'll be amazed (and maybe ready for the sweet kiss of death lol) if I make it to the 2090s. I guess modern/future medicine should make 90+ a more enjoyable existence down the road, but idk if it's something I'd want to experience today

22 minutes ago, Interstate said:

Well I hope I can start the thread in 21 or so years.  It was a great time.  Next time we should have a meeting place for all of us old people.. lol

Thinking about how old I'll be for that one was an odd feeling. 52...