Scarlet Pimpernel

On 6/23/2024 at 10:04 AM, Mrs.J said:

So went out to check my deck plants and realized it is not too bad out this morning. So decided that to get some fresh air would have breakfast on the deck. A simple omelet with garlic scapes and fresh apricots and blueberries with honey. With a grapefruit Kombucha. We have been members for close to 15 years now of a local CSA. The fruit and garlic scapes are just some of what we got from our weekly takings.
If ever in Frederick Co take a trip down to Thanksgiving Farms on Rt 85 near Adamstown. While not certified organic they use organic practices. And their plant selection is amazing. The green house alone will draw in anyone who loves house plants. Hope all stay cool today and crossing fingers that we may get lucky with a storm or two. Not holding my breath on that one though. 

Damn that looks tasty!  I always like a good omelet!!

On 6/23/2024 at 11:24 AM, Maestrobjwa said:

Oh for real? But it wasn't an actual "blood moon" so to speak?

Yes...it was reddish due to the haze and whatever else in the air plus the moon being so low on the horizon (lots of refraction...notice how the moon looks rather oblong in that photo due to that).  The "blood moon", I believe, refers to what you'd see during a lunar eclipse...which is a totally different thing, the moon passing through the earth's shadow and it turns a spectacular orange-red when total, then moves out of the shadow.  Here's what the moon looks like during a lunar eclipse, from the one we had recently in Nov. 2022:

7 hours ago, Maestrobjwa said:

Wow! When/where was this?

I took that Friday evening from the rooftop of my place.  The moon really was that reddish of a color as it rose.

Moon rising this evening, on the horizon...

9 hours ago, George BM said:

Lol

Dafuq????

3 hours ago, dailylurker said:

Nothing says I'm ready to f**k like demon screaming bloody murder sounds lol

Sounds like the bar scene for @ravensrule back in the day!

Took these during, and just after, the severe thunderstorms that went through right around sunset.  A couple are black and white.

7 hours ago, rclab said:

Good morning S P. Magnificent photos! The colors, fresh scents backed by a blue sky while wrapped in sunlights warmth. My visual and olfactory senses will lead me to a wonderful high. I welcome Mother Natures natural addiction. Thank you, as always ….

Thank you for the kind words!  Glad you liked those!  There are so many tulips I've seen around the Bethesda area, it's like I couldn't decide what to choose for taking photos!!!

@mappy...TULIPS!!!  (2nd one is in black/white) 

1 hour 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

There won't be such a thing as "threads" in 21 years, as we currently know it!  Well, other than the Panic Room, where the ageless Reaper @WxWatcher007 will still remain to guide us hapless souls, even well into his retirement by then! 

1 minute ago, nw baltimore wx said:

Nice work. They look great!

Thanks! It was interesting getting shots with the filter on because essentially everything but the sun was black (by design with a solar filter). Had to look up a bit on the flip-screen and zoom out to "find" the sun and then zoom in to the full 500mm on my lens and take the shots. 

52 minutes ago, nw baltimore wx said:

Did you use a tracker or post edit? I was afraid to set my tracker up to Polaris overnight with the chance of rain.

Nope,no tracker or anything. I was outside through that time, about 2:00pm through 3:30pm and took many shots. Then yes, I post-processed them to get the same size image afterward and changed the white balance temp to make the sun a bit more yellow looking (through the filter it was almost white looking). 

Amazing shots from everyone here, those who were fortunate enough to be in the path of totality and those of us who were here locally in the DC metro area!!!

4 hours ago, nw baltimore wx said:

We got lucky! Incredible!!! Photo is a photo from the back of my camera. Good luck all!

4 hours ago, Terpeast said:

Wow, you even captured the diamond ring effect!

I was just going to say...damn, dude, you got the diamond ring on that shot!!!  Amazing!!

Finally...here ya go!

Got many shots of the partial eclipse here in the DC metro area (about 87% or so coverage). Not as spectacular as totality but still neat to experience. It got pretty dim with this almost eerie light and definitely got cooler. I don't think the gif animation I made will fit here, so will attach two subsequent posts after this with a sort of series from some of them. Used my solar filter throughout, changed the white balance to 7500K to get a slight yellow tint to the sun, and cropped the images. In some of the earlier shots you can make out sunspots. I used a 500mm lens. 

(ETA:  See below...actually managed to get them all into one post!)

2 hours ago, BlizzardNole said:

It would be cool to be at Lake Cedar just south of Carbondale, IL where "x marks the spot" from the 2017 and 2024 eclipses.  Weather looks great there too.  I wonder how rare it is to have two eclipses intersect just a few years apart?

That's pretty amazing!  On a slightly different note (related to Illinois), I also thought I heard that somewhere in Illinois, they have a cross-over of the 17 and 13 year periodical cicadas (I guess far enough south where both can exist?).  And this year, BOTH broods will be emerging at the same time!

@mappy...TULIPS coming soon!!  Hope to get some nice photos and will post some here for you (and everyone) when I can!  I've actually seen quite a few tulips coming out in the past couple of weeks.

20 minutes ago, PrinceFrederickWx said:

I’ve stopped looking at models and forecasts. We’re just going to the place we booked in Ohio and hoping for the best. It’ll be a fun trip regardless. Good luck to all on here.

You know, this is probably the best attitude to be honest.  Go where you can get to and deal with what ends up happening, no point in stressing out over it.  I've never been in a position to have a bunch of possible locations and change that on a dime, myself.  And, my trip to the Cleveland to see family there for the eclipse ended up being canceled anyhow.  Partly due to logistical issues with the drive, plus the not-great-look that I saw showing up in the middle of last week.  So I decided to just be OK staying here in the DC area with a partial coverage (~87%) and hopefully can get some nice shots of that at least.  I hope you have a good time in Ohio, regardless of how things are!  I'm biased having grown up there, but I like the place, it's my home!  I'll get in a visit up that way another time this year, maybe can catch a Guardians' game while I'm at it.

1 hour ago, baltosquid said:

psst... get excited... 06z tomorrow, NAM range!

Finally!  I can't wait for a good eclipse NAMing!!!

51 minutes ago, Kmlwx said:

This. But I think I see where he's coming from - at least there's a family connection. But yeah...if you are at 99.9 even - might as well just stay home and watch it with 80-90 percent totality through a solar filtered telescope or glasses. 

But he's seeing family so I see the approach.

Yeah, even if just a sliver of sun is visible, it won't be the same of course.  But agree, if he's looking to be with family then that's the main factor here regardless of whether or not it's 100% total.

50 minutes ago, Kmlwx said:

It still matters for observing the eclipse (even without totality). But yes it won't get dark like totality will.

Yup.  If it's too cloudy you won't even get to see the partial coverage with a partial eclipse (with appropriate eye protection of course!), and the same is true in an area that's in the path as you lead up to totality.  I've seen a couple of partial eclipses (one was actually a partial annular one), and while of course it doesn't get dark it gives this sort of eerily dim, "3-D" look outside.  There's also a neat effect of crescent-looking shadows on the ground anywhere the sun passes through an opening (such as leaves, though not many of those out yet).

I, myself, have essentially given up and canceled my trip to Cleveland to my brother and sister-in-law's place.  The forecast trends the last few days have not been good for that area, and even if there's no actual rain on Monday the cloud issues just seem like it will be too much.  That, plus other logistical issues I'd have driving up there, make it not the most worthwhile.  Wasn't an easy decision and it sucks, but oh well.  Everyone knew that early April in that area is normally a dubious proposition for clear skies and that this was a possibility.  I'll "settle" for observing it here locally (and hope it's not just as bad with clouds even here!!), and hopefully get some good shots of the partial coverage over time using the solar filter I have for my telephoto lens.

GFS continues to look completely awful for the Great Lakes/Ohio Valley area.  Just about the worst possible outcome with rain all day as the low goes right through Ohio.  Guess we'll see but I don't like the trends in that shortwave that runs into the Omega block, even on the Euro and the ensembles.  Although the Euro is much farther northwest with the low and the precip looks a lot more scattered.  Almost wonder if it might be better to just stay local here in the DC area and observe a partial eclipse (~87% coverage), and get some photos of that (I have a solar filter for this purpose).  At least so far, it looks pretty clear around this region.  Might have to see until later in the week.  Still may say screw it and go up to see family in Ohio and at least have a fun visit even if it rains all damned day Monday and you can't see anything other than it getting darker.

5 minutes ago, BlizzardNole said:

Oooh Sydney is right in the center of totality at 2 PM!  That's gonna be a huge event.  At first I thought aw man mid-winter but July is actually their 3rd sunniest month in terms of percent of possible sunshine.  Average highs in the 60s

<AussieAccent>Right, mate!  Throw some shrimp on the barbey and enjoy a cold one whilst watching the sun disappear!   That's how we do it right downunder!</AussieAccent>

Ugh...GFS has trended toward a veritable actual washout for the Ohio valley/lower Lakes area.  At least the GEFS ensembles are not so enthusiastic about that, though they hedged more in that direction.  The Euro, as @baltosquid showed (at least from last night) is much farther west with that shortwave and associated low.  Still iffy, but not a total skunk.

Heck...I almost wonder if the GFS-like solution is correct in the end, if it would actually be better if that system can speed up quite a bit and clear the area around the lower Lakes by Monday (and weaken it more), rather than being over that region on that day.  It almost looked like the GFS was accelerating it a bit, in fact.

11 minutes ago, KChuck said:

An earlier Buffalo NWS disco said that an omega block was keeping the area clear the prior weekend and that eclipse cloudiness would be dependent upon how fast that block breaks down.

For those of us who will be going into IN/OH/PA/western NY (I, myself, will be visiting family in the Cleveland area for this)...hard to know what to root for.  That shortwave in the upper midwest seems to be problematic, from what I have been looking at of late?  Do we hope for that shortwave to either be weaker, or farther northwest (or both), such that the ridging through the Ohio Valley and east remains more intact?  It seems that wave is knocking down the ridging a bit more but I've only taken cursory glances at the models the past few days.