Hank Scorpio

Got massively lucky where I am in Texas. A big blobby low cloud moved in 10 minutes from totality but got out of the way with 1 minute to spare. 

Stole this from my brother, so cool to see the activity shooting up off the surface of the sun.

Incredible stuff.

13 minutes ago, WxUSAF said:

#TeamCanada go RGEM!!

I've never rooted harder for Canada haha.

Is it the strength of the low or the position that's causing such a drastic difference in cloud cover forecast from the RGEM?

Just now, WxUSAF said:

Thunder. Did not expect that.

Same. Glanced outside, happened to see a flash of lightning, and had to check radar to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me.

Sure does seem like we've had a lot more lightning and thunder so far this year as compared to a typical spring. 

This map will let you click anywhere and the little popup will tell you exactly how long totality will last in your location:

https://nso.edu/for-public/eclipse-map-2024/

I'm taking my family to Texas for the same reason as many others...seemed like the best chance for sunny weather. We should be looking at about 3.5 minutes of totality in our location which will be a lot of fun.

I was in upstate SC for the 2017 eclipse and traffic afterwards was a nightmare. I learned my lesson though and booked a spot right in the path this time, so no travel the day of will be required. Can't wait

There's a little spot on the side of Sycolin Rd between leesburg and broadlands that was situated perfectly to build a massive drift after the second January snow. I've been keeping my eye on it and looks like it'll finally disappear today.

3 weeks of snow on the ground in that one spot...impressive.

Also, I don't know if I've already started to adjust to warmer temps but the breeze today made 42° feel so cold.

Got the whole family out sledding before the sun went down. Great way to wrap up the outside portion of a snowy day

Streamer band was fun as it came through leesburg! Shoveled the driveway right before and it looks like that band added a quick 1/4"

For no particular reason, I think I'll post this picture I took over the summer of the giant gas flare off tower they installed in Georgetown. Sure was a surprise they allowed it to be built there 

Shreve mill Rd just south of leesburg is closed due to flooding. Not too surprising, since that spot probably floods 5 times a year.

Just down the road, goose creek was just about at the top of its banks. Guessing that'll overflow soon, but as far as I know it won't threaten any roads in the area. Still impressive to see how far it's come up in a relatively short amount of time today.

Always nice to see the first frost of the season. Interestingly, no frost in people's yards in my neighborhood, but pretty heavy frost in the open areas. It was also cool to see frost in the lower spots around the neighborhood...really makes all the little tiny microclimates clear

19 minutes ago, Clueless said:

I’m in that cell in E Loudoun. From radar it looks like a miss. I’m just west of town 

A little something is popping up right now just west of town, right where the two outflows collided. Not showing up that well on radar, but I can see rain falling

8 minutes ago, Clueless said:

Who is in Leesburg?

Yo!

I can see that cell in eastern Loudoun, and it's plenty noisy. But it looks like it'll slide to my east while the cells to my west also just miss. 

Good lightning show at least!

7 minutes ago, Terpeast said:

Leesburg being tornado warned

ashburn here - very dark clouds, no wind yet. Calm before the ???

I chased the Leesburg QLCS notch on foot... Couldn't tell if the lowering in the back was rotating, and I didn't wanna stand around for long to figure it out

2 minutes ago, weatherwiz said:

One over Saint James is a monster for sure 

Looks like it's still growing, too

The cell crossing from WV into MD, just south of Hagerstown, is looking pretty healthy from my vantage point. 

Had a great view of the storms that were moving off to the SE of Fredericksburg earlier, illuminated by the setting sun. 

Now enjoying some time out on the front porch as temps dip under 80 and we have a lovely breeze out of the northwest in Leesburg. So pleasant out right now

24 minutes ago, Corrie said:

Crazy winds in Leesburg and I can hear pings of hail on the windows.

Agreed, best storm we've had all summer. Winds were right around severe level in Leesburg in my neighborhood 

Where's @IronTy? I have a bunch of imperial moth eggs for him to save. Guessing they won't do too well on brick, since they really belong on a leaf

20 minutes ago, Terpeast said:

I see that too, and that redevelopment is also fizzling

Edit: I hope you’re right as is nw balt, but I’ve gotten burned one too many times this season. 

Yeah, agreed, trend for the past 6 weeks has been stuff fizzling before it gets to Loudoun. I know some parts of the area got hit nicely yesterday, but there's still a good swath that hasn't seen much in quite a while. I know it'll flip at some point, but until I see rain falling I'll remain skeptical with radar extrapolations haha. 

17 minutes ago, BlizzardNole said:

Let's see if my drought-stricken area can finally cash in.  I have just 0.85 for July after a very dry June.  I also have not seen 1" in a day in ages.  This just feels like another 0.2 or less deal.

Leesburg has been in a tiny little precip hole too. We're sitting at a measly 0.5" for the month as everything seems to be collapsing just before getting here. I'm optimistic about today though... things will ultimately even out:)

This rainfall estimate from the past 72 hours shows that hole pretty well. 

Sidenote... why did iWeather stop letting you actually zoom in on their maps? Makes them far less useful

On 7/7/2023 at 4:03 PM, Amorphous Iodine said:

I’ve have had infestations in the past.  I’ve used BeetleJUS! and crab shell.  Either one or both of them helped or I just got lucky.  Crab shell supposedly increases one’s soil population of chitin-eating bacteria.  Beetle grubs can’t create an exoskeleton if all their chitin gets eaten.  Keep grass tall/thick.  Mama beetles like to lay their eggs where there isn’t much cover.  It helps if your neighbors like to scalp their lawns.

Ohhhh crab shell, interesting! Thank you for the tip. Logically it makes sense and is similar to the suggestion I read to use milky spore as a way to get rid of the grubs.

Between voles and now Japanese beetle grubs, I've got quite the challenge on my hands it seems! Who knew growing plain old grass was so difficult haha

7 hours ago, BlizzardNole said:

They must have big years every so often at different spots.  We had a massive infestation about 10 or so years ago that was so bad you could hear them munching on stuff and they actually killed a number of 10-20 foot cherry trees in our neighborhood.  I never saw them like that again including this year.  We are probably due soon.

Yeah, that seems to be the case here too. This is the third summer I've been in this house and the first time I'm seeing them in such huge numbers. 

I also did some research and can't believe I didn't realize sooner that they lay eggs in the soil. I'll be spreading some grub killer in my yard over the next day or two and then treating plants directly going forward. The bags do a great job at pulling the beetles in, but maybe too great a job... pretty sure I'm pulling them in from all my neighbors yards too. Annnnnd, they smell awful once they get into high concentrations, so I'm gonna toss them in the trash. 

If I'm not gonna get storms, at least the cells off in the distance look great. This was looking ESE at the storm that just crossed the Potomac south of DC

Have a pretty nice view of that Rockville/ silver spring cell. Looked like it was putting down a lot of water

Just now, WxWatcher007 said:

Anyone else having issues with RadarScope updating?

Seems specific to the Dover doplar. Not that it shows anything yet, but TIAD is loading and updating ok