BlizzardNole

I've been wanting an all-day cool rain day like this.  I just wish I got more than 0.5, but I'll take it.

After a very wet June, I got a total of 3.5 for July.  Looking forward to August and the average high dropping to mid-80s by the end of the month.

Calling 0.00 for Germantown.  Sprinkler city.

Here is my overnight rain showing up on radar!  Seriously though, I am looking forward to a break in the heat over the next few days.  Also just four weeks until our average high gets down to 85.

2 hours ago, losetoa6 said:

6z 3k and Hrrr hinting at convection mostly for those  i70 and south in central Md.  I'll probably need @CAPEs sprinkler up here .

That's exactly my location, and I'll be surprised if I get rain.

Can't believe I missed all the storms this week with just light showers.  The Central MD Desert Zone is back.  I'll be watering everything today.

3 hours ago, WxWatcher007 said:

My God, Norfolk. Four straight days of 100. That’s big heat. 

Running an average high of 93.6 and low of 75.8 for a +4.9 departure, with every day except July 2 above average (and that was dead on average).  Oh and they have 0.8 inches of total rain for the month.  UGLY.

Managed to get 0.3 after no rain for 10 days, so better than nothing.  The good stuff was painfully close to the south.  I am hoping for a good hit tomorrow.

Congats to people enjoying a storm, including Gaithersburg LOL.  That radar pic by esullivan shows how close I missed.

Radar looked great 15 minutes ago, then it weakened as it arrived with the stronger stuff shifting south.  Looks like I'll just catch the edge for a light shower.  Oh well.

These are looking good on radar - fingers crossed.  I have large cracks in parts of my yard now.

These point-click forecast graphics confuse people sometimes.  We have a funeral and burial of a friend of my Mom's today, and my wife saw this and said "oh no it's going to be raining heavily today!"  Probably would be better to say just chance thunderstorms instead of "heavy rain."

Anyhow, hoping for a good hit in Germantown today as we are on a bit of a losing streak. 

Very nice!  The lack of butterflies is really weird this year; hopefully we'll see more soon.  Next year I want to add some plants to try to get black swallows.  I am glad that my hummingbirds are always reliable, arriving end of April and staying until September.

Got shut out.  At one point there were storms in every direction.  Hoping for better luck this afternoon.

94/70 at closest station to me.  Those are some NICE looking storms up in PA.  Can we get some of that?

11 hours ago, FXW176 said:

Good stuff @BlizzardNole. Impressed. Looks like a 4 or 5 instar on the first pic of this page.

How long you been at this, if ya don’t mind?

I got a butterfly garden started about 12 years ago and have been raising monarchs every summer since then.  I used to do the whole deal bringing in eggs and small cats, and raising them all the way.  One year I must have raised more than 100.  That can be a lot of work!  The last few years I've been mostly letting them do their thing outdoors and bring healthy chrysalises I find in.  I usually grab a few cats to bring inside.

Butterflies are late this year.  I finally have a couple tigers hanging around.

11 hours ago, FXW176 said:

Good stuff @BlizzardNole. Impressed. Looks like a 4 or 5 instar on the first pic of this page.

How long you been at this, if ya don’t mind?

I got a butterfly garden started about 12 years ago and have been raising monarchs every summer since then.  I used to do the whole deal bringing in eggs and small cats, and raising them all the way.  One year I must have raised more than 100.  That can be a lot of work!  The last few years I've been mostly letting them do their thing outdoors and bring healthy chrysalises I find in.  I usually grab a few cats to bring inside.

Butterflies are late this year.  I finally have a couple tigers hanging around.

No relief for folks at the beach today:

78 degrees felt hot walking this morning; can't imagine what it feels like in DC!

Cape is gonna need one of these:

Wow nice rainbow pic!  That shower disintegrated a it passed by to the north, but it temporarily sucked some heat out of the air making for a nice cookout earlier.  It's HOT again and I am sweating bullets after only watering the garden beds.  

Hoping for a lucky t-storm tomorrow.  A sultry 88 degrees coming up on 9 PM.

That is tropical milkweed.  I usually buy seeds and start indoors and treat as annuals (I've never seen them in garden centers).  They grow to 3-4 feet tall and bring in lots of monarch caterpillars, and other butterflies and hummingbirds love the nectar.  They look best in clusters.  Rabbits and deer will not touch it.

I get lots of chrysalises from late July through mid-Sept, and find them hanging on fences, siding, tops of doorways, etc.  They are like clock-work once they make the chrysalis, almost always hatching 10 days later.  I usually bring chrysalises I find outside in so they can hatch safely.  I've gotten good at getting them down -- I wait until they've hardened a little (couple days), and spray them with a little water, then carefully pull off with the webbing material they attach with.  I also sometimes I'll bring in a dozen or so cats to let them make their chrysalises inside. 

Oh and lantana is a great butterfly attracting plant.  Low maintenance and deer/rabbit proof.  Here are some pics from last year:

Just hatched on the deck:

Bunch of chrysalises in an aquarium:

Tropical milkweeds in a cluster:

Got a couple monarch caterpillars -- pretty good size already.

Butterfly garden is looking good.  I've seen a few monarchs around so I should have caterpillars soon.  The hummingbirds really love that tropical milkweed (tall, orange-flowered).  Sometimes they even bypass my feeders for that stuff.

What a great day for mid-July -- still just 82 in early afternoon with low humidity and a breeze.  Gonna throw something on the grill tonight.

Well that escalated quickly!  Heavy shower developed quickly overhead -- heavy, big-drop rain, a little thunder, and down to 75 degrees.

Got 0.6 near Germantown; right at 2.0 for the month.  Can't believe how regular the rainfall has been for my area after a very dry May.

Key West again -- I bet that place is wonderful in the winter, but damn: