SouthboundYank

You have NOTHING to apologize for in terms of "your bad!" This was a combination of (probably, literally) millions of folks in that part of the country not paying attention to the "cone of impact" (and let's be honest, very few do unless they perceive the "center line" of the hurricane is coming directly OVER them), and also a combination of GA/NC/VA mountain folk thinking that this couldn't POSSIBLY affect them, despite the forecasts...AND, let alone, the amount of rain they had BEFORE Helene came through! Now, I'm that guy that watches and reads TOO much regarding the NWS forecasts and CWA discussions, but I take all of those info resources into account when I read everything that y'all share here in terms of analysis. But end of the day...there are WAY too many non-weather geeks out there...who don't follow what most of us follow here (e.g., hurricane forecasts, extended outlooks, etc.). Not gonna deny it -- the aftermath of Helene in the mountains of VA/NC/SC/GA is horrendous and heartbreaking. But I also feel like we ALL need to be a little more prepared for when disasters (natural and otherwise) are poised to strike us. Particularly in a region like the DMV.

THAT would be great news... I do a late fall camping trip each year with my older brother in French Creek State Park, located between Reading, PA and Philly. I remember the notices going up on their camp reservation website starting about five years ago that lantern flies were "beginning to invade" southeastern PA and to be careful about packing out of your site when leaving so you weren't importing them into other locales. They've basically changed their guidance to, "if you see 'em, kill 'em." Based on reports here and generally across the Mid Atlantic...I'd say the lantern flies' invasion has been a success.

Glad for y'all. Sincerely. Cuz it ended up being HOT AF here in the close-in NoVA burbs today...literally got up to 90 an hour ago, and yeah, I HAD to do front/back yard work.

Moving this over here to banter...Mrs. V and I have mostly considered SC (Myrtle Beach, in particular) for our next and final landing spot for retirement. BUT...if we elected to stay in VA, the Smith Mt. Lake to Lynchburg region has increasingly caught our interest. Your off-the-cuff report here tells me we need to dig deeper in our investigations into that region. One thing is for absolute sure...we're going to GTHO of close-in NoVA. UGH.

#PREACH I didn't want to shit on them, but the ENTIRE LWX forecast for today has been anything BUT what they called for...broken clouds and mostly sunny conditions here since late morning.

I haven't had time to check all of these updates in recent weeks, but just walked through most of them this morning and I have to say -- THANK YOU for so freely sharing your efforts here. I mean, this is GREAT stuff. I'm looking into how to make some of your tools the "background desktop" on my Chromebook. I'll figure that out today, but again, I personally appreciate your passion and hard work here!

Yep. We did several hours of yard work this afternoon, when it peaked at 87, well beyond the forecasted high. My wife and I were sweating our keisters off...

I'm curious...why is that cloud shield for the Staunton and Harrisonburg storms extending so far south and east, ahead of the actual storms hitting (or getting ready to hit) those areas? It's also reflected on the GOES16 depiction. Haven't seen anything like that...maybe ever.

75/61...with just the lightest kiss of drizzle for about 3 minutes as we finished our big doggo walk right around 6 p.m.

About the same. Winds picked up and clouds lowered a good bit between noon and 2 p.m. Just had about 5 min worth of sprinkles...with jives with current radar. Winds picking up a bit again...but waiting for these clouds to move out, and then I'm gonna set up the pellet wood stove on the back patio so that Mrs. V and I can share a decent IPA next to the fire in awhile...and maybe a roasted marshmallow or two.

Precip %'s between Wed and today in that timeframe have gone from 40-50% to just 20% tomorrow afternoon in these neck of the woods. Selfishly I'm a bit glad...I can do the big weekend dog walk tomorrow AM...but wow, I didn't think that the rain chances would diminish THAT much that soon. Ahhh, well.

52 for the low. Some high clouds streaming east right now but an otherwise perfect morning.

Y'all are gonna have GREAT windows-open temps up there tonight...

70/58..heading out for the four mile doggo walk under increasingly blue skies. Good thing it's perfect lawn mowing weather...cuz there's a lot to do. And yeah, @CAPE...maybe even more than the shorter days, I mind the lowering sun angle on our journey towards late Dec. With the front of the house facing due south, our back patio gets mostly full sun at the height of summer...but now the shadow of the house is gradually extending toward the yard again and putting more and more patio in full shade.

Yeah, watching with semi-interest...currently 71/66 IMBY. Radar looks a whole helluva lot more interesting to the west than I anticipated it to be this afternoon.

Received .84" since this time yesterday morning, and we've had a heavy drizzle since daybreak. We haven't enjoyed a more enjoyable night of stormy wx living here more than we did last evening -- occasional lightning flashes, long rolling waves of thunder, a steady (though not flooding) rain, from pretty much dinnertime yesterday until the early morning hours. Sublime.

Yeah. My wife just got off work in the Hayfield area about 20 min ago and asked me if she had time to make a return at Springfield Town Center. Since the storm was mostly stationary around Centreville (based on radar at that point) I said, SURE! Now the T&L and heavier rain has quickly built in SE from the Centreville storm and STC (and her) are probably smack dab in the middle of it. Boy...am I gonna hear about THAT one.

Same...we actually had a little thundery preview just before 9 a.m. and then the stronger cell that just nicked mattie just passed through here. Trying to figure out if that cell currently over Tysons is going to develop southward for Round #3 this morning -- I wouldn't be surprised, as the sky has that cheesy, yellow/grey-ish look all around us still.

Indeed..we had a 30-40 min hard/steady rain...maybe it'll green things up come tomorrow, but it was certainly enough to wash the dust off my car.

Same! Some "soothing" thunder along with some gusty winds and a somewhat impressive gully-washer shot of rain...SOLD! Made it home from my "workday on post" at Fort Belvoir, with about 2 min to spare to race around the back patio covering all of the furniture and grill, stowing the electricals (e.g., fan, speakers), etc. It would probably be a pretty funny video if someone had been filming me...

I know, right? Damn...it's raining to beat the band right now!

Awesome pic...caught a very similar shot, when we were driving into Santa Fe, NM last August...popup showers all over the place and looked very similar!

Kinda forgot it was the first day of school...our kids are long gone from FCPS. But it was still kind of a weird day for us, as my wife -- who retired from FCPS in summer 2023 -- was invited by a few folks at her former school to apply for an afternoon PT job for one more year, which she did, and she got the job. She's actually happy to be back doing "a little something" again. I guess golf lessons and pickleball just wasn't satisfying enough...not to mention being home with ME while I telework. Personally, I can't imagine feeling that way after MY first year of retirement (commencing in March 2026!)...but we'll see.

LOL.."I got a rock." But yeah, seriously, the storms split north/south on either side of us over the past two days. Thought for sure we'd get knicked by that complex barreling through MD last evening, but no bueno. To your other point...we have LOTS of trees in distress, even after Debby's visit last weekend...so many leaves "browned out" on younger and mature trees alike around my yard, and our largest oak is dropping a ton of leaves already. Finally, @aldie 22 nailed it -- we are gonna have a SPECTACULAR weather week once we get past today.

Yeah...the Stanardsville to Culpeper line completely fizzled out here in NoVA over the past 1-2 hours. Second line back in the valley...looks pretty on radar right NOW, but I'm not gonna count on that NOT holding together until it gets here. Honestly...that "watch" light on my wx radio really needs to outen itself right now.