RDM

52

Some T&L here...

Watch extended eastward to cover I-81. A lot of purples in the returns down my Elkins. Front Royal looks to get into the action in a bit. Will it hold together to support the HRRR?

Interesting chart - thanks for sharing High Risk. Assume because there is a valid date for the map, it takes into account recent precip, soil type, terrain etc - yes? Just curious. Don't recall seeing that map before.

Based on radar returns the last band is passing through now. About .72" yesterday and .87" today so far. Not bad. Could have been better. Congrats to those who cashed in.

.94" In the last 25mins. Some gusty winds in the outflow to ~30mph

Rain-X really helps a lot with visibility in down-pours. Seriously. Been using it since the early 80's.

Bright blue sky here with hardly any clouds overhead. Can see the line popping up to the NW. Getting active along the BR and 81

Humm "down" to 92/70dp. Interesting drop in dp the last couple of hours. There was a rather stout derecho across Ohio this afternoon. Looked to be strengthening as it approached WVA, but in the last couple of frames of the radar it appears to be loosing punch.

97/78dp now on my Vantage VUE. 114.5F on the HI scale. NWS just expanded the Heat Watch further west.

94/78dp here - that's 110 on the HI scale Justifies the Excessive Heat Watch (EHW) - Seems they would make it a warning now? NWS already posted EHW's for tomorrow and Tuesday. Had one of our AC's serviced on Friday. The HVAC technician said they've been swamped. (No surprise - tough job in these conditions)

Meant to say 89F with a dp of 81. As I was typing the dp went up even more. Yuk.

89F with a dp of 80. First time I recall having a dp of 81 here. Routine when we lived in Bangkok and Japan, but not here. HI of around 108 already. Going to be a toasty day.

1.07" for the event - half of it in the last batch that came through an hour ago. Not bad...

.33" so far here. A nice soaker at the moment. Hope the returns from the south keep coming our way. Everyone needs it. Next week is looking to be brutal.

Had some of the hardest rain I've seen for a while out near Dulles when the line came through. Poured for about 15 mins with visibility a 1/4 mile or less. Had a very solid double rainbow on the back end with the hint of a triple. Received .82" here at home NW of Vienna.

Yup - thanks. Have a couple timers - work well for grass. Not so much for watering trees and bushes that need a big gulp to be effective. Fortunately, we're on well water so the water bill is nill other than the expense of replacing the well pump periodically, which we did a few weeks ago. Not cheap, but we're getting great flow out the end now. One of those things I contemplated doing myself, but watching the pros do their thing was impressive.

Still 78 with a 75dp at 1am. When I got home from work I watered some plants and young cherry trees. The ground is so hard it took a while for the water to soak in. Dragging 400' of 3/4" garden hose around the yard was not much fun in the early evening heat.

Still 82F at 2am with a dp of 68. Humm, could the humidity be dropping? (maybe wishful thinking)

High of 99 today. With the HI it was pretty rough out there. Down to 88 with a dp of "only" 75 now. Yuk

Low of only 76. Currently 86/78dp - ouch.

At last! .52" out of the band migrating across FFCO.

90/77 already, at 1040am. Had planned to work outside part of today... May need to rethink that.

Just came in from spending about 5 hours outside. (nasty dp) Got a few dozen drops a couple of times only to see the cells pop just a couple miles to the east. Ground is hard as rock - have only managed .64" for the entire month.

Thanks for your story - glad the damage was not worse and nobody was injured. Had a similar experience in 1998 at our first house in Springfield, VA shortly after getting married. Had a big t-storm come through. My wife, daughter and I were standing inside the front entrance watching the hail when lightening struck a large pin oak in our front yard about 25 feet away. It was a very big tree with a trunk 2'+ in diameter and the first limb about 15 feet off the ground. The lightening blew off much of the bark on one side of trunk. Slabs of bark 10' long blew all over the place, with some pieces ending up inside our living room. The strike followed an underground root over to a concrete downspout basin where it electrically connected with re-bar inside the concrete and then the downspout, and then the house. Blew a trench in the ground the entire path well over a foot deep, which blew dirt, rocks and sod everywhere. It would not have been pretty if we were standing outside with potentially harmful projectiles flying around. Found rocks and chunks of sod 50+ feet away in the street. Lost a couple windows in the front of the house, several outlets and had to have our electrical panel in the basement replaced. It was in the corner of basement where the downspout electrically propagated the strike to the house. Discovered after the fact the rebar in the downspout was exposed on one corner, which was the continuity to the house. Could see the char on the underside of the concrete where the electrical charge scoured the concrete. When it struck we lost our hearing for several minutes. My wife and daughter were in shock. We couldn't talk to each other but I verified they were ok and called 911. Told the operator what had happened and that I could not hear anything and could not respond to any questions. I kept the dispatcher on line in a one-way conversation and inspected the house with fire extinguisher in hand before heading up to the attic, which had the same electrical stench. The stench of burnt electrical items permeated the house, especially the basement. Fortunately, there were no sustaining flames. The fire department used a hand-held thermal heat detector to verify there was nothing burning inside the walls. Then they departed and the cleanup began as our hearing slowly returned. We were also fortunate there was no serious fire and no injuries. Will never forget the sound, flash and flying debris. And that ringing - it was nearly debilitating.