IronTy Posted 22 hours ago Share Posted 22 hours ago What the F? Just looking at the skin on my hands you'd think it was January outside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kgottwald Posted 11 hours ago Share Posted 11 hours ago On 5/7/2026 at 10:13 PM, wxdude64 said: Running a -5.5 for the first week of the month, only + day was the 6th (+2.4 degrees) and looks like Saturday and Sunday may be the only days with a chance at positive numbers thru the next 7 days. Chilly May start. Is it possible that May will be cooler than April? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frd Posted 11 hours ago Share Posted 11 hours ago I can only hope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frd Posted 11 hours ago Share Posted 11 hours ago Ugh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Chill Posted 9 hours ago Share Posted 9 hours ago 1 hour ago, frd said: Ugh Smith mtn lake is over 5' below full pool. Many ramps including the one in my hood are unusable. Many boats on lifts cannot touch the water. It's apparently the lowest the lake has been since 1968 which was just a few years after it filled up for the first time. Lake levels are generally quite stable and typically don't fluctuate more than a foot or 2 throughout the year. The recent rain helped knocked the dust down but I'm starting to think it's going to take a tropical event to reset this drought with any efficiency. Thankfully the well on our property on the other side of the mountain has no competition from neighboring landowners. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frd Posted 9 hours ago Share Posted 9 hours ago 8 minutes ago, Bob Chill said: Smith mtn lake is over 5' below full pool. Many ramps including the one in my hood are unusable. Many boats on lifts cannot touch the water. It's apparently the lowest the lake has been since 1968 which was just a few years after it filled up for the first time. Lake levels are generally quite stable and typically don't fluctuate more than a foot or 2 throughout the year. The recent rain helped knocked the dust down but I'm starting to think it's going to take a tropical event to reset this drought with any efficiency. Thankfully the well on our property on the other side of the mountain has no competition from neighboring landowners. Yes, a very serious situation. We need some type of reset event, and soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nw baltimore wx Posted 9 hours ago Share Posted 9 hours ago Looking at the radar, it’s remarkable how the rain knows where the Mason-Dixon Line is located. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowfan Posted 7 hours ago Share Posted 7 hours ago Hey, so uh, where's the rain? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WxUSAF Posted 7 hours ago Share Posted 7 hours ago 5 minutes ago, snowfan said: Hey, so uh, where's the rain? Pennsylvania! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTy Posted 6 hours ago Share Posted 6 hours ago Until there's an event that originates from the SE on this side of the mountains it's gonna be disappointment for us. I've given up even one iota of hope from any frontal passage coming in from the NW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GramaxRefugee Posted 5 hours ago Share Posted 5 hours ago 4 hours ago, Bob Chill said: Smith mtn lake is over 5' below full pool. Many ramps including the one in my hood are unusable. Many boats on lifts cannot touch the water. It's apparently the lowest the lake has been since 1968 which was just a few years after it filled up for the first time. Lake levels are generally quite stable and typically don't fluctuate more than a foot or 2 throughout the year. The recent rain helped knocked the dust down but I'm starting to think it's going to take a tropical event to reset this drought with any efficiency. Thankfully the well on our property on the other side of the mountain has no competition from neighboring landowners. Last I knew, Smith was released during the day and pumped back up at night to get power when needed ,(read expensive)...a 2 lake system. So, I'm guessing power demand affects it too. Looked at this site, and it is down 5'... https://www.smithmtn.com/lake-levels/ ...but it's been lower. Appalachian Power used to have a great visitor center at the dam with large models that explain their system. It's out of the way, but really worth it. Staffed by volunteers too. Been years since I was down that way...hope it's still in operation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kgottwald Posted 5 hours ago Share Posted 5 hours ago Sprinkles popping up IMBY. Small red cell in Takoma Park/Langley Park MD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MN Transplant Posted 5 hours ago Share Posted 5 hours ago Got a few drips. Hope more pops up to the SW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WxUSAF Posted 5 hours ago Share Posted 5 hours ago Missed by a couple miles with the first round Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jac_not_in_dc Posted 4 hours ago Share Posted 4 hours ago Looked at the radar and saw nothing close by, looked out the window 10 minutes later and it was pouring, in downtown Bethesda. Guess that cell popped up right over me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenkinsJinkies Posted 4 hours ago Author Share Posted 4 hours ago Found this in the NYC forum, the Appalachians are acting like an anti rain force field for pretty much the entire eastern seaboard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wxmeddler Posted 3 hours ago Share Posted 3 hours ago 5 hours ago, Bob Chill said: The recent rain helped knocked the dust down but I'm starting to think it's going to take a tropical event to reset this drought with any efficiency. Careful what you wish for.... I got clipped by the pop-up shower around 1:30p. Got a whopping 0.02" out of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAPE Posted 3 hours ago Share Posted 3 hours ago 2 hours ago, IronTy said: Until there's an event that originates from the SE on this side of the mountains it's gonna be disappointment for us. I've given up even one iota of hope from any frontal passage coming in from the NW. The pattern has been largely de-amplified with much of the h5 energy on the weak side-strung out and mostly to the north of us. PWATs have sucked with a predominant westerly component to the flow- all downslope with little to no flow/moisture ingress from the south. Comfortable temps with low DPs, but not conducive to getting any appreciable rainfall in our area this time of year. If we want rain we need a big ass HP off the coast to pump the warm/moist air northward with some cold fronts moving through.. we need warm and humid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormy Posted 3 hours ago Share Posted 3 hours ago 40 minutes ago, CAPE said: The pattern has been largely de-amplified with much of the h5 energy on the weak side-strung out and mostly to the north of us. PWATs have sucked with a predominant westerly component to the flow- all downslope with little to no flow/moisture ingress from the south. Comfortable temps with low DPs, but not conducive to getting any appreciable rainfall in our area this time of year. If we want rain we need a big ass HP off the coast to pump the warm/moist air northward with some cold fronts moving through.. we need warm and humid. We don't get big ass HP off the coast. We get hp ridges along the coast that pump in dry air and suppress convection. I don't see relief until Fall. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WxUSAF Posted 2 hours ago Share Posted 2 hours ago Euro caves to the gfs and turns Wednesday/thursday into a weak frontal passage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTy Posted 2 hours ago Share Posted 2 hours ago 1 hour ago, CAPE said: The pattern has been largely de-amplified with much of the h5 energy on the weak side-strung out and mostly to the north of us. PWATs have sucked with a predominant westerly component to the flow- all downslope with little to no flow/moisture ingress from the south. Comfortable temps with low DPs, but not conducive to getting any appreciable rainfall in our area this time of year. If we want rain we need a big ass HP off the coast to pump the warm/moist air northward with some cold fronts moving through.. we need warm and humid. Yeah that's pretty much it ..our savior isn't going to come from the NW, it's gonna have to come from the SE. Maybe we'll have another record humid July with thunderstorms every day. It is good to see the extreme SE starting to get consistent precip. Eventually one will come north to hit us. I do watch the anomalously cold waters in the North Atlantic and wonder about those. It's been pretty persistent. No idea what that means for us and summer though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WxUSAF Posted 55 minutes ago Share Posted 55 minutes ago Waiting for those storms the NAM has been promising me for (checks time), right now 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Chill Posted 4 minutes ago Share Posted 4 minutes ago 5 hours ago, GramaxRefugee said: Last I knew, Smith was released during the day and pumped back up at night to get power when needed ,(read expensive)...a 2 lake system. So, I'm guessing power demand affects it too. Looked at this site, and it is down 5'... https://www.smithmtn.com/lake-levels/ ...but it's been lower. Appalachian Power used to have a great visitor center at the dam with large models that explain their system. It's out of the way, but really worth it. Staffed by volunteers too. Been years since I was down that way...hope it's still in operation. Yea, the pump back operation is pretty interesting. Our property at Leesville lake is near the head of the lake so it's pretty cool when they let it loose. I've kayaked the "surge" from the visitor center to our ramp area. Its not rough or whitewater or anything like that but you move down stream pretty quick lol. The double lake pump back operation is 1 of only 2 in the world. They release during peak demand and pump back during low demand when rates are lower. Free money glitch for the power company lol. Leesville lake can go up and down as much as 10' a day. I've been fishing from shore during big releases and you get chased uphill haha. Leesville is 3.5k acres and smith is over 20k. A full 10' pump back can only raise Smith 1' though so they can't balance the levels in that direction. Smith has an annual draw down in the fall/winter after peak boating season but it's usually short lived. Like a few weeks. We haven't had full pool since last summer and having it so low during peak season is tickin' a lot of people off. No quick fix this time. It's going to take a lot of rain to get back to full pool. Record low is 788.30 looking at the levels data but it happened in 1977 and not 1968 like the news said. I should call and correct them haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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