Central PA Summer 2026 Discussion/Obs Thread

[Mount Joy Snowman]

Just got off the river with the fam, absolutely perfect day. 

[Jns2183]

I got 0.10" more between 11 and 12 last night to take my total to 1.93" for the day.
Caveat...what I mentioned about the USGS gauge being lower. It's total was 1.45".
My dilemma. Which is more accurate? A tipping bucket or a hepatic gauge?

haha, tipping bucket. if you want I can get you the exact error measurements of heptic vs tipping vs manual gauge. heptic has about a 17% error vs tipping bucket 3-4%

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[Jns2183]

I got 0.10" more between 11 and 12 last night to take my total to 1.93" for the day.
Caveat...what I mentioned about the USGS gauge being lower. It's total was 1.45".
My dilemma. Which is more accurate? A tipping bucket or a hepatic gauge?

Voyager, I don't know what networks your station is connected to but if you DM me your station info and at least 90 days of preferably sub hourly (most stations are network updated at 5, 15 or 30 minutes intervals) I can do a simple QC check based on actual published methods.

For a basic 90-day quality check, I compare each weather station with about 6 to 10 nearby personal weather stations, ideally within roughly 5 miles, plus a reliable airport or professional station if one is close enough. For every hour, I calculate the median of the surrounding stations and compare the station being tested against that local reference. The median is useful because one bad or poorly placed station cannot easily distort the result. I then look at the average bias, which shows whether the station usually reads too high or too low, the mean absolute error, which shows the typical size of the difference, and the correlation, which shows whether it follows weather changes correctly. I also check for missing data, stuck readings, sudden jumps, unusual day-versus-night behavior, and repeated differences during rain, strong sun, or calm nights. The result gives me a practical estimate of whether the station is trustworthy, slightly biased but correctable, or unreliable for a particular measurement.

that goes for anyone else as well. I have API setup with xweather, keystone Mesonet, NWS MADIS feed.

I ran right to the pipeline knife and messing around with them this is what comes out at the end see attached

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[Jns2183]

you're going to find with you heptic sensors that it has about five different rainfall capacities and the air percentage is sort of different for all of them it also matters how exposed to wind it is and eventually also the temperature aspect. the 17% is pretty much my air percentage over the last 90 days. I've been comparing the three gauges since April. if you really want to get into it the manual one has issues with undercatch and the tipping bucket when it rains hard as issues this rain will miss it when the buckets tipped this technically if you want to get exact there are percentages that they usually add depending upon the rain gauge. to find out those percentages and try to find rain gauges all different types of what the air rates were I could do not they probably spent worldwide millions upon millions of dollars and I have least have seen probably 84 scientific studies just based upon or engage measurements and it's to this day a very active field and a nightmare for everybody

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[Voyager]

1 hour ago, Jns2183 said:

Voyager, I don't know what networks your station is connected to but if you DM me your station info and at least 90 days of preferably sub hourly (most stations are network updated at 5, 15 or 30 minutes intervals) I can do a simple QC check based on actual published methods.

 

I'm on Wunderground. It's in my signature.

[Superstorm]

Little taste of fall this morning.


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[mahantango#1]

US National Weather Service State College PA 

Favorites ·oSnesoprtdah6a1lm6h2himht63569uagm0ct73u14i7tf9gt2c1i2tff16i ·

 

A strong low pressure system is expected to bring scattered severe thunderstorms on Tuesday, July 21st. Damaging winds are the primary threat, though all severe weather hazards may be possible. Remember that central Pennsylvania only sees around 5-6 Enhance risks a year. Confidence continues to increase for severe weather on Tuesday.

[pawatch]

54 degrees this morning. Awesome morning!

Anyone have an idea when this storms are supposed to start up tomorrow?

[mahantango#1]

58 minutes ago, pawatch said:

54 degrees this morning. Awesome morning!

Anyone have an idea when this storms are supposed to start up tomorrow?

53 here this morning.

[Superstorm]

56F low in Lancaster.


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[canderson]

57 here. What a great morning. 

[Mount Joy Snowman]

Low of 56. Beautiful. 

[Jsauss]

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DYFcRmg1G/?mibextid=wwXIfr

 

A couple picture from an independent fire photographer from Saturdays storm damage in parts of Enola. as many storm related incidents i've been to in my career, i 've never seen this. These picture do no justice to how this looked at 11pm through 1am.When your highway dept plows a road of downed trees like they're plowing snow, you know it was bad. 

[ChescoWx]

Plenty of lows in the 50's this morning with the lowest being 50.3 degrees at the Warwick DEOS station. Today will be the 10th below average temperature day over the last 15 days. We should continue to see below average temperatures for what is, on average, our warmest week of the year for the rest of this new work week. A beautiful day today with some ridge locations remaining just below 80 degrees. Rain chances increase toward tomorrow morning with the general forecast being for between 3/4 and an inch of rain for most spots with showers lasting till Wednesday AM. We dry out and stay cool on Thursday with highs only in the mid 70's - almost 10 degrees below normal levels for late July.

[canderson]

My Red Sox have won 13 straight. 

@Itstrainingtime’s O’s have won 7 straight. 

They meet tonight - let’s hope the O’s streak ends! 

[canderson]

Hive mind question;

Have tickets for a show at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, Tuesday. 

Would you bail given the forecast? The venue is in the woods and is a bowl that can flood. 

[Itstrainingtime]

6 minutes ago, canderson said:

Hive mind question;

Have tickets for a show at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, Tuesday. 

Would you bail given the forecast? The venue is in the woods and is a bowl that can flood. 

 I tend to be very reserved/cautious. I'd be bailing hard on any outdoor event tomorrow evening. I'm nervous about driving 12.5 miles home from work. 

[Voyager]

Sure is quiet in here (and in the Pittsburgh sub) considering the severe threat tomorrow.

[canderson]

52 minutes ago, Itstrainingtime said:

 I tend to be very reserved/cautious. I'd be bailing hard on any outdoor event tomorrow evening. I'm nervous about driving 12.5 miles home from work. 

I used to not be but am growing more the same - especially since storms are more severe now than before. 

[Yardstickgozinya]

On 7/19/2026 at 1:23 PM, TheDreamTraveler said:

I didn't know that either until a few years ago. Apparently parts of Scotland like the Scottland Highlands were also part of the same chain as the Appalachians at one point which is really cool.

Thank you for checking it out. The Dauphin county youtube channel has some good stuff. I really enjoy the friends of Wildwood and Friends of Fort hunter lecture series. 

https://youtube.com/@dauphincounty?si=Uhbac1Gt5xRdxPjr

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Yardstickgozinya]

This video was made five hours ago and the enhanced risk has expanded since, however I'm still always interested to hear Trey Greenwood's take over convective chronicles. 

 

[Itstrainingtime]

9 hours ago, canderson said:

My Red Sox have won 13 straight. 

@Itstrainingtime’s O’s have won 7 straight. 

They meet tonight - let’s hope the O’s streak ends! 

You got your wish. :)

[canderson]

9 minutes ago, Itstrainingtime said:

You got your wish.

Blacked out so had to listen to the radio feed. One of the best games you’ll ever come across. Back and forth. 
 

14 straight is crazy