July Banter 2026

[Maestrobjwa]

2 hours ago, WxUSAF said:

Impressive win! Go USMNT!

 

gonna be tough without Balogun next game…

I don't know much about soccer but that looked like some serious "you're not meant to win it this year" bad luck to lose what I understand is our best scorer for the next game from purely incidental contact that led to a red card. That is so dumb, smh

[yoda]

1 minute ago, Eskimo Joe said:

Unfortunately, Virginia does not have a statewide mesonet.

How did you and @wxmeddler get one going for MD?

[wxmeddler]

4 minutes ago, yoda said:

How did you and @wxmeddler get one going for MD?

I had nothing to do with the conceptions of it. I just run it.  There was a push by MDEM to have a mesonet system following the success in other states. University of Maryland agreed to partner with the effort and it was just a matter of funding to show up for it. That's a very short narrative for a long process, but that's the gist of it. 

[yoda]

Back for one more year of disappointment I see

https://russianmachineneverbreaks.com/2026/07/02/alex-ovechkin-return-washington-capitals-contract-one-year-retirement/

https://www.prohockeyrumors.com/2026/07/capitals-sign-alex-ovechkin-to-one-year-contract.html#ref=home

 

 

[nw baltimore wx]

I’m in the Reqding area waiting for the Big Boy!

[SolidIcewx]

Sweating more than bonnie blue sitting in a catholic church..

[AnEndlessMaze]

Stepping out to get the mail felt like:

 

[RickinBaltimore]

1 hour ago, AnEndlessMaze said:

Stepping out to get the mail felt like:

 

I would prefer it start Raining Blood

[nj2va]

Goooooooooo Croatia!

[nw baltimore wx]

It was super hot in Pottstown, PA, yesterday, but the Big Boy didn’t disappoint.

[nw baltimore wx]

I hate seeing any of these World Cup games end on PK's.

[snowfan]

I don’t understand the appeal of having your wedding inside MSG. Shrug.

[WxUSAF]

God damn what a beautiful goal by Cape Verde

[Kay]

Philly cancelled its years in the making, major blowout, 250 parade that was supposed to have been today. Good decision.

[Interstate]

Best soccer game I have ever seen.

[Araz07]

That was an incredible effort from Cabo Verde. The smallest country to ever qualify for a knockout match in the World Cup nearly took out the defending champions. Their GK Vozinha was incredible and that goal from Lopes Cabral was breathtaking.

"Don't cry because its over; smile because it happened" (Ludwig Jacobowski)

[Jebman]

National Weather Service.  Okay folks, I Don't have a bone to pick with you guys after all.

I looked at our regional page down here in the Austin region https://www.weather.gov/ewx/

You fine people at the Austin EWX NWS had a YEAR, an ENTIRE YEAR, to post a professional disco about the Kerrville Floods!!

You did post one, at the top of the ewx page! THANKS!

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/bb1109cec58248fba33e459c4bf9852f

 

[pazzo83]

2 hours ago, Kay said:

Philly cancelled its years in the making, major blowout, 250 parade that was supposed to have been today. Good decision.

DC just cancelled theirs for tomorrow.

[pazzo83]

48 minutes ago, Araz07 said:

That was an incredible effort from Cabo Verde. The smallest country to ever qualify for a knockout match in the World Cup nearly took out the defending champions. Their GK Vozinha was incredible and that goal from Lopes Cabral was breathtaking.

"Don't cry because its over; smile because it happened" (Ludwig Jacobowski)

they literally almost tied it up right at the end for a 3rd time - just incredible effort.

[nj2va]

1 hour ago, Araz07 said:

That was an incredible effort from Cabo Verde. The smallest country to ever qualify for a knockout match in the World Cup nearly took out the defending champions. Their GK Vozinha was incredible and that goal from Lopes Cabral was breathtaking.

"Don't cry because its over; smile because it happened" (Ludwig Jacobowski)

I was rooting hard for them..would have been an amazing story to knock off Argentina. What a run they had. 

[pazzo83]

2 minutes ago, nj2va said:

I was rooting hard for them..would have been an amazing story to knock off Argentina. What a run they had. 

Messi was leaving the pitch and the look on his face was - we really dodged a bullet there.

[SnowenOutThere]

11 minutes ago, vortex95 said:

Thanks for the feedback/input.

Climate hype is still rife on social media, and if you look at a lot of MSM news and wx segments, they are still pushing the gloom and doom narrative often.  Also, even w/ politics shifted this country, look at a lot of rest of the world and organizations like the UN and WEF.  The end of the word narrative from AGW is alive and well still.

And going one step further, this is case of "bad news sells," which is apolitical, so that's what drives it a lot.  The boogie man changes over time, but its is always there out to get us.  In the 70s, it was pollution in general and the ice age coming, in the 80s, it was the ozone layer and acid rain, and by the 90s it switched to climate change and has not looked back.

The deniliasm part is merely subset of any problem that exists and is hype or over-promoted.  Par for the course.

I don't like denialism as a term, as much as I don't like blindly embracing a narrative or ideology.  That's a false dichotomy and suggests a lack of critical thinking.  As w/ many things, the truth often lies in between.  Not exactly 50-50 w/ every issue either, and things are often a lot more complex than they seem w/ no easy answers as well.

I’ll move our conversation over to banter. I fundamentally agree with you on the doom narrative of climate change or that the environment collapsing is bad. It sets people up to no longer believe in those crisises when the world doesn’t end. Nihilism doesn’t really promote people taking action to cause change. However, I think it’s important to recognize that we both know, you as an expert and myself as a student, that 1.5+ degree C change will be bad. There is no arguing that it is warmer than before the Industrial Revolution. Additionally, there is no arguing that greenhouse gases are responsible for the majority of this increase. Finally, there is no arguing that this increase has, and will continue, to exacerbate increasingly damaging events. The last four sentences aren’t a political narrative, they’re just our scientific understanding of the atmosphere as a fluid body. I recognize that you know more about it than me, so if my logic there was wrong please let me know.  
 

The scientific part said, it is frustrating to have people come up to me and say “oh it’s hot because of climate change”. I get that. We need better communication on what it is - an exellerant to extreme patterns - and what it is not - the sole cause of all weather. My last point I want to emphasize as someone who wants to go into environment policy: the ozone hole or acid rain “scares” were extremely detrimental. It is only because of that fear and the groundbreaking legislative effort, both abroad and at home, that we live in a timeline where the ozone hole is a little known fact and confined to the poles. It is because of that effort that acid rain is nonexistent in the US. It is because of that effort and clean air act that our AQI has been in the green despite being trapped under summer ridging. I’ve never known the world my grandparents describe where in summer the sun was dim with smog. It’s important to remember that these are policies that if removed, or gutted, we can and will go back to a more polluted and less healthy planet. 

[MN Transplant]

28 minutes ago, SnowenOutThere said:

I’ll move our conversation over to banter. I fundamentally agree with you on the doom narrative of climate change or that the environment collapsing is bad. It sets people up to no longer believe in those crisises when the world doesn’t end. Nihilism doesn’t really promote people taking action to cause change. However, I think it’s important to recognize that we both know, you as an expert and myself as a student, that 1.5+ degree C change will be bad. There is no arguing that it is warmer than before the Industrial Revolution. Additionally, there is no arguing that greenhouse gases are responsible for the majority of this increase. Finally, there is no arguing that this increase has, and will continue, to exacerbate increasingly damaging events. The last four sentences aren’t a political narrative, they’re just our scientific understanding of the atmosphere as a fluid body. I recognize that you know more about it than me, so if my logic there was wrong please let me know.  
 

The scientific part said, it is frustrating to have people come up to me and say “oh it’s hot because of climate change”. I get that. We need better communication on what it is - an exellerant to extreme patterns - and what it is not - the sole cause of all weather. My last point I want to emphasize as someone who wants to go into environment policy: the ozone hole or acid rain “scares” were extremely detrimental. It is only because of that fear and the groundbreaking legislative effort, both abroad and at home, that we live in a timeline where the ozone hole is a little known fact and confined to the poles. It is because of that effort that acid rain is nonexistent in the US. It is because of that effort and clean air act that our AQI has been in the green despite being trapped under summer ridging. I’ve never known the world my grandparents describe where in summer the sun was dim with smog. It’s important to remember that these are policies that if removed, or gutted, we can and will go back to a more polluted and less healthy planet. 

I’d be more tolerant of opposing opinions if the question was “what should we do about it?”  There are serious policy questions about the impacts on society (including costs) of transitioning to low-carbon energy.  If the debate was cost vs benefit, that is an extremely healthy and useful discussion.  

[nj2va]

Happy Birthday America, the greatest country on earth!

[Kmlwx]

I'm heading out to the Nat'l Arboretum in a little while. I know I'll miss most of the rotary aircraft, but hoping as the bigger jets fly west to east I can get them as they edge ENE to exit the city to the east. Got some good pics yesterday from the Bowie area but the haze really screwed up the quality. Best solution for that is to get closer...Have no desire to head to the Mall in triple digit heat, though....plus the crowds. 

My backup spots are Costco in NE, Wegmans along US 50 in Maryland and then back to the park I was at yesterday. 

All strategic spots along 50 to be able to get out of dodge quickly if the storms start popping quick.

[MN Transplant]

I’m going to get a free air show from my backyard today as they line up to go over the length of the Mall.

[CAPE]

Even in an extreme drought those Asian Tiger mosquitoes manage to do their thing. Tiny bastards only bite during the day and you feel it instantly. Luckily my reaction is mild- no welt or persistent itch.

[Kmlwx]

I’m missing all the helicopters but my spot at the Arboretum has been outstanding for the fighters and heavier planes. 
 

Hoping convection holds off until I need to move before the grounds close 

[MN Transplant]

9 minutes ago, Kmlwx said:

I’m missing all the helicopters but my spot at the Arboretum has been outstanding for the fighters and heavier planes. 
 

Hoping convection holds off until I need to move before the grounds close 

The USAF group has been circling south of town waiting their turn. That should be fun.

[Kmlwx]

6 minutes ago, MN Transplant said:

The USAF group has been circling south of town waiting their turn. That should be fun.

Yeah that should be a great photo op. Side note - the more isolated restrooms here look like sheds from a 1980s horror movie…

So far security hasn’t hassled me thankfully.