Stormy

15 hours ago, OttumwaSnomow said:

I had a davis pro for years. Gave it to my son when I sold  him that property.  The solar charger quit and I was constantly  putting batteries  in. I love the ambient console and easy  access of the data. Its been out since nov 2012 with zero issues. And its quite far from the house

Now that you mentioned it, I remember my Davis station also did that, but it was the battery capacitor not holding any charge anymore if I remember correctly,  so I had to replace the whole ISS, or temp/hum. part of the station. Otherwise I had no issues except with the anemometer once in a while, which is to be expected since that thing is constantly going. My first Davis anemometer never quit going (10 plus years) but I could tell it didn't run as smooth anymore, and I retired it since it wasn't wireless. The wireless anemometer I now have is mounted 34'+ up on a windmill. Anemometers from cheaper stations never seem the last long at all. 

Did your anemometer never cause any problems on your ambient?

I actually did end up getting only 0.10" more rain last evening, bringing my April total to 5.60". The storms rapidly weakened as expected, but didn't dive se. Had one tremendous clap of thunder kind of out of the blue. 

9 hours ago, snow_wizard said:

As I've mentioned on here before a man was murdered just a few miles from my mine by an illegal in the wonderful year of 2020.  The US Marshalls had to conduct a month long man hunt to find the bastard.  You can pin that one on our wonderful State and King County government for not handing him over to ICE when they were supposed to a few weeks before the murder.  Amazing how that story barely made the headlines other than in Ellensburg. 

9 hours ago, snow_wizard said:

 

An illegal killed a college or highschool gal in the next county here a few years ago. It made national news then, but I can't remember her name though I saw an article about it again recently. That's pretty close for rural areas like here. They soon caught the guy.

7 hours ago, SnarkyGoblin said:

You mean Trump's wall and "good" policies didn't stop them?  Shocking.

The wall wasn't finished, but he was wanting to and planning to finish in his second term if possible. The left and probably many RINO'S thought it costs to much, but that cost was nothing  compared to what they are throwing away (my tax dollars) for another country half a world away. Take care of our own border first, fcol!

14 hours ago, roadtonowhere08 said:

I do not condone the breaking into the buildings.  I think that is counterproductive and damages the message that the peaceful protestors are trying to achieve. 

It's the same thing with 1/6.  People want to protest the election and all that? Great!  Break into the Capitol?  Stupid!

I have not been able to learn if they are from outside groups or breakaways from the original common area encampments.

Everything else you said, that's all been debunked as either outside campus troublemakers, hearsay, or flat out did not happen.

And then there is this gem:

I could go on.  Seriously.  How desperate some are to control the narrative is sickening.

Again, the youth are not stupid when it comes to this.  They have more access to media from all perspectives.

I find it funny that the GOP is first to dump all over the MSM, but when people use other outlets to get unfiltered reports and viewpoints, it's not so "kosher" is it?

Yeah this guy is also trying to say there are  provocateurs amongst the protesters too, and you still probably don't believe there were plenty of provocateurs on 1/6 as well, but I saw plenty of video evidence in the the past that there were,  including Ray Epps who they didn't want to arrest for a long time because he was one of the feds. In fact I believe it was a set-up because Nancy Pelosi turned down an offer for more security. There were people trying to stir up the crowds on 1/6 and trying to get them to enter, including Ray on video. In fact I've seen videos of Capitol police waving people on in. But since you suck up to CNN and other leftist news you never see what really happened. Besides many of the youth today are as stupid and brainwashed as can be and wouldn't survive long in Palestine! And don't try to get me to provide a link or video evidence of 1/6 as I don't have time right now, but could if I look it up or stumble upon more news. 

Maybe this isn't the right thread to post this, but I like how the SPC has upped our storm chances this evening, but the HRRR and several other models want to split the storms north and especially south of eastern Iowa. Hopefully those models are wrong. The warm front has passed through here, but maybe there's a moisture gradient the storms might follow further south. I haven't taken time to read the NWS AFD yet. I see storms are beginning to pop in eastern Nebraska and they could easily dive se. eventually.

17 hours ago, OttumwaSnomow said:

Im at 7.93" here for April.  I have 3 gages:  coop observer  large metal gage, a cocorahs gage and my Ambient electronic one.  The coop observer  and cocorahs  are usually  identical.. The coop observer  maybe a tic higher  less, maybe  0.5% than the  cocorahs  at times. The ambient is steadily 4 to 6% higher, so i dont document it. But its midnight to midnight and  saves me a trip out in the rain! The ambient is very reliable, except  for dead of winter ice or snow.  But perhaps most confusing  is OTM  7 miles  nw of me is  measured  at midnight  and i measure 7 am. On March 31st just before midnight we had  a torrential  downpour, which went into my April data. Had that went on March data  March would've  been closer  to normal precip. But I continue  to see this oddity that My 2 locations in Wapello  county steadily see much more precip than OTM, and 2 other  friends not far from OTM.   I've  come to strongly believe  that info isn't  accurate!  When I have 3 rain gages over years? Why is OTM  constantly  10 to 20% less?  Possibly  even more in winter  when precip needs melted.?????? Oh and fyi my ambient says 6.98" since April 1st at midnight. 

Yeah I was checking the monthly COCORAHS reports yesterday and noticed the Bloomfield area had even higher April rainfall totals, like up to 9"+! My sister in south central KS says they're drying up and I noticed they again missed the recent rains. They're not farmers, but already the other week she said the wheat may be toast er long. 

I'm glad to hear that the COCORAHS gauge is nearly identical to the official one because I have two of those and like them. I'm guessing the COOP gauge is more accurate beings it has a larger diameter. I actually have 5 gauges out. Two other small ones always show less unless it rains a lot, like over 1" as they tend to catch up. I like my digital Davis gauge, but it's not consistent and I never fully trust digital gauges. I have a spare older Davis station/gauge and both rain guages had to be adjusted up a bit (calibrated) to match my other gauges. The new Vantage Pro2 has a redesigned gauge so the wind affects the rain less that's entering it. I don't know if the new design helps much. Davis finally came out with a touch screen console last year but it needs to be plugged in an outlet as battery backup won't last long. I'd get one if they'd make it totally wireless like what I have.

My April total rainfall is 5.50". Not sure if I'll add anything to that amount before midnight tomorrow night or not, but probably not as it appears less likely.

28 minutes ago, Iceresistance said:

I don't think I will ever see someone THIS CRAZY in a long time
 

 

Sounds like some so-called "newcomers" (I call them illegals) being crazy and not knowing what or how dangerous tornados are or can be!?

Models still are showing some heavy rains in Iowa for this week, but we'll see how that pans out. Hopefully the driest areas see heavy amounts as some models are showing, but often it's better not being in the bullseye to far in advance. 

Last Friday I got 0.41" of rain with another 0.97" over the weekend amounting to a decent 1.38" total. I was expecting at least 2" from what the models were showing, but I'm happy with this. The heaviest rains this spring mostly end up just se. of here it seems, like this morning's event. 

The storm on Saturday evening was a dud for rainfall as it weakened at the last minute and passed just to the nw. But had plenty of lightning and wind with the max. gust to 55 mph.

On 4/20/2024 at 1:23 PM, OttumwaSnomow said:

Most of my 30 fruit trees in full bloom. Currently  its 41F at 1 pm. Dewpoint  is 27F and both will plummet  down tonight  i think my fruit is gone!

How did your fruit trees fair? The ones here had only a few flowers freeze which won't have a noticable impact at all. A few other things got nipped, but not to majorly after two mornings at 30⁰ and 29⁰. Quite a few strawberry flower buds froze even though they weren't open yet.

On 4/20/2024 at 5:01 AM, westMJim said:

The flood of 2013.

January 2013 was a rather wet month with 4.01” of total precipitation.  February was snowy (33.1”) and wet (3.05”) while March was dryer with just 0.94” of precipitation. Then came April with 11.10” of rain and melted snow. That 11.10” is by far the wettest for any April. And is the 3rd wettest for any month at Grand Rapids. All that precipitation in January, February and April led to the big flood of April 2013.

West Michigan saw weeks of heavy rainfall caused widespread flooding and led the Grand River to crest at record levels.

Grand Rapids already had shattered its longstanding April rainfall record, but just crept into the top three wettest of any month of the year.

The No. 1 spot goes to June 1892, when 13.22 inches of rain fell. Second place   gs to September 1986, when 11.85 inches fell.

On April 21, in Comstock Park, the Grand River crested at 17.8 feet, 5.8 feet above the 12-foot flood stage while in Grand Rapids, the river rose to 21.85 feet, or 3.85 feet above the 18-foot flood stage. A storm deemed "catastrophic" that had the potential to drop 3 to 4 inches of rain had also barely missed the Grand Rapids area on the day that the water crested in the Grand River, so we kind of lucked out on that.

I work for the West Michigan Whitecaps and there were several home games during that flood. A large section on the north parking lot was flooded and the road along the river was closed. The only way in and out of the park was thru the secondary way under the overpass for US 131. On the east side of the ballpark there was water that was up to the top of the stop signs and during one game there were huge logs floating through the parking lot.

here is some video about the flood of 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee56qwN9wcs

I remember April of 2013 well, as here it also was the wettest April of my  records, with 9.55" of rainfall. And the local river had a major flood after a 5"+ rainfall event around the 17th, if I remember the date correctly.

3 hours ago, Hawkeye said:

I got 0.36" of rain today, pretty close to the middle of the model range.  The grass is very lush and green.  Cedar Rapids has been downgraded from "extreme" drought to "severe".

I ended up with 0.42". It was much heavier to the south. The lawns are lush and green here as well. I mowed one lawn twice and another not once yet, but should.

I wanted to comment about the weather on Tuesday, but I always get sidetracked in doing and looking at other things. Plus I was helping with storm cleanup for people from my church that evening. The first batch of showers Tuesday afternoon was heavier then it appeared on radar as PWATS were quite high, but I was in a gap between heavier cells of course. Still ended the first round with exactly 0.40". Then a short period of sunshine preceded an ominous shelf cloud from the last brief intense line of storms. The sky looked greenish, and I was out shooting video (with iPhone 15 Pro Max) and photos till the last second! But only 0.24" rain from that line with wind gust only around 43 mph and not as windy at my location as early in the afternoon. But had some decent hail with a few of the largest stones at 1" diameter. But 2 farms approximately 3-4 miles se. of me had buildings destroyed from a possible little spin up tornado or microburst? One building was totally flattened and the other farm had half of the roof gone among other damage. Total rainfall on Tuesday was only 0.64". 

The drought maps may be off for my location since we've had very good rains in March, and especially this month. Field tile lines are running since the heavy rains of early April and water is standing in roadside ditches after each rainfall. With today's rainfall I'm approaching 4" for the month. And it looks active again by late April.

Just checked my weather station and I'm just over 4" for the month now, with over a third of an inch so far today.

We had a chance of showers yesterday, but I wasn't really expecting anything more than a few hundredths at most. But some on and off showers traversed my area starting by 3:00 p.m. with brief downpours and barely pea-sized hail multiple times. Even heard some thunder a few times. Ended up getting 0.32" while my sister's place 2/3rd mile ne. got nearly a half inch as did another sister 7-8 miles se. I was going to plant some garden, but plans changed. A plenty chilly rain anyway. 

You're probably wondering why I mention siblings living here and there, and jfyi, I have 4 brothers and 4 sisters. And one brother's winter home may be @Tom's neighbor!? Not sure what his exact address is, though it's in Fountain Hills. 

4 hours ago, Hoosier said:

Viewing through binoculars was amazing.  Almost felt like you could reach out and touch the eclipse.

Overall I was very pleased with the viewing experience.  One thing I missed out on again were the shadow bands.  They are tough to see unless you have the right background, and I just couldn't find any in 2017 or this time.  Did have a much better look at the dramatic darkening of the western sky immediately prior to totality.  Didn't pay enough attention to that in 2017 and mostly missed that last minute darkening.  Really helps to sort of map this stuff out in your head in advance.  There is so much to take in in so little time.  Totality is short-lived even in the best of circumstances and I can't understand why anybody would be content with very brief totality (say less than 1 minute) if there's a chance to get to a better spot.

Yes that last minute darkening was surreal, and we couldn't see any shadow bands either, though some climbed onto the house roof and other structures for a better view. One thing I didn't realize was that sunspots are readily visible through a spotting scope etc. I don't make a habit of looking at the sun! Lol

2 hours ago, Andie said:

Answered this elsewhere, but not really. We had high thin clouds and they worked as a filter.  I could actually see well for about 20 seconds without the glasses. But I didn’t take chances. They went back on fast.  
I could see the corona flares which were the highlight for me.  

That's good that it was decent viewing for you. I could see the flares throughout totality, but it looked better through binoculars. 

Here are a few photos from my friends iPhone.

IMG_1153.HEIC IMG_1147.HEIC

My first total eclipse was an awesome and enjoyable experience! Took off for southern IL just after 2:00a.m. and arrived at our destination (my cousin's farm near Carbondale) in only around 5.5 hrs. as traffic was a non-issue and had good roads. And the weather was perfect with only a few thin cirrus at times with a high temp around 80⁰! Had over 100 people there (mostly from my community) to watch it and enjoyed 2 hearty big meals (brunch and supper) plus snacks in-between! Had several spotting scopes on tripods for people to use, and later mounted a camera on one during the eclipse. We also did some experiments and someone gave a presentation about eclipses, etc. My nephew flew his drone before and during the eclipse, which mostly flew itself so he could enjoy the sights. We also had a thermometer recording the temp which dropped 12⁰ f in the shade and still more in the sun, if I remember correctly. One thing I forgot was sunscreen, so I got burned a little even if I tried staying in the shade at times. We left for home around 6:30p.m. hoping traffic would clear out some. Had one little stretch of heavy, slow traffic, but mostly good travelling most of the way, arriving back in around 6 hrs. Trees were much greener in s. IL. 

Oh, I forgot to mention my brother down there took us on a ride to his place nearby with a farm tractor and trailer afterwards. Had 60+ people on the flatbed trailer! 

15 hours ago, MNTonka said:

High clouds or haze could still be pretty great. In 2017 we had similar conditions and once it started to get close to totality, it actually cleared up. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever experienced! I’m hoping for a similar scenario this year. Don’t give up hope! Good luck! 

A similar thing happened in Mo. where my brother went to watch in 2017. It was all cloudy, but  clearing occurred just in time for the eclipse with clouds moving back in soon after! It's was sunnier in IL. that time. 

I plan leaving around 1:00 am. Monday with a van load of friends. In fact a bus load of people is leaving from my community to see it. Makes for less traffic going together! Lol

As of now the NWS point forecast is calling for sunny skies on Monday near Carbondale.

Oops, I couldn't clear the editor for some reason, then kind of reposted things. I will need to edit this. 

On 3/23/2024 at 8:18 PM, Hoosier said:

Just some thoughts/suggestions for those traveling to a total solar eclipse for the first time.  

It wouldn't be a bad idea to have some way of knowing where you're going that doesn't rely on internet/GPS.  Cell service can be an issue in rural areas in the best of times, but the system may get overwhelmed by the influx of people and in general, I just wouldn't want to rely on technology in the event that something goes wrong.  For the 2017 eclipse, I actually went old school and bought those large paper state maps and traced the boundaries of the path of totality.  Was glad that I did that as service was indeed sketchy at times.  Might just download some maps onto my phone this time, not sure yet.  

Anticipate heavy traffic (especially after the eclipse), even in some of the rural areas.  Some of these towns will probably have more people coming through on April 8 than they've ever seen before.  Funny story from the morning of the 2017 eclipse... I stopped at a gas station to use the bathroom in a town called Ava, IL on my way into far southern IL.  It has about 500 people.  The line for the bathroom was out the door... there were dozens of people in line... no joke.  

Gas up when you can and have some snacks/beverages in the car with you.

My brother went down in that area to see it in 2017, but I couldn't make it. This time though, I'm going to the Carbondale, IL area (not far from Ava) where another brother lives. Lucky for people there, being it's the only area where both total eclipses cross, which I'm sure you knew! 

On 2/14/2024 at 9:29 PM, OttumwaSnomow said:

This data just blows my mind. Ottumwa  and Fairfield  Iowa one of snowiest  locations  east of Rockies. 

What blows me away yet more is that most of the snow fell within 1 weeks time during a season that only had around 2 weeks of real winter, and that most of it melted by early February!! And it basically all soaked into the thirsty unfrozen soil, similar to the previous winter's precipitation. In January I totally expected to see more of January's snow hang around till some time in March, but even the very deepest drifts have mostly disappeared! The winter of '07 - 2008 was the snowiest of my records, but does anyone know if that was also an elnino winter too? It seems like NINO winters are more active in my area. 

7 minutes ago, SilverFallsAndrew said:

I do not care if the country is less white. As long as those coming in adhere to the law, contribute to society, and assimilate into our culture. Except they take a wrecking ball to our culture, tell us we have no culture, and replace it with vapid consumerism and Taylor Swift. 

I don't care either, but the Marxist racists do.