Scarlet Pimpernel

Now...imagine if it were a large forest of cannabis plants that was burning, how would we all feel?

A bit like Andy Dufresne (in "Shawshank Redemption"...one of my favorite films!) crawling through 500 yards of sh*t-smelling foulness I can't possibly imagine!!

Agree. Things change, and improved knowledge (and medical understanding/advances) can help save lives and/or keep you from getting sick or adversely affected. I've never been a fan of the "we never whined about such-and-such and came out OK, now everyone's a wimp!" attitude (when in fact many people did NOT come out so OK). Yeah, some complaints about "how difficult it is" that I hear on minor or more trivial issues makes me roll my eyes, but in general, I totally get it. As for the conditions today, it's totally ugly out there. You can literally smell the smoke and feel it in your eyes and sinuses. Remarkable how the visibility is notably lowered too. Thank goodness I didn't have to be out for any length of time in this. I'm not sure how this compares to a couple of years back when we had a similar event with wildfire smoke that got into this area. Regardless, it's pretty bad.

Ugh, that June 2012 derecho event was awful! It was over 100 degrees that day and still at or near 100 into the evening right before the blast hit. Knocked our power out for 2-3 days solid which was miserable because the following days were still in the upper 90s. During Sandy we didn't have a power outage (or perhaps very briefly, can't recall exactly?) even with the more consistent winds. There was better prep during Sandy for sure as I recall...but also, the derecho ironically cleared out a fair bit of older trees/growth so that by October there wasn't as much to fall or get uprooted. (ETA: Interesting tidbit about the derecho event. Didn't get a lot of rain from that where I was, it was primarily a literal blast of wind in a concentrated amount of time. And there was a TON of lightning.)

Yup, and don't even get me started, LOL!! I had to seriously restrain myself from making too "overly political" of a comment with my DOGE remark! But damn, I have been utterly pissed off (and worried) the past year and a half, it's hard NOT to make at least some reference to the reality going on.

Don't give them any ideas!

Personally, I can't stand extreme heat and consider it a "win" if we can avoid a ton of mid-upper 90s or 100+ degree days in any given summer! Hell, last August was about one of the most pleasant Augusts I can recall in this area, in a summer that wasn't overly insufferable.

But...DOGE-ball is oh so much fun (not)!!!

Thanks for confirming that, I was just checking in here to see if anyone else noticed forecasts aren't loading and haven't all day thus far. Even when I can get to LWX's main site or the weather.gov main site (after a bit of a wait), the point-and-click for a location just sits and spins. I thought there was some issue with my wi-fi, but no other sites I visited had any issues. Wonder if they're getting hit with a ton of traffic due to the upcoming heat this week.

And...Happy Birthday to you @mappy!! I didn't realize your birthday and @stormtracker's were on consecutive days!

Didn't realize it was his birthday! Happy Belated, @stormtracker!!!

Took this photo of the "blue moon" this past weekend (2nd full moon in May). Altered the white balance and added some blue tint to make it a "blue" blue moon!! Also, same evening, some remarkable sunset glow to the north (looking toward Rockville, for those in the MD/DC/VA area).

Happy Easter, happy spring to all! And @mappy, here are some tulips for you!!

FYP!!!

OK in all seriousness I'd have to give it a B or B+. Yeah, we missed out on more snow which was indeed frustrating, but it's hard to top the 2 straight weeks below freezing, deep winter. And "snowcrete" was pretty cool, 5-6" snow with 2" sleet on top that turned into a solid layer that went nowhere for a long time. I could literally walk on top of it without pushing into the snow. And though we missed the big snow for February, I still got 3-4" when it fell at a good clip for awhile in the evening. Not to mention, the amazing turnaround with 80 degrees one day followed by half an inch or so of snow the next day in early March.