Stormfly

Portable swamp cooler!

Yeah I'm basically in emergency mode LOL!

It's not bad on a ZTR mowing at 10+ mph in open areas. Running string trimmers, walk behinds or clearing saws? No thanks!

LOL that's probably spot on as it has us getting nary a drop!

Yes being without power especially if you don't have a standby generator is bad in sweltering heat! I remember when I was 13 we had a bad one and didn't have power for a week and could hear chainsaws in the distance for cleanup. All I wanted to do is work on it too. Later that year in fact I did, it was firewood heaven. Falling, limbing, bucking, splitting and stacking. 10+ cords for the heating season. Doing that keeps you young. Up to a point. Now if it's above 75 especially with humidity I only run a power saw if I have to. Winter won't come fast enough! There's nothing like splitting oak logs on the eve of Thanksgiving. Unless it's in the 60s.

I'm old school. Don't like automatics, ABS, traction control. Could you imagine the kids growing up today driving an old farm truck in the snow? And yes the derecho missed us too. Just a ho hum thunderstorm here not even severe. Lightning was nice but mostly south of us where it was very strobe-like.

Getting harder to find periodicals now. I did find one buzzing around me walking outside. I put it on the wall and could tell it was slowing down. No shortage of dead ones around the oak and maples though. Another thing that caught my attention was a cicada killer wasp! They are scouting the walkway. It's that time of the year. And just now I heard the first annual. That is EARLY here. We usually don't start hearing them until the second week of July. Also not seeing as many fireflies as I'd like.

Still hearing pharaohs taking the dog out this AM. Sounds about the same as their arrival back in May. Definitely wrapping up the show. All the oaks have flagging with some black maples showing signs as well. Evergreens seem untouched.

They have and are coming for a whole lot more! https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2020-12/documents/tamperinganddefeatdevices-enfalert.pdf Happy birthday Mappy!

I think my dog farting would be more of an eyebrow raising event here!

First time in almost a month not hearing any cicadas.

Severe warned. No severe. Got REALLY dark though. Don't need to water the gardens tonight.

Yes grapefruit seemed to be the holy grail of hail. Cantaloupe, OTOH, is just suicidal!

Lime sized hail? When did they start using fruits?! Just saw whitecaps on Deep Creek Lake via bridge CHART cam! Definitely looks windy.

Eastern IN had 3.5" - softball sized stones yesterday. Biggest I've dealt with personally is tennis ball sized (~2.6") and those are capable of serious to catastrophic destruction! Last time we had severe category hail (0.75") here was May 15, 2018.

Less mass is always better though!

Mid Atlantic is king of the bust.

Bunch of spring peepers here! By definition you are a senior citizen at 55 and elderly at 65! Yep, hard to believe but don't worry because no matter who you are, you cannot beat the clock!

Up in northern MD cicadas are watching us work in the yard. Had quite a few land on me and even flew in the truck. Dragon food!

Very pronounced septendecim chorus going on here. This time yesterday it was nearly quiet but it's not as cool. Up in these woods IIRC we hear them up to the end of June sometimes into July. This has been a strange one with all the cooler weather. No explosive mass invasion but more of a drawn out event which makes things more tolerable in general. Our trees are mature so no worries there but the folks that just planted recently and did not cover up should be concerned.

SAL engine cranking up!

Definitely past peak but (still) quite noticeable. Flagging showing up too. Once the last one sings and is done will be primed for the emergence of the annuals and dusk singers. And the katydids won't be far behind. Katydids last into November on warm nights. Just last year on the night of the 7th of November it was quite warm at 1900 and I remember closing up the shop and hearing one. They are thermometers too, sultry nights their jingle is much faster than chilly nights in the 50s. It's shaping up to be a nice firefly season too!

Congrats at 50! I was supposed to do that but made a bad decision over 20 years ago. The crash of 2008 was the pouring of salt in old wounds. Definitely lucky, enjoy it especially if you're LEO! You've definitely earned it!

Beautiful day! This AM, 695 near Sparrows Point.

Just got another sprinkling. Perhaps a dozen drops.