vastateofmind

Oh, man -- I, too, hear my neighbor's very mature/tall pine trees creaking and snapping a lot already, as the wind picks up. This stuff is like wallpaper paste...gonna definitely brings some weaker branches down and be a bitch to shovel.

I thought fondly of everyone here ROFL'ing, when Mrs. V said to me during yesterday afternoon's doggo walk (in shorts, no less), "How can we be under a winter storm warning for tomorrow when it's almost 67 out right now?? It's not going to snow!" Nearing the 4" mark, BTW -- and going out to shore up my sagging butterfly bushes, if it's not already too late for 'em.

Can confirm. Can only see one half block down the street...can't remember the last time we had those conditions here. Probably ~1.5" when I took this over an hour ago, but I'm sure we're well into the 2"-3" range now. Yeah, worried about this -- have two 5-6' butterfly bushes in front of house that I just realized should've been trimmed more. Just went out to shake them off, as they were already prostrate and touching the ground.

Great choice -- we live just a few miles downwind from Aslin's Alexandria shop, and are making a run there tomorrow afternoon to replace some of our stash. Hell, I'm sure we'll camp out in the taproom for a draft or two while we're there.

Actually, it's been mostly sunny here the first half of the day. So far, 1.5 days into the work week, I'm just not seeing the cloud-filled wash-out forecast that I read about this past weekend. Not complaining. Definitely warmer, though -- currently 83 here.

Dating myself, but...I loved Farrah on the original Charlie's Angels (also that red swimsuit poster). Not ashamed to admit that I also had Olivia Newton-John's "Physical" poster taped to the inside of my HS locker door.

LOL. I've been away many weeks, just started checking back in today...and was not surprised to read this at all.

Indeed. I'm thinking of mowing the back lawn before potential storms move in later. But if I do that, then the mere act of mowing will likely ruin the chance for the development of those potential storms later (for those that might be anticipating them). Stuck in a decision loop.

I understand why (and about whom) you wrote this, however in general, your first point covers it perfectly. Twitter is a cesspool.

Statements like these? Glad that we had sons and didn't have to worry about crop tops and ripped jeans. Currently 64, light breeze, and opening up the upstairs windows to blow the musty out of this house, which has been closed up and AC'ed for too long!

Good luck to you....had a former boss who lived in Aldie area, and it's a beautiful area of NW VA. If we were staying in the state long-term, it would be on my short list.

I didn't blow through washer fluid like most others, but I'm STILL finding piles of exoskeletons in less-traveled parts of the yard. Just uncovered a few more under lesser used patio chairs yesterday. Hard to believe it's been about three months since they started to wind down. :/ LOVE these earlier MH albums! Thx for the reminder!

It's probably too much to hope that you'll get bored and bring your scythe out of retirement...

Had this same thought upon rolling out of bed this AM, given that I raced to mow the lawns prior to sunset yesterday. Mrs. V and I slept like sh*t -- wx radio started blaring the initial TOR watch around 12:30-ish, with a couple STWs firing up the wx klaxon each in the 2 and 4 a.m. hours. To your primary point -- lightning seemed pretty vivid for each of the warned storms....but thunder was indeed very muffled and subdued over the past several hours. Of course, I'll take a semi-sleepless night any day over having flash flooding runoff pouring into my ground floor apartment -- those poor folks in Rockville.

Indeed -- the aftermath of those mite bites is an angry-looking affair. I have managed to avoid them, but my wife got knicked by two mites, and while she said it was only mildly itchy, the swelling/redness lasted for at least two weeks.

I was in a conference room, on the second floor of a former Army barracks building (located on the "historic" part of the post) at Fort Belvoir, and we were on a conference call with a large group in downtown Philadelphia. Felt/heard a rumble that could be construed as the HVAC turning on....except you started to FEEL it, more than you could hear it. Plus, the ceiling mounted 55" flat screen monitor at the front of the conference room started to ROCK back and forth. Oh, and suddenly, the conference line to Philly went DEAD. I looked across the table at a colleague of mine and mouthed, "Is this a f*cking earthquake??" and then all hell broke loose...people running up/down the outside hallway screaming, "EARTHQUAKE!" and then, thinking back to all I saw/heard on TV over the years, I yelled, "Hey, everyone, stand in the doorway!" The pros/vets who survived California quakes and who were part of our meeting prevailed, and hauled us all outside of the building and across the street. All were fine, including the nearly 100-year old barracks buildings at Fort Belvoir. Like everyone else, I tried to call my wife at work (didn't get through to her, LOL), and my then-teenaged sons who were home at the time. I DID get through to my sons....who said, with exception of several items falling off of shelves, everything was fine at home. Except just prior to the worst of the shaking of the quake, our Labrador retriever ran to both of our sons and started barking frantically. They say animals can sense when quakes are coming...and based on that, I believe it.

LOL. This used to happen to me when I was mowing or weed-whacking, on either side of the Memorial Day weekend holiday this year, when the periodical cicadas were peaking. Literally 7-8 cicadas (maybe more?) would be attracted to the sound of the mower/whacker and land on me and just hang out. Was pretty funny to observe, and honestly, given the cicada's general propensity to bumble about and their general inability to navigate flight, I didn't mind. I really miss their early summer morning drone, to be honest.

I don't have much pic-worthy food during this late summer period, but by all means, keep the food porn coming, @Mrs.J and @wxtrix. I've tried to emulate a couple of your dishes posted earlier this summer, with mixed success.

Nothing here yet in SE FfxCo, except for increasingly blackening skies to the west and NW....and not just due to sunset.

Severe Thunderstorm Warning MDC031-VAC059-107-290000- /O.NEW.KLWX.SV.W.0486.210828T2318Z-210829T0000Z/ BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED Severe Thunderstorm Warning National Weather Service Baltimore MD/Washington DC 718 PM EDT Sat Aug 28 2021 The National Weather Service in Sterling Virginia has issued a * Severe Thunderstorm Warning for... Southwestern Montgomery County in central Maryland... Southeastern Loudoun County in northern Virginia... Northwestern Fairfax County in northern Virginia... * Until 800 PM EDT. * At 718 PM EDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Poolesville, moving south at 20 mph. HAZARD...60 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail. SOURCE...Radar indicated. IMPACT...Damaging winds will cause some trees and large branches to fall. This could injure those outdoors, as well as damage homes and vehicles. Roadways may become blocked by downed trees. Localized power outages are possible. Unsecured light objects may become projectiles. * Locations impacted include... Germantown, Reston, Herndon, Vienna, Broadlands, Lansdowne, Lowes Island, Brambleton, Poolesville, Dulles International Airport, Potomac, Ashburn, Oakton, Sterling, North Potomac, Tysons Corner, Wolf Trap, Great Falls, Countryside and Arcola. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... For your protection move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building. &&

TORNADO WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE FOR WT 447 NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 1130 AM EDT WED AUG 18 2021 TORNADO WATCH 447 IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 800 PM EDT FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS VAC013-043-047-059-061-069-099-107-139-153-157-171-179-187-510- 600-610-683-685-840-190000- /O.NEW.KWNS.TO.A.0447.210818T1530Z-210819T0000Z/ VA . VIRGINIA COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE ARLINGTON CLARKE CULPEPER FAIRFAX FAUQUIER FREDERICK KING GEORGE LOUDOUN PAGE PRINCE WILLIAM RAPPAHANNOCK SHENANDOAH STAFFORD WARREN VIRGINIA INDEPENDENT CITIES INCLUDED ARE ALEXANDRIA FAIRFAX FALLS CHURCH MANASSAS MANASSAS PARK WINCHESTER $$

We didn't get the flooding rain that some folks mentioned above, but the lightning late Saturday/early Sunday AM in that storm complex that blew up out of nowhere was easily the most intense I've seen in the 30+ years I've lived in NoVA.

Wow, big time popping going on over your head right now! Growing quickly...

Never heard of the spotted lanternfly before going camping at French Creek State Park just NE of Philly last fall -- where I was not only inundated with literature posted there, but saw a good many on my own in the wild. Had no idea they had become so prevalent, but PA is clearly concerned and should be. Us, too.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE FOR WS 425 NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 200 PM EDT WED AUG 11 2021 SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 425 IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM EDT FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS VAC003-007-009-011-013-015-019-023-025-029-031-033-035-036-037- 041-043-045-047-049-053-057-059-061-063-065-067-069-075-079-083- 085-087-089-097-099-101-107-109-111-113-117-121-125-127-135-137- 139-141-143-145-147-149-153-157-159-161-163-165-171-177-179-187- 193-510-530-540-570-590-600-610-630-640-660-670-678-680-683-685- 690-730-750-760-770-775-790-820-840-120100- /O.NEW.KWNS.SV.A.0425.210811T1800Z-210812T0100Z/ VA . VIRGINIA COUNTIES INCLUDED ARE ALBEMARLE AMELIA AMHERST APPOMATTOX ARLINGTON AUGUSTA BEDFORD BOTETOURT BRUNSWICK BUCKINGHAM CAMPBELL CAROLINE CARROLL CHARLES CITY CHARLOTTE CHESTERFIELD CLARKE CRAIG CULPEPER CUMBERLAND DINWIDDIE ESSEX FAIRFAX FAUQUIER FLOYD FLUVANNA FRANKLIN FREDERICK GOOCHLAND GREENE HALIFAX HANOVER HENRICO HENRY KING AND QUEEN KING GEORGE KING WILLIAM LOUDOUN LOUISA LUNENBURG MADISON MECKLENBURG MONTGOMERY NELSON NEW KENT NOTTOWAY ORANGE PAGE PATRICK PITTSYLVANIA POWHATAN PRINCE EDWARD PRINCE GEORGE PRINCE WILLIAM RAPPAHANNOCK RICHMOND ROANOKE ROCKBRIDGE ROCKINGHAM SHENANDOAH SPOTSYLVANIA STAFFORD WARREN WESTMORELAND VIRGINIA INDEPENDENT CITIES INCLUDED ARE ALEXANDRIA BUENA VISTA CHARLOTTESVILLE COLONIAL HEIGHTS DANVILLE FAIRFAX FALLS CHURCH FREDERICKSBURG GALAX HARRISONBURG HOPEWELL LEXINGTON LYNCHBURG MANASSAS MANASSAS PARK MARTINSVILLE PETERSBURG RADFORD RICHMOND ROANOKE SALEM STAUNTON WAYNESBORO WINCHESTER $$