vastateofmind

65 with a cloudless sky.. #WhatADay

While the huge snowstorms from a decade ago and the March 2018 severe wind event here in NoVA have ranked near the top of weather events for the three decades I've been in NoVA, the hands-down winner for most extreme weather I experienced here was the June 2012 derecho. That was the first time I heard the wind approach like a freight train and push a huge cloud of dust/debris out ahead, and the first time I saw mature 60-70 foot mature trees bend at 45 degrees (or more) when the line first struck. We lost power about two minutes into the worst conditions...and the power stayed off for the next week. We never before, nor never again lost power for that long...and of course, it was sweltering leading into the July holiday the following week. It was a great experience, though.

Thank you -- I got the reaction I was fishing for.

Currently 28, light frost. With today's forecasted high of 64, the last few sad, small sleet piles that remain in the shadows will be toast.

Yes, but -- when will LWX issue the cicada watches/warnings??

High of 59 this afternoon. Nice day, wind didn't seem as bad as what the advisory called for in these parts.

Three berry varieties. Hazelnuts. Smoothie-ness. I'm trying to reconcile those three inside one beer can and just can't imagine it. I'll bet it's interesting though...

To your earlier point, and as evidenced in the videos you just shared -- whether crawling or flying, these cicadas are some of the clumsiest insects I've ever encountered.

Those are two great videos that @Hank Scorpio shared, @SomeguyfromTakomaPark -- during this brood's last emergence, I worked at Fort Belvoir where there's wide swaths of mature trees and the thing I remember most about the experience is that underlying, alien trilling sound. At the height of emergence, yes, it was loud -- but I found the noise of the 17-year cicadas was far less grating and almost soothing...as opposed to annual cicadas which can instantly ruin any relaxing downtime in your backyard with their ear-splitting racket in the July-September timeframe. Oh, and if you or your kids are squeamish about molten cicada skins all over the ground, sticking off of trees and buildings, etc., well...you might not like that part of the drill. I kept finding discarded cicada "husks" months after the last emergence. Finally if you have a dog, we found that ours liked to binge on the 17-year cicadas...to the point where he'd eat TOO many, and then we'd occasionally find gelatinous piles of half-digested cicadas in the backyard. Forewarned is forearmed.

55, variable sun/clouds, winds starting to pick up a bit. Not gonna lie...feels good in the sun.

Looks like Canada just upended the cold pitcher to funnel down between the Rockies and the Appalachians on that map. I'm still surprised that deep winter conditions reached that far into TX.

That's my biggest takeaway from your post, @MillvilleWx. And why I still have much to learn.

Currently 29, up from a low of 27 overnight. Surprisingly frosty morning. Also -- really digging that stonework on your pathway and on your home, @CAPE.

Forgive the banter-ish post, but since this event has since wrapped up -- @psuhoffman, based on your posted pics, am I correct in assuming you have an exterior, standalone deck overlooking the valley below your ridge that you occasionally reference? If so...I'll bet that's an awesome outdoor entertainment space with a great view in the warmer months.

38.754410, -77.134620 Plug these coords into Google Maps. Seriously. The last time the Google Mapmobile circled our cul-de-sac to refresh StreetView pics, they caught me bending over to check the tire pressure on one of our cars parked out front. My ass has been preserved on StreetView for seven years now...really wish they'd update the imagery.

A treasure trove of info here, folks...thanks again so much!! I will post some future (hopefully better) pics in the next month or two.

Which, of course, was lost on him. Here I go again. That dude's lack of self-awareness is mind-blowing, but his newest trick -- tossing in the odious "Sorry about your shutout but better luck next time!!" tagline -- makes navigating his posts even more insufferable than usual.

OMG, you and @mattie g are reading my mind again....

33/23 with light snow just starting to fall. Pixie dust variety.

@Kay & @diatae, I really appreciate your quick and workable suggestions of the irises and allium for that problem corner spot of the backyard. I'm reasonably sure that I'll have to turn that soil again and convert it to a garden bed...but at least I have some great suggestions to get started. Thanks again!

Not gonna lie, this announcement makes me a little...wistful.

While I've browsed this thread in recent years, I've never had a dire need to visit until now...to hit up you smart/knowledgeable AmWx lawn and garden subject matter experts on what I might be able to do to correct some drainage and grass-growing issues in this particular corner of my backyard. I've included here a pic of that problematic corner -- the area outlined in YELLOW tends to be the collection point of the outflow "pool" of moisture in my backyard -- there's a French drain dug from the other end of my backyard, routing runoff from "uphill" neighbors, around the addition built off the back of our house, to this "downhill" corner of the yard. It's soupy right now, because of the melting of the snow/ice from this past week. When the weather gets nicer/warmer (e.g., late March through October) and when the sun angle is obviously higher, this area only stays damp maybe a day or two after hard rains, but then dries out pretty quickly. We can, and have, lived with those conditions just fine. The area outlined in yellow really doesn't grow grass...but as mentioned, it dries pretty quickly in spring/summer/early fall months, so it's fine. This has been standard operating procedure for the nearly two decades we've lived in this house. My new challenge is the area outlined in RED -- for some reason, in the fall and early winter of 2020, the damnable SQUIRRELS that infest the mature trees surrounding our backyard, literally and completely DUG UP this section, removing ALL grass (which existed in this area before), and turned it into a new extension of the semi-annual mudpit that exists in the yellow-outlined area. The area in red will start to get full sun within the next few weeks, and continuing until October/November, but -- it will now (apparently) be an extension of the yellow-outlined, non-grass mudpit. So, my question to you -- what would you do in either of these areas? Replant grass in either or both areas? Just put down mulch or some other low maintenance option? Both of these areas get sun from about mid-March through October. I've never tried to grow grass in either area (though grass grew just fine in the red-outlined area before now), but I feel like I need to do something to mitigate the damage that the squirrels have done in the red-outlined area. I don't know...I'm at a loss, and my wife is ready to start going Rambo on ALL squirrels that appear in the backyard. Thanks in advance for sharing your opinions.

My wife and I are planning our first several-weeks-long, RV-based, cross-country trip this July to see our oldest son, who's stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, WA. We are so damn excited...because both of us have flown back and forth over the continent more times we can remember over the years....but have never taken a trip like this to stop and see the many sights (to and from) along the way. EDIT: "Nomadland" became available on Hulu last evening. The mrs. and I watched this 2020 movie on a whim last night, and it is one of the most moving, most impactful movies I've seen in awhile. And, given the topic here at hand, I thought I'd mention it. Highly recommended.

My body is ready for it. Especially since you just mentioned going to and hanging out in Old Town for beers.

Dear sweet baby Jesus in a wicker basket. @Mrs.J, I've ogled your soups for years in this forum, but since you've gone down this gluten-free path in recent weeks/months, I have to say that the new dishes you've been trying look as amazing, if not more, than what you've posted in the past. We have shaved sprouts like that at least once weekly with fresh salmon. But we sure don't have the other awesome stuff you've posted here in the past couple of weeks! At the end of the day, I hope this change in diet makes a positive difference in your life.