RDM

Hummm - Interesting. If enough freon (R-22 or R-410) leaked out that it prompted the low pressure switch to shut off the compressor, then they likely had to pull a vacuum, evacuate the system and completely recharge it. If that's the case, you got off cheap for $300. The cost of R-22 is outrageous these days. Either way, glad to hear they got you back online.

The other thing that goes with some frequency is the starter relay. Have an extra of those on hand too. It's about the same price as the start capacitor. Of course when our AC went kapooey back in July, it was not the capacitor. Being the last afternoon before the July 4th long weekend everyone was closed. We were fortunate to get an HVAC Company to respond and were happy to pay the $200 for the call. Murphy never strikes when it is convenient.

Sorry to hear about your AC. Hope the HVAC guy can do the needy. FWIW, in most cases the issue with AC failures is a bad start capacitor on the outside compressor unit. The start capacitor is normally a round or oblong silver thing about 5 inches long with terminals on one end. You can get one at Grainger or online (Amazon or Ebay) for about $20-$30. Substantial savings over the HVAC guy. Need to know the rating requirements, which is stamped on the outside of the capacitor. Easy way to tell if the capacitor is fried is to look at the top end where the terminals are. If there's a bulge on the end, and/or signs of any liquid on the outside the capacitor case, it's bad. Likewise, if you put a voltmeter on the capacitor terminals and get an open reading, it's bad. It is a 5 min job to swap out the capacitors, but make sure you electrically disconnect the main electric service to the AC unit before opening the case. It is 240VAC, which is unforgiving. I normally keep an extra capacitor on hand for emergencies. Didn't have one on hand when our AC went out on the afternoon of 03 July just before the long weekend. Got ahold of someone who responded in an hour - to the tune of $200+. Ouch. Hope your fix today easier on the wallet.

Based on NWS radar and real time lightning map, it looks like Warrenton is getting pounded atm. Very large section of pink on radar.

Pouring here just NW of Vienna - hit the "Raining Cats N Dogs" level on our Vantage VUE. Only .70" so far for the day, but that's about to change significantly based on the training line inbound from the W.

Lends to the old saying... "Lead, follow, or get out of the way. But first and foremost do no harm". He's really stepping in it with the approach with the potential to not only not help, but to further the chaos and mayhem, which does not good for anyone.

FFW expanded significantly down the DELMARVA all the way to Richmond, Williamsburg etc.

You've got a line developing just south of you headed N along I-95. Should get you in the action soon.

Yup Yoda - Pouring here now just NW of Vienna. .3" in just a few mins. Deluge. Based on Sterling radar, this is not moving very fast too. Lawyers Road where we live will probably flood, for the nth time this year. Anything over about 1"/hr and it floods/closes.

Indeed - it was amazing. The complete devastation was unimaginable. One of several events that kick-started my interest in this obsession we all call weather. The tornado just missed a hospital in downtown, Xenia, which would have made the death toll much higher. What is also surreal is the green Buick Electra 225 in the picture on the Capital Weather Gang photo... We had the same car at the time and drove it through Xenia after the tornado.

Yes - I've only seen one live tornado in my life - in Kansas in the early 70's. However, as a teenager I will never forget seeing the aftermath of the Xenia F5 that obliterated downtown Xenia, Ohio in 1974. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/04/03/xenia-ohio-tornado-f-year-anniversary/ You can still see parts of the path plowed through the center of downtown Xenia 46 years later. Our local fire department responded with mutual aid from 30 miles away. Our dad drove us through the aftermath 4 days afterwards. Only way we got past the National Guard was because he wore is Fire Dept turn out gear. Will never forget the devastation of seeing houses with a totally clean slab where even the toilet had been ripped from the foundation. Seen a lot of weather around the world and that is near the top of unforgettable experiences.

I'm just NW of the two 5.55 and 5.57 readings IVO Vienna. There's some interesting lollies in there from July. It's going to be interesting when the data shifts from liquid to frozen and perhaps becomes more subjective (like the long standing debate about how frozen is measured at KDCA). Likely all of the data points for rain are electronically measured from outdoor "trusted" sensors. When we shift to frozen (hoping we get some in 20/21), the liquid equivalent from heated sensors will hopefully help keep the data from enabling too much slant stick measuring, and offset the "human factor". Noticed there does not appear to be data listed for KDCA and KIAD. Looked up the background and with the sponsorship by NOAA, would anticipate the major airports would participate. https://www.cocorahs.org/Content.aspx?page=aboutus

Interesting indeed. Looks like it was developed by snow lovers. In the Precipitation options under Map Options 4 of the 5 options to select from have something to do with snow.

FFW out for most of the area in a stripe from Annapolis westward all the way to MO. Interesting watch area.

Fully agree on the boring stuff. If it's gona be hot, at least bring some excitement with it. And on the flip side - look at how dry it is out west. Not a drop over the nearly the entire W and NW.

We got raked with this line in the Oakton/Vienna area. Easily the strongest TS event this year with gusts ivo 60? (a guess). Lots of trees down and power outages throughout our area and FFCO as a whole. Our power has been out ever since the outflow rushed through and still is - large tree took out the high-voltage lines on Lawyers Road that services our entire area. Thankful things cooled off when the line went through and it rained long enough to cool down the house. Temp has been steady in the low 70's ever since. Have a generator but not big enough to run the AC. Still no prognosis from Dominion on when power will be restored.

Our Vantage Vue just hit 100. It's indicating an 80dp too, which seems high, compared to IAD.

87/78/100 at 0920am is pretty amazing...

I like it. It was a definitely a step up from my old Heathkit weather station I built myself in 1977. haha. I have the basic wireless setup with outside sensor assembly and inside base station. No cables to run - setup was pretty easy. The base station can pair with up to 4 outside sensor assemblies. Our Vue has thus far been reliable. It's about 9 years old now. The solar array is starting to get a bit cloudy. I looked at replacing it - $27 or so. Just been replacing the backup battery more often. Was looking at what is available on the market these days. Some units have a color display, which I guess would be nice. However, for my use at home - the Vue has done what I needed it to do. I'd buy another one.

98/75/111 - Just came in from cutting the grass. Even with a canopy on my Kubota it's toasty out there. RH may be a bit high due to the freshly cut grass IVO the our PWS (Vantage Vue).

80 already at 0830. Looks like a safe bet the streak of 90's will continue...

Had a new cell popup just W of Oakton/Vienna over the last 15 mins. Picked up .34" in about 8 mins. Tapering off now... Impressive how quickly things are firing up still, although it was still relatively warm for this hour. NWS returns showing what appears to be a new line forming out near I-81

Same around here. With most of the municipal fireworks shows in NVA canceled it seems everyone decided to whoop it up at home. Brought back memories of Diwali in India when I lived there. My next door neighbor in Delhi was rich. Had his own private fireworks stash delivered each year by truck. Spent about $100K each year, which bought a LOT of fireworks in India in the early 90's. He and his two sons lit off several gigantic rolls of firecrackers that strung a hundred yards or so on each side of our street. They said one of the combined strings was 1,000,000 crackers. Took a full 20 mins to fire off with the string burning from both ends. Each individual cracker was like a Silver Salute, which is larger than a normal firecracker in the US and a little smaller than an M-80. The sound was deafening and the smoke so thick the street was closed for an hour. Have video of it somewhere on SVHS-C tape. Need to get it digitized. Was something like this but each cracker was larger...

Awesome view of the Horizon CAPE. Really miss having a decent LOS to watch inbound events. We're surrounded by tall trees and can't hardly see a thing except a couple of slivers of the sky to the W and NE.

Great video CAPE - you would have loved some of the thunderstorms we had in India and Thailand. In India, the air would get electrified by static electricity of dust storms from the Rajastan Desert. At times the L&T was a continuous roar for hours.