h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

And once again, not a drop of rain on Austin.

Yesterday 90/73 (30% chance of storms) (actual: 94/73, no rain)
Today 90/73 (40% chance of storms)
Saturday 85/66 (50% chance of storms)
Sunday 82/67 (30% chance of rain)
Monday 83/69 (40% chance of storms)
Tuesday 83/62 (40% chance of storms)
Wednesday 81/61
Thursday 85/65 (10% chance of rain)

Average for this time of the year: 86/67

Dry as a bone, steamy as hell.

Yesterday 90/73 (40% chance of storms) (actual: 95/77, no rain)
Today 85/66 (50% chance of storms)
Sunday 82/68 (30% chance of rain)
Monday 79/67 (60% chance of storms)
Tuesday 83/61 (30% chance of storms)
Wednesday 80/58 (20% chance of rain)
Thursday 86/66
Friday 90/70

Average for this time of the year: 87/68

Finally... rain And look at those temperatures next week

Yesterday 85/66 (50% chance of storms) (actual: 84/66, 1.22" rain)
Today 82/68 (30% chance of rain)
Monday 78/65 (60% chance of storms)
Tuesday 82/59 (40% chance of storms)
Wednesday 83/61
Thursday 88/69
Friday 90/72
Saturday 91/72

Average for this time of the year: 87/68

More rain In fact we had a pretty good storm yesterday morning. So much so that we lost power briefly at work; no more than a flicker, but it was enough to stop a couple of pieces of machinery in mid flow, and they were by no means easy to get to going again

And, at 7am, it's raining again. And pleasantly mild.

Yesterday 82/68 (30% chance of rain) (actual: 78/70, 0.67" rain)
Today 78/65 (60% chance of storms)
Tuesday 80/57 (40% chance of storms)
Wednesday 84/64
Thursday 89/72
Friday 91/74
Saturday 92/74 (20% chance of rain)
Sunday 91/71 (20% chance of rain)

Average for this time of the year: 88/68

A few more days of comfortable weather and then a return to heat. And then, on Monday, more storms. Well, that's never happened before in Austin on Memorial Day

Yesterday 78/65 (60% chance of storms) (actual: 77/61, 0.02" rain)
Today 80/57 (40% chance of storms)
Wednesday 86/63 (10% chance of rain)
Thursday 91/71
Friday 92/73
Saturday 93/75
Sunday 90/79 (30% chance of rain)
Monday 85/68 (30% chance of storms)

Average for this time of the year: 88/68

After yesterday's rain, the first significant rain in weeks, it was nice to hear our toads "singing" last night.

There's one that calls outside my window at certain times of the year but I haven't heard it yet so far. The weird thing is, it sounds exactly like the one that called outside Fort Gosho, before I moved to Castle Gosho. Couldn't be following me around could it?

A fast-moving storm came through yesterday around 5.30pm with some brief but torrential rain and some very blustery winds. To the north and east of Austin there was quarter-size and golf ball-size hail and gusts in the region of 60-70mph. Camp Mabry got less than a tenth of an inch but there was a quarter of an inch over at the airport. I haven't seen any local totals higher than 0.7", even in the places where there was purple on the radar. These storms were moving very quickly, and they dropped the temperature by nearly 20°F

And this morning it's downright chilly

Yesterday 80/65 (40% chance of storms) (actual: 86/64, 0.07" rain)
Today 86/57 (10% chance of rain)
Thursday 92/63
Friday 94/74 (10% chance of rain)
Saturday 93/76 (20% chance of rain)
Sunday 90/75 (30% chance of storms)
Monday 84/69 (40% chance of storms)
Tuesday 83/68 (30% chance of rain)

Average for this time of the year: 88/68

When the thunderstorms moved through here, Nessie found a new, cleaner, place to cower. She curled up in front of my refrigerator at the end of my narrow kitchen. When she's downstairs at in my parents house, she hops in the guest bathtub. But that's not a great option up in my apartment as my Greebo uses the tub as an auxiliary toilet.

Nessie's normal places to curl up are already rather claustrophobic. Upstairs she lays down at the end of the "box canyon" formed by my bedroom wall, chest of drawers, and bed. Downstairs, she curls up behind my father's large, corner unit, computer desk. It is pushed away just wide enough for a person to squeeze in behind and access any cabling.

I expect she'll be spending a lot of time in the tub downstairs this weekend. This is the second Memorial Day since they added it to the list of fireworks holidays.
There are now 5 weeks dedicated to scaring pets in Texas with Texas Independence Day (March 2), San Jacinto Day (April 21) and Memorial Day (May 30), being added to New Year’s Day and July 4.

Fireworks. I wish people would stop letting them off after 11pm. Instead of starting to let them off at 11pm

Yesterday was a gorgeous day Damn chilly in the morning. I almost put the heater on before getting into the shower, and I believe it was a record low for the date. That makes a change! I did have to put the a/c on for a few hours in the afternoon, but earlier in the day I had all the doors and windows open. And within a matter of minutes I had half a dozen flies buzzing around Which was a real pain because I spent about six hours cooking so there was plenty of food out on the counter for virtually the whole time.

Yesterday 86/57 (10% chance of rain) (actual: 87/56, no rain)
Today 92/63
Friday 94/74 (10% chance of rain)
Saturday 95/76 (20% chance of rain)
Sunday 91/75 (30% chance of rain)
Monday 83/69 (40% chance of storms)
Tuesday 84/66 (40% chance of rain)
Wednesday 84/67 (30% chance of rain)

Average for this time of the year: 88/69

Here comes the heat.

Yesterday 92/63 (actual: 94/62, no rain)
Today 94/74
Saturday 95/76 (20% chance of rain)
Sunday 91/76 (30% chance of storms)
Monday 84/69 (50% chance of storms)
Tuesday 85/68 (40% chance of storms)
Wednesday 85/70 (30% chance of storms)
Thursday 87/70 (30% chance of storms)

Average for this time of the year: 89/69

I'll say. I went to the Houston Zoo today to take some photos with the lens I bought a few months ago, and I was wore out just walking in from the parking lot.

I wore the wrong shirt (Duluth Trading's Firehose shirt) and the lens is huge and heavy. Plus I was a bit hung over and dehydrated.

The Zoo charged me $7 for a reusable metal water bottle ("Save the Sea Turtles"), refills of cold water $2. The "Just Water" in plastic bottles were $3.50.

I just refilled the bottle at the water fountains. The first two I found, the bottle refill stations were nonfunctioning.

Hottest day of the year so far. 97° with a 107° heat index, and I've been working for ten hours in a place with no a/c. But with a great big heat and steam making machine (not a boiler).

Yesterday 94/74 (actual: 92/75)
Today 95/76 (20% chance of rain)
Sunday 91/76 (30% chance of storms)
Monday 82/70 (50% chance of storms)
Tuesday 86/67 (50% chance of storms)
Wednesday 85/68 (50% chance of storms)
Thursday 85/69 (50% chance of storms)
Friday 88/71 (40% chance of storms)

Average for this time of the year: 89/69

Slightly better yesterday (Sunday) but we still made it past the 100° mark (102) for the heat index.

Being Memorial Day, two things are likely to happen: 1 - the usual Monday morning weather forecaster won't be working at the place where I get some of my data so I might not be able to find all the rain totals from the storms yesterday evening, and 2 - we'll probably get a flood.

Speaking of which, it looks like you're getting a pretty good soaking right now, BG, and it's coming back this way.

We didn't get much rain yesterday from the storms that were generated by the cold front. As so often happens the majority of the rain was either to the south or the north of Austin (the north in this case), and it must have been pretty intense because for a few hours before sunset it was as if the sun had already gone down, and I could see lightning flashes and hear rolling thunder for more than an hour. Only a couple of the strikes were anywhere close.

And this morning, it's so much more comfortable I've got the balcony door open. I wouldn't have done that yesterday. I might have already had the a/c on.

Saturday 95/76 (20% chance of rain) (actual: 97/76, 0.01" rain)
Yesterday 91/76 (30% chance of storms) (actual: 94/74, 0.45" rain)
Monday 82/70 (50% chance of storms)
Tuesday 85/66 (20% chance of rain)
Wednesday 84/68 (50% chance of storms)
Thursday 83/69 (50% chance of storms)
Friday 88/71 (30% chance of storms)
Saturday 89/72 (20% chance of rain)
Sunday 89/71 (40% chance of storms)

Average for this time of the year: 89/70

No Memorial Day flood! The odds on a Halloween flood have dropped to evens.

That 0.01" of rain yesterday is the last dribble from Sunday's precipitation.

Yesterday 82/70 (50% chance of storms) (actual: 88/68, 0.01" rain)
Monday 85/66 (20% chance of rain)
Wednesday 87/70 (30% chance of rain)
Thursday 86/70 (50% chance of storms)
Friday 88/70 (20% chance of rain)
Saturday 90/71 (20% chance of rain)
Sunday 91/72 (30% chance of rain)
Monday 91/71 (10% chance of rain)

Average for this time of the year: 89/70

Saturday night I foolishly swapped my car for my bicycle and got soaked on the way home.


Earlier that day, I stopped by one of the local breweries I'd yet to visit and saw on their beer list one of the least appetizing beers I've ever heard of.

They had a beer (a stout, I believe) "brewed with live crawfish".

WTF!?

It's not listed on their website, but they do advertise an oyster stout, "Oyster shells added during brewing give this rich, dark, and roast stout a slightly briny (not fishy!) finish".

I guess the crawfish stout is for those who actually wanted a "fishy" beer.

Good grief, I've never heard of that before. Oyster stout, yes.

We've reached that point in the year where the average daytime maximum is in the 90s, and for at least three months to come

Yesterday 82/70 (50% chance of storms) (actual: 88/68, no rain)
Today 87/70 (30% chance of rain)
Thursday 88/70 (50% chance of storms)
Friday 89/71 (20% chance of rain)
Saturday 89/71 (20% chance of rain)
Sunday 92/70 (20% chance of rain)
Monday 92/72 (10% chance of rain)
Tuesday 88/69 (20% chance of rain)

Average for this time of the year: 90/70

If this warm Winter is indicative of what may come this Summer, I expect a lot of Scorchio.

And I just heard the first skeeter spray truck of the season pass by.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, BG. After a winter that was hardly a winter at all we've had a relatively mild spring and early summer. I haven't bookmarked the NWS long range outlook page, or if I have I can't find it. Ah, here it is, easily linked to on the home page. Oh bother: http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/lead01/off01_temp.gif

We finally got some rain late yesterday, after it had been on the radar all day. Despite what has seemed like a fairly wet few months were about ¾" behind for the year so far.

Yesterday 87/70 (30% chance of rain) (actual: 85/68, 0.02" rain)
Today 88/70 (50% chance of storms)
Friday 89/69 (20% chance of rain)
Saturday 89/71 (20% chance of rain)
Sunday 92/72 (30% chance of storms)
Monday 29/70 (40% chance of storms)
Tuesday 89/69 (30% chance of storms)
Saturday 88/68 (30% chance of storms)

Average for this time of the year: 90/70