What the Hail is going on?

Last Sunday the kids and I were planting flowers when the sky just over the mountain in front of our house turned black. Even Joey and Claire were impressed and stopped to check it out.




The heavy rain remained to our east, but the outflow from the storm made it quite windy and Joey tried his best to fly away.





Here is the rotating storm from our house. The circular cloud to the left is the outflow boundary which is the rain-cooled downdraft rushing our ahead of the storm. The storm is moving from right to left. The column on the right side of the storm is hail.

This type of storm is quite rare for central Pennsylvania. If you would like to learn a little more about the weather-nerdy aspects of it, go to the link below.

http://nws.met.psu.edu/severe/2008/22Jun2008.pdf


Just a few days later, another severe weather event moved across the state. This rotating storm moved right over the weather office then up the valley toward Williamsport. If this was Kansas, the cloud nub hanging out of the storm to the right would have developed a tornado. But this isn't...so it didn't. At this point, the storm was just about over our house in Pleasant Gap, PA but no one but the dog was there to enjoy it.


The picture was taken by Paul Markowski, a research meteorologist from Penn State.

We went back to Rockville...

Joey told Claire all about the Metro from his trip last year. Claire gets ready to compare it to the Tube in London.

They say "Watch your step" here - not "Mind the gap".

Ready for an adventure.

Joey does his best to catch a pigeon...he didn't.

Claire says that if her dog was here, he'd eat that pigeon. If he could catch it first.

Joey and Claire get ready to conquer the Air and Space Museum.

Claire says that the Moon Rock doesn't look anything like bleu cheese.

Joey and Claire check out the living quarters on a space station. Claire turned to me and said, "Daddy, I'm thirsty."

Claire checks out how the U.S. used the U2 plane to take pictures of the Soviet Union back in the early 1960s.

Not that U2.

Now with a few clicks on the internet, you can count the cars in front of the Air and Space Museum.

Thermal imaging shows the kid's hot spots. I always thought Joey was a hot-head...

With the Air and Space Museum under their belts, it's time for more adventures.

Joey plays air guitar on the steps of the National Gallery of Art.

In the Museum of Natural of History, the kids ponder if these kids were allowed to watch SpongeBob after they finished grinding the wheat-meal.

Motyl.

Claire checks out the Hope Diamond and says that it would look good on her princess doll and can we get one?

Claire plays hard and sleeps hard.

Burnin' Like a Heat Wave

After about a month of cool, damp weather, summer burst through the door in early June. Temperatures jumped from the low 60's during the last week of May almost immediately to the low to mid 90's by June 6th.



Never trust a bank thermometer.


See.


As the temperatures rocketed into the 90's, the kids enjoyed a homemade slip and slide.

Only a week earlier there was frost. This picture was taken May 29th at 6:30 AM.

The haze was so thick you could barely see the mountains.

Summer evenings are a great time to get out and enjoy some chicken on the grill.

Finally, we see who is really responsible for Global Warming...