MikJournal Monday 09/28/15

It did not look like the eclipse was going to be a good show for me last night. However, between the clouds were opportunities for clicking a few shots of the earth's shadow crossing in front of the moon and then a period when I was able to catch the eclipse in totality. It was not the best of pictures but still was able to salvage what looked like was going to be a non-event. Take a look at a couple of camera shots on the side of my blog.

Rain. Well, some locations in central and eastern Kentucky reported amounts of over an inch or so during the last few days. Good for them. I only got 0.14". Just enough to make my grass spike higher and mosquitoes come back to life.

Latest run from the Weather Prediction Center keeps the heaviest rain shunted east of my location, confining it to the eastern parts of the state again. Last time the WPC had 1" rains for far eastern KY but other locations in central KY got to see some of that too. So, there is a chance that the heaviest rain bands this time may need to be adjusted west some as there is some uncertainty in the track of the main low pressure system. Between 1-2" is likely for eastern KY. However, 0.50 -  1.50" for central Kentucky is looking more promising. I'm pulling for you Bowling Green. Hopefully, I can get in on some rain too, but I'm just about done with my garden for the season. Still have to dig up my sweet potatoes and finish collecting whatever peppers are still holding on. By the way, my jalapeno peppers were unusually hot this year. Yummy!

I'm still working on a project related to Lexington's temperature readings. One of my posts highlights how the Bluegrass airport's sensor did show signs of faulty readings as early as 2013. However, replacement of the sensor has only provided a marginally better outcome as I believe that readings there are still a tad too high and just barely within a maximum allowable tolerance (at least according to the way I would expect...don't know what the official allowable levels actually are).

Lately, I have been deriding the sensor at Lexington's Mesonet site too for what I call 'off-ful' performance. I mean it has been way off, like 3 degrees too warm at night compared to nearby reporting stations and 3 degrees too cool during the daytime. However, since we have had a stretch of cloudy days, some precipitation, minimal clearing, the readings compared to its surrounding region has been more uniform. Even the Bluegrass airport sensor behaved itself. But, I'll be testing those values again when we get additional clear days and nights, which looks like it may be a while.

Heavy snow in parts of northern Alaska is expected to accumulate at least 6". Ah, it's getting to be that time of year. I am still awaiting additional data as we approach the upcoming winter season, but I am still holding to a drier and milder winter overall for Louisville and parts of central Kentucky. Yes, we will see occasional cold bursts but also believe that these will be more short-lived.

MS