Rainy Sunday

The warm air can be moved to the south for awhile by Canadian air but it's still August and the southern air will be back; today's the day it has returned with a wet vengeance. Almost 2" of rain have fallen so far as we close in on the mid-day August 18 and while not torrential it is steady, still. Temperatures, low since Wednesday's cold front blew in, remain in the low 60's. It just doesn't feel like August in Virginia. That will change as we get into the next week with the rain leaving and the heat and humidity building back in. Mid to upper 80's by the middle of this week but the long range forecast has more cool air back by next weekend. The mild, lovely, wet summer (and year) of 2013 continues over much of the east coast.
Tropical Storm/depression Erin looks to be breaking apart in the middle of the Atlantic and poses no threat to anything but ships not paying attention. A disorganized group of storms off the Yucatan, drifting into the Gulf of Mexico is not looking like it will become a named storm. The slow hurricane season has been shut down by strong high pressure over the Sahara, sending dust all the way across the Atlantic and if winds will carry dust that far (and they always have) it doesn't help in storm formation.
School is back in at Louisa Co. HS and the cool weather has been helpful in adjusting to our mid-summer return. The ground breaking ceremony for the new high school on Wednesday will fall two days short of the 2 year anniversary of the 5.8 magnitude quake that broke our old building. It will be nice to see a new structure going up as opposed to watching the old one come down as we did last fall.
The moon is waxing gibbous, Venus still rules the west at dusk but Saturn is closing in on our planetary twin. The other planets are up much later or only visible near sunrise. The Perseid shower was clouded out mostly here in Va.
The rains will stop by Tuesday, and it's pretty nice out there for August. Get out and enjoy today on Earth.

Cool Mid-Summer

The pleasant, wet summer continues here in central Va. as we pass the middle of the summer season. Yesterday marked halfway through the season with a fall-like day that didn't quite reach 80 degrees - and low humidity thrown in added to the comfort. Today remains cool but the humidity is up; it's raining. The entire state (and much of the east) is well ahead of normal rainfall and the trend seems to be continuing. The chance of a shower continues through the end of the week and temps will rise but will still remain below average for August.
Earthquake and volcano activity mark the Ring of Fire; no major quakes and the Kuril Islands and the Kamchatka peninsula dominate the volcano list with many of the usual players still rumbling and spitting around the rest of the ring.
The moon is new tonight at 5:51 and the early setting waxing crescent moon will make for good viewing of the Perseid meteors later this week.  Venus still shines brightly low in the west to southwest after sunset with much dimmer Saturn sliding toward the brightest planet. The two will have several days of close encounters later in August as Earth pulls away from the ringed world and our inner sister world gradually catches us. The other planets all rise well after midnight and only early risers will get a glimpse of them. The two outermost planets and the now dwarf world of Pluto are well placed for viewing in the short nights of summer but you need a telescope (large for Pluto) and a finder chart.
School starts back up in Louisa a week from tomorrow so it's time to think Earth Science and, heh, where else you going to live?  Get out and enjoy your planet, today on Earth.