Laurel Highlands Ultra volunteering & Father's Day weekend

I took a couple days off last week to rest up for the Laurel Highlands 70 miler, but I was not running, so I figured a sleepless night in the tent with the kids would be fun. They slept well on some cots from our neighbors, but I slept on the ground and I am really feeling my age. 

I smoked some ribs since they were on sale. They turned out delicious, but I had to delay eating them and they were a little drier than I would have liked. Everyone else thought they were fantastic. 

Then I was off for Pennsylvania. The laurels were blooming along the Laurel Highlands hiking trail. This race was supposed to be my Western States qualifying race, but because of my injury I had to back out of the race because I would not have made the 70 miles.

I did get out for a short run, before the race, along the trail with a couple of friends that were there.

Instead I volunteered a little Friday night then all day on Saturday. I had to be up at 3AM to get to the start of the race to set up the starting line and start checking in the runners.  I worked at Aid Station 2 and handled all the hydration needs of the runners. Mixing up electrolyte drink and keeping the drinks nice and cold for the runners. Met some awesome people at the race and can't wait to get back out on the trails more, now that I am recovering. 

Father's Day was a hot and humid day, as usual. I went on a run with Summer while Evan rode his bike. We set up a kiddie pool in the backyard and just relaxed. My brother Marcus was in town so he stopped by.

Marcus came back over on Monday and we played games and then went fishing. I accidently caught a turtle, but we safely got the turtle back in the water. Evan loves turtles, so he wanted to touch the turtle. Great few days. Good for the soul. Hoping to catch up on sleep soon. 

On and off rain & storms today, so grab the rain gear. We have scattered showers and storms early this morning and a few more rounds of this rain on and off today. Rainfall totals will be around half an inch today, but higher rainfall totals for areas that get a couple rounds of downpours. There is a flood watch for Southern and Eastern Ohio. We are starting off with temps around 70 and warming to a high around 82, if we get a long enough break in the rain. Severe thunderstorms, with damaging winds or large hail, are not likely today. The rain takes a break this evening and tonight with just a stray shower or two possible. We will remain humid tonight with patchy fog forming and dropping to a low around 70.

Wednesday will bring a chance for stronger storms. The chance of rain will be low in the morning then increase chances of rain as we go through the afternoon and evening. An approaching cold front will likely trigger storms later in the day tomorrow. Stay weather aware for late Wednesday for the potential of severe storms with damaging winds, large hail, or even an isolated tornado. We will warm up to a high around 88 for Wednesday with high humidity to make it feel like the lower 90s. Today’s winds will be light out of the southwest, but they pick up 10-15 mph for Wednesday. Scattered storms for Wednesday night and a few lingering showers or storms possible for the first part of Thursday. Lower chance of rain for the second half of Thursday, after the cold front has passed through. High temps around 82 on Thursday with humidity slowly dropping.

Hot to end the workweek then very hot heading into next week. Friday we will be partly cloudy with a high around 86 with moderate humidity. We will get very humid on Saturday with a high around 89 and partly cloudy skies. Mostly sunny Sunday and Monday with high temps around 93 and 94 with muggy humidity. Heat indices will be in the upper 90s. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Lilies blooming, Summer's 10th birthday, sunshine returns!

I love this time of the year when the lilies start to bloom. This was from Friday, when they were just starting to pop some color. 

They are in full bloom now!

Like my new ride?  Just kidding. My father-in-law just retired and this is his retirement gift to himself. He let me take it out for a quick drive around the block. Super fun and smooth ride. 

In a side note, it is crazy to think I have a 10 year old today. Summer turns 10 today!?!?! I went back and re-read my blog entry from when she was born and it hit the heartstrings. 

We have a few pockets of fog this morning, but that will mix out quickly and we will have a mix of sun & clouds today. Morning temps are dipping into the 50s and we will warm to a high around 76 this afternoon. Clear skies tonight for a great viewing of the full moon. We will have some smoke in the upper levels of the atmosphere to potentially make the moon look a little larger and slightly alter its color, especially during moonrise and moonset. Temps dip back into the 50s overnight.

Sunny skies for Wednesday and Thursday. We will warm to a high around 83 on Wednesday then 86 on Thursday. Humidity will slowly go up each day as well. More clouds by Friday with a high around 84 along with higher humidity. There is a slight chance for some rain sneaking in later Friday. Rain is likely for the weekend and early next week. A stationary front will park over the region and that will bring bouts of rain from time to time for Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Humidity will be very high, and it will be a swampy airmass between the rain. High temps in the low-mid 80s, after morning lows in the mid-upper 60s. Friday will bring a 30% chance of rain then a 60% chance Saturday and Sunday. Monday drops to a 40% chance of rain. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Finally heating up. Bikes, fishing, smoke, & rain returning.

I spent the weekend hanging out with the kids. Evan graduated from Kindergarten on Friday and we had a fun get-together to celebrate him. Saturday we went to watch a neighbor play baseball then I went for a bike ride with the kids for a few miles. Sunday we had breakfast then I took the kids fishing for a few hours. We ended up catching about 25 fish. Almost all of them were smaller bluegill that we released, but we did catch a few small bass that we also released. It was a very slow start, but the kids were patient and it eventually paid off. 

It is crazy how much smoke we have from the Canadian wildfires. This photo was taken by my wife Saturday evening when I was driving west on 670 near downtown Columbus, Ohio.

Our air quality is worse this morning as some of the smoke in the upper atmosphere has descended closer to the surface. 

As of 3AM, most of the state is in the “moderate” or “unhealthy for some”, which would be a level 2 and 3 on a scale of 5, for poor air quality. Poor air quality is expected today, but improve tomorrow once the rain returns. 

It is a warm morning with temps in the 60s for most of Central Ohio and a few locations dipping into the 50s. You may also notice the humidity is a little higher this morning and it will continue to get more humid today and for the next few days. We will be mostly sunny today and heating up to a high around 87. More clouds will move in as we go through the afternoon and evening with rain staying to our west and northwest later today. Central Ohio will likely remain dry today with a high around 87. Increasing clouds overnight with temps falling to around 70. So a hot day today and a very warm night.

The scattered showers and storms will be popping up from time-to-time Thursday and Friday. We will heat up to a high around 82 on Thursday with a 70% chance of rain then a high of 80 on Friday with an 80% chance of rain. It will not be a washout, but we will have pockets of rain possible anytime each day.

There is a very slight chance for a few of the storms to become severe with gusty winds. 

Drying out for the weekend. Scattered showers early Saturday will be moving out then decreasing clouds. We will be a little cooler on Saturday, with a high around 77. Sunday will be partly cloudy and warmer, with a high around 80. Another round of rain returning on Monday with a brief cold front. Scattered showers and storms on Monday with a high around 81. Right now we are going with a 40% chance of rain, but that will likely need to go up as we get closer and confidence grows. Partly cloudy on Tuesday with a high around 76. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Sourdough focaccia bread, landscaping, painting, and more rain

I have been in my sourdough focaccia era lately.  

The tricky part is that it is proofing faster now that we are in a more humid and warmer time of the year, but I went from 24 hours between start to finish, to only 18 hours now. Here is the recipe I have been using. 

I was brushing my teeth the other evening and admiring the landscaping outside. I looked back to 9 years ago and this area was mud and sprouts of grass. Growth takes time and it is amazing what some hard work and time will do.

I spent part of the Memorial Day weekend helping friends paint trim for their new house. Summer and Dawn had a bridal shower, so I decided to help out instead of sitting around doing nothing. Evan played with the other kids while I worked. I think he had a blast.

I did take the kids for a walk/run on Memorial Day after we picked up vegetables for the garden. I planted all of that on Tuesday and I will have an update on that next time. I haven't taken a photo of the garden yet. 

Good Friday morning! We have a wet day on tap today. Rain is moving in from the west and it will be steady a lot of the day, especially the southern half of Ohio. Rainfall totals for Southern Ohio could approach 1” by the end of the day, but less for Central Ohio, around half an inch or less. Northern Ohio will miss out on most of the rain today. We may get a few rumbles of thunder today, but not much and not expecting any severe storms. By the afternoon and evening the steady rain will start to move out, but we will still have a few pockets of rain later today and tonight as a cold front swings down from the north. We are waking up with temps in the lower 60s and we will only warm to around 67 today. Light winds out of the west today.

Saturday will be partly cloudy with a very slight chance for a stray shower or two. We start out in the mid-50s then warm to a high around 70. It will be breezy tomorrow, making it feel cooler, with winds out of the northwest 10-15 mph. Mostly sunny on Sunday with a morning low in the mid-40s then warming to a high around 72. Heating up next week! Monday and Tuesday will be mostly sunny with high temps around 80 on Monday then 85 on Tuesday. Humidity will also be going up through the week. By Wednesday we will have a high temp around 87 and feel like 90 or warmer. We will be partly cloudy on Wednesday with rain holding off until late Wednesday or Thursday. Scattered storms on Thursday with a high around 80. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Busy weekend! Garage sale, soccer, but great weather, for now...

I did something for the first time this weekend, had a garage sale. I did not get a photo before Day 1, but this is what was left after Day 1. It was a great sale, but Friday and early Saturday were the busiest days with the most foot traffic. I was able to do other things, like editing my Weathering The Run podcast and reaching the kids how to play the solitaire card game. 

We missed out on the early sales on Saturday because we had soccer. I coached Evan's team and we had a doubleheader at 9AM and 10:15AM. Then we raced home to see what else we could sell.

I made French Toast on the Blackstone Sunday morning for me and the kids, then back to the garage sale. Ended the day with a quick trip to Menards and then grilling burgers and chicken in the afternoon. Solid weekend! I didn't get a chance to mow, but I will get that done today, before rain arrives tomorrow. 

Take some time to enjoy time outside today while it is dry because rain is on the way. Today we are starting off with temps around 50 then warming to a high around 71. There are some high thin clouds moving in and we will have a mix of sun & clouds today. Tonight, we will have increasing clouds with temps dipping to around 49 overnight.

Tuesday we will be mostly cloudy with scattered rain & storms, but severe storms are not very likely. We will warm to a high around 66. The rain will be on and off throughout the day and some steady or heavier rain looks likely later Tuesday into early Wednesday. More rain on and off Wednesday with a high around 68. Each day has a 90% chance of rain for Central Ohio. It will not be a washout, but the chance is high that you will see rain at least once each day, if not a couple rounds of rain.

By the end of the week, the chance for rain will start to drop. Thursday will be cloudy with a few rain showers and a high around 61. Friday may have a lingering shower early, but most of Central Ohio looks to remain dry with a high around 61.  Mostly cloudy skies become partly cloudy on Friday. 40% chance of rain Thursday then 20% on Friday. Right now, it appears we will stay dry Saturday and Sunday. Partly cloudy for the weekend with high temps around 67 Saturday then 71 on Sunday. We may get a few showers to sneak into the region for Monday, Memorial Day. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Busy week at my kids' school, severe storms are possibly on the way

I volunteered Monday with Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads Of Great Students) at my kids' school. I also did two weather talks with third, fourth and fifth grades then the next day with kindergarten through second grade. The kids seem to love the weather talks. I brought Evan up to help me out as a volunteer at one point, but Summer was too nervous and did not want to come up and help. 

One of my favorite parts of the weather talks is always the questions. I save time for two rounds of questions. One round about the studio and the TV side of the business then the second round more on the science of predicting the weather. These are my final school talks for the school year and taking a little bit of a break over the summer.

Hot & humid the next couple of days & it will provide lots of energy for strong storms, if they pop up. So stay weather aware through Friday night.

🚨“POSSIBLE ALERT” for Thursday & Thursday night.

🚨 “ALERT DAY” for Friday & Friday night.

We have a few early morning showers and storms passing their way across Northern Ohio, but no severe threat for these pre-dawn storms. We will be partly cloudy with temps starting off in the mid-60s. We will have a warm front lift from south to north across Ohio midday and that will help temperatures surge into the mid-80s by the afternoon. We may get a stray shower or storms to pop up with this, but the chance is pretty low. Humidity will continue to climb this afternoon and evening to continue adding fuel to the atmosphere, but there will likely be a cap keeping most storms from developing. There is a chance this cap, or block, in the atmosphere will not allow storms to pop, but if there are any weak spots in the cap this evening and tonight then the storms could become severe very quickly with damaging winds, large hail, and isolated tornadoes. The cap sometimes can weaken some overnight, so stay weather aware, especially overnight. We are going to go with a POSSIBLE ALERT DAY today since it is only a 40% chance of rain during the day, but there is a 60% chance of rain tonight. The best chance for storms this evening and tonight appears to be more north of I-70.

Friday will also be an ALERT DAY. Central Ohio will start off with temps around 70 and we will heat up to around 86. Similar to today, we will have 10-20 mph winds out of the south to help push in more heat and humidity and pump more energy back into the atmosphere. An approaching cold front will help to weaken the cap some tomorrow. More scattered severe storms are possible tomorrow and areas along and south of I-70 for Ohio may have the best chance for severe storms for Friday and Friday night. Damaging winds, large hail, and isolated tornadoes again possible. The cold front will pass through overnight Friday night and early Saturday morning.  The cold front will kick the rain out of here and start slowly dropping our humidity. 

Right now, it looks like most of the rain will be out of Ohio by daybreak on Saturday then just a slim chance of a lingering shower during the day. We will be partly cloudy for the weekend with a high around 75 on Saturday then 73 on Sunday.

Next week starts dry with rain returning midweek. Monday will be the coolest day, with a high around 71, with partly cloudy skies. Tuesday, we warm back to around 73 with partly cloudy skies and a slight chance of rain late. More scattered showers and storms on Wednesday with a high around 73 as well. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Spring growth, Chalk The Walk, & Sunny Mother's Day Weekend

It has been a VERY wet start to the year and the grass has been growing like crazy. My dad gave me an oak tree during the fall of 2023, 18 months ago. It was just a small sapling only about 6 inches tall 18 months ago and it grew about a foot last year. This year it has already grown almost 18 inches! Love it! My finger is where the new growth has started since winter. This is planted back near my shed, but there is a locust tree a little closer to the shed that is full-grown. I eventually want to cut down the locust tree and have this oak tree instead since it is a little farther away and not nearly as big of a nuisance to deal with, compared to the locust tree. 

Yesterday we went to the kids' school for Teacher Appreciation Week to "Chalk The Walk" and write thank you messages for the teachers. Some people with some real skill came as well! 

Get ready for a LOT of sunshine this weekend! Keep in mind, the angle of the sun this weekend will be the same as late July, so even though it will not be hot, you will want to protect your skin. Spring sunburns can catch a lot of people off guard. 

This morning, we are starting off with cool temps in the mid-lower 40s. We may have a few clouds, but most of the day will be sunshine and blue skies. Winds out of the north 10-15 mph will make our high of 64 feel a little cooler today. Skies stay clear tonight and temps dipping to around 40 in Columbus, but outlying areas may be a little cooler for some frost in pockets. After tomorrow morning the chance of frost looks bleak going forward. Temperatures continue to warm up through the weekend. Saturday we will start chilly, but warm to a high around 75 with sunny skies. Mostly sunny on Sunday with a morning low around 50 and a high around 79. 

More clouds arriving Monday with rain to follow. Monday will start off with temps around 56 then increasing clouds with a high around 79. Scattered rain arrives late Monday and we will have scattered showers and storms for Tuesday and Wednesday. Our high temps stay in the upper 70s for Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday may have a few isolated showers and storms, but more likely by next Friday. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Running across Ohio, nonstop rain ending soon

Good morning! The kids' soccer games were rained out this weekend, so my wife dropped me off a county away and I joined my buddy, Gary Sines, who is running across Ohio. He is running the Ohio to Erie Trail from Cincinnati to Cleveland. It was a soggy few hours on the trail, but it was great to lift his spirits and to help push his stroller of supplies for 11 miles for him. He should be finishing up in Cleveland in the next couple of days, but the miles are starting to add up on his legs and he is getting pretty sore. It is a total of 326 miles on the trail, but that does not count any of the time he goes off trail to grab food or lodging, if he doesn't camp. It is a journey I have wanted to do before, but timing hasn't lined up with my kids and work. Maybe one day, but I will need to do more training to prepare for it. 

Grab the rain gear for one more day. The cut-off low pressure system, that has caused our rain the last 5 days, is directly over Ohio today. The last several days we have been caught in some of the bands of rain and storms developing while we were on the warmer side of the system, but today we will start to shift to the back-side and cooler side of the system. This will cause rain showers and persistent rain to drift down from the north. So Northern Ohio and Central Ohio will have rain showers drifting from north to south, but our winds will be coming out of the southwest today. A few showers may make their way down to Southern Ohio, but not as much rain. Temps are starting off around the lower 50s and we will only warm into the lower 60s today. The entire system will shift farther east later today and tonight, so the chance of rain will be dropping this evening and tonight with the clouds starting to break up. 80% chance of rain today. Rainfall totals will vary, but we are expecting around 1" in North/Western Ohio today to about half an inch in Central Ohio and lower totals to the south. 

Wednesday will start off cool, with temps in the lower 50s. We will have a mix of sun & clouds for Wednesday with a high temp around 74 and a light breeze out of the northwest. There is still a very slim chance for a stray rain shower on Wednesday, but most of Ohio will remain dry. There is a slightly better chance for a couple of rain showers on Thursday with a cold front. We will be mostly cloudy with a high around 67 on Thursday. 20% chance of rain Wednesday then 30% chance on Thursday. Lots of sunshine for Friday and the weekend as we start warming back up. We will stay cool on Friday, with a high around 68. By Saturday we will be mostly sunny with a high around 75. Mother’s Day on Sunday will be even warmer, with a high around 79 with mostly sunny skies. A few more clouds arriving through the day Monday, as we warm to a high around 81. Some rain looks to return next Tuesday. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael