Planting SOME flowers, severe storms later today

Darby Creek Nursery was doing their annual Flower Power Happy Hour on Friday, so I went out to buy some hanging baskets. Yesterday I planted these in the ground or bigger porch pots. I love the geraniums because they survive in drier conditions. This is the first year I bought the lantana flowers (bottom yellow and orange). They supposedly are also drought tolerant as well, in case I forget to water them. I planted these in the ground yesterday, despite a few cooler nights ahead. I may need to cover some of them with a sheet if we still have chilly nights and frost possible. 

Today is an ALERT DAY for the potential of severe storms for the afternoon and evening. We are starting off the morning mild with temps in the lower 60s and we will warm to a high around 81 early this afternoon. A few stray showers are possible during the first half of the day then scattered showers will develop this afternoon and strengthen into strong storms. 

All of Ohio has the potential for severe weather with damaging winds being the biggest concern. Large hail is also possible in the strongest cells along with isolated tornadoes. 

There is some uncertainty with the timing because it all depends on when the storms start popping up and how much energy is available. We may get two waves of storms (one early afternoon then another in the early evening), but if the storms delay their initial activation, then one stronger wave would be possible in the late afternoon. The likelihood for strong storms is high, but the confidence in exact timing is not as high. So be sure to have a way of getting alerts if a severe warning is issued for your location this afternoon and evening. It will be a windy day, with winds out of the southwest 15-25+ mph outside of the storms. It will also be a humid day with a little early sun then mostly cloudy skies. The storms race out of here this evening and temps fall quickly down to around 50 by tomorrow morning, thanks to a cold front tonight. 

The chance of rain is lower on Wednesday because we will be between the two waves of disturbances. We will have a 40% chance for some isolated rain for Wednesday. Mix of sun & clouds tomorrow with a high around 70. The chance of rain goes back up to 80% on Thursday with more scattered showers and storms followed by a 70% chance for rain showers on Friday. We warm to a high around 81 on Thursday then a high around 71 on Friday. Some of the rain will linger into early Saturday as well. The weekend will be cooler, with high temps of 61 then 68. Scattered rain showers for Saturday morning look more likely, then decreasing clouds Saturday PM. Sunday will be mostly sunny with a high around 68. Mostly sunny again on Monday as we warm back to 75. Have a good one!

Best,

Andrew Buck Michael

Cap City Half, Blue Bell Run, Severe Storms Tomorrow

What a weekend! I ran the Cap City Quarter Marathon. We had a couple of our ABC6 team run the half marathon and another ran the 5k. We also had an anchor at the race along with other crew. We covered the race LIVE from start to finish and it was a blast seeing all of the Central Ohio running and walking community come out for the event. It was so fun, but also a challenge to run and still talk during my LIVE hits that I was doing with my phone. This was our first year covering the race this way and it will be awesome to see what we can come up with, for next year.

I ran the quarter marathon so I could done a little before 9AM. I did one final LIVE hit at 9AM then raced off to my son's soccer game at 10:15 because I am the coach for that. I was a little nervous about pulling it off, but I made it with a little time to spare. The team played really well this week and worked as a team with lots of passing and execution, but it was our first loss of the season. 

After soccer we got ready and headed up to Cleveland to surprise my father-in-law. He retired on Friday and we went up to surprise him for dinner. We spent the night and I joined a group of trail runners for their annual blue bell run. There are several areas that are covered in acres of blue bell flowers near the Everett Covered Bridge in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It was a beautiful day and great to catch up with some running friends up there.

Today is going to be the nicest day on the 7-day forecast, so I highly recommend getting outside and taking advantage of the day. We are starting the morning cool, with temps dipping into the 40s. We will warm to a high around 80 with mostly sunny skies and a light breeze out of the southeast. More clouds arriving tonight with low temps around 62.

Tuesday will be an ALERT DAY for the potential for strong to severe storms, especially the north/east quadrant of Ohio. All of Ohio will have the possibility of the severe storms, mainly during the afternoon/evening, but N/E parts of the state will have the best ingredients. So the big question is, will the ingredients come together properly because just having ingredients is only one part of the process. Right now it looks like we will be mostly cloudy in the morning with a few stray showers. If we end up getting a decent amount of morning rain then that will pull some of the energy away from the afternoon. The scattered storms will start to develop in the early afternoon and move from west to east across the state through the late afternoon and evening. Right now the Storm Prediction Center has N/E Ohio in the Enhanced Risk, which is a 3 on the 0 to 5 scale of severity. West and south parts of the state are in the Slight Risk, which is a 2 on the 0 to 5 scale of severity. Large hail, damaging winds will be the two biggest concerns, but isolated tornadoes are possible. So be sure to have a way of being notified if a severe storm is in your area and take shelter. High temperature around 83 Tuesday along with higher humidity. Brisk winds out of the southwest 10-20+ mph.

The storms will move out overnight Tuesday night and some lingering rain will be possible overnight into Wednesday morning. We will get a little break from the rain part of Wednesday. Another round of scattered showers and storms possible Wednesday afternoon. We will be a little cooler, with a high around 72 for Wednesday. More scattered showers and storms Thursday and Friday with a high of 81 then 71. So keep the rain gear handy. Severe weather does not look as likely for Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, but we will keep an eye on things. Decreasing clouds for the weekend with a high around 65 on Saturday. More sun Sunday with a high around 70. Morning lows on Saturday will be in the lower 40s in Columbus and outlying areas may have light frost as temps dip into the 30s. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Take Your Kids To Work Day & mulching away the afternoon...

While I mentioned that I respect my kids privacy yesterday, they were on TV, so that seems... hypocritical. HAHA!  They have come in and joined me for the Take Your Kids To Work Day a couple times now and they love hanging out with dad. I think they love when I take them to the breakroom marketplace and let them pick out a snack while they are visiting me. They picked out M&M cookies yesterday and breath mints. They each came on and helped out with a couple of forecasts in front of the green screen too. So since they were on TV I figured sharing a quick photo on here would be fine. My wife came to pick them up and take them back home to catch the bus for school. When I got home I had a lot of work to do...

I mentioned yesterday that I am on the HOA board and the 3 of us are trying to do a little more for the community. We were able to get a deal on bulk mulch for anyone that was interested. I normally mulch every-other year and I was going to need it this year anyway. So I spent the afternoon spreading the mulch and helping a few of the neighbors load up their mulch, from my driveway, that they ordered. Thankfully that is all done and we had some light rain overnight to help settle it all down.

A lot of Central Ohio will have damp roads this morning from some light rain showers that have passed through overnight. We will remain mostly cloudy today with a few scattered showers during the first half of the day with morning temps in the lower 60s. 

We warm to a high around 75 today with scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening, but severe storms are not likely. Light breeze out of the southwest today. The rain leaves overnight and temps dip into the lower 50s.

Saturday has a slight chance of rain very early, mainly before daybreak, then mostly cloudy with more sun late in the day. We warm to a high around 61 on Saturday with a brisk breeze out of the northwest. Sunday will start with temps around 40 in Columbus, but outlying areas may dip cooler for some light frost. Mostly sunny on Sunday and warming to a high around 68.  

We heat up next week with rain returning by midweek. Monday will be partly cloudy with a high around 80. Tuesday will bring more clouds through the day and we heat up to a high around 83. Strong storms are possible Tuesday evening into early Wednesday. High around 72 on Wednesday with early rain then decreasing clouds in the afternoon. However, Thursday will have more clouds returning along with more rain returning later in the day. High around 74 on Thursday. Have a good one!

Best, 
Andrew Buck Michael

Return to daily blogging?

I miss keeping track of my daily happenings with my blog. I used to record it for multiple reasons. One big reason was because my grandma Judy would always read these and said she loved keeping up with what was going on in my life. She had more than 20 grandkids and I imagine it would be fun following along. That really touched me and I kept doing it on a daily basis until around the time she passed away. Life got busy with two kids. Work got busy with extra responsibilities. Then I also took on other rolls like being on the Board of Governors for the Ohio State Atmospheric Sciences Alumni Society. I picked up running as a hobby initially to lose weight, but now it is my time to disconnect and get some time to clear my mind. I am also now a trustee for our HOA and took on the roll of vice president. So yea... I feel like I have very little free time. But I want to get back in the habit of keeping track of my own life along with a record to look back on. Maybe I should do this more privately and keep a journal. But instead maybe sharing it publicly will allow for others to chime-in and relate.

So another question is pondering of what I want to write about? My kids did not choose my career, so I really do not post about them often. Their privacy is something I respect and it is not my life that they are living. So I want to respect that. I used to post daily forecasts on here, but I post those now on my Facebook page. I am not sure if posting the write-ups here would be beneficial or not. I also wonder how much people are interested in my daily runs, or running journey. The photo above is from my 13 mile run at Prairie Oaks Metro Park yesterday. It has been a while since I did a 13 mile run and I initially signed up for the Cap City Half Marathon on Saturday. However, I am also coaching Evan's soccer team. The timing of his game doesn't allow me to run the half marathon, so I switched to the quarter marathon so that way I can be part of the race, finish earlier, then quickly get to the soccer fields to coach his team. Anyway, that is why I wanted to run the 13 miles yesterday as a FOMO run since I will not be running the 13 miles on Saturday. It was a beautiful sunny day, but it did get warm, since we ended up hitting 81 for the high.

So what would be best to post here daily?  Feel free to comment and let me know. Considering I have not updated this blog in a while, I am not sure how many comments I will get, but I will read through them all and look forward to hearing. 

Well... for old-time's sake, here is the forecast write-up I did today: 

Good Thursday morning! Another very warm day today with high temps back in the 80s. Yesterday we hit 81 and today we are going to go with 84 for the high. This morning we are starting off with temps in the 50s and some high thin clouds. We will have a mix of sun & clouds today as we warm up quickly and some isolated pop-up showers and storms possible this afternoon and evening. It is about a 30% chance of rain for Central Ohio today. Once the sun sets tonight the rain will dissipate some for a mostly cloudy and mild night, with low temps around 60. Friday will be warm and humid with more scattered showers and storms. As we warm to a high around 78 in the afternoon we will get a few more storms. 70% chance of rain for Friday, so not widespread for everyone. We will get another wave of scattered rain late Friday with a cold front sweeping across the state and clearing the rain out of here by daybreak on Saturday. We may get some gusty winds or small hail, but severe storms are not looking likely for the next couple of days. Light winds out of the south for today and tomorrow. Rainfall totals will generally be around half of an inch or less, but rainfall totals will vary because the rain will be scattered and not widespread.

Saturday may start out with a few isolated showers still racing out of Ohio, but the chance of rain will be dropping quickly as we go through the early morning hours of Saturday. Saturday will start with temps in the lower 50s and we only warm to around 63 in the afternoon. Mostly cloudy morning then clearing skies in the afternoon and evening. Chilly Sunday morning with clear skies and temps around 40 in Columbus and outlying areas dipping into the 30s for some light frost potentially. Mostly sunny Sunday and a high around 70.

We warm up more next week with rain returning midweek. Partly cloudy on Monday with a high around 80. Partly cloudy on Tuesday with rain returning later in the day and some heavy pockets of rain possible Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. We warm to a high around 83 on Tuesday then 74 for the high on Wednesday. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael