Whew it's muggy!

Now that it's mid-May in Annapolis, the moisture has finally surged into town. (Just in time for me to drive 1500 miles west only to hope and pray for 55F dewpoint on the northern high plains... ugh!) I think I've decided that while I like moisture, I also like dry climates where my body can sweat and effectively and efficiently cool itself. High moisture content is nice for on thing: thunderstorms, and last night we had a few comforting rumbles of thunder (enough to cause me to pull up and auto-loop the local radar!)

In other news: my car is all Rain-X'ed (accomplished in the parking lot at USNA) and ready to go, and now if only the atmosphere would cooperate and give us a decent western trough between now and the end of May. Given the likely state of the atmosphere next week, here's what I would prefer (still not ideal, but do-able!)

1- slight reorientation of the mostly zonal upper-level flow (from out of 285 to out of 265)
2- quick disappearance of any closed/cut-off Gulf of Mexico lows
3- subsequent faster return of winds south of 90degrees (implying moisture return)
4- no detrimental cirrus shields or overnight MCCs (not likely given dearth of moisture)

I'll try to blog frequently from the field. We'll depart 17 May from AVL and be out through 30 May, returning to AVL 31 May.