Morning storms...and is it spring yet?!

I was going through my moped photos yesterday for our website re-haul and I think I found my favorite photo. I took this photo next Carillon Park in Dayton when our group was young and just starting out. If you look closely at their smiles it really captures the fun that comes with riding a moped with the sun on your back. What a great day and great fun. It makes me VERY jealous because my bikes are still a few weeks away from being road-ready. Soon enough temperatures will be mild for good, and then I will start smelling like two-stroke smoke again....ahhhhhh. Haha.

This is going to be a pretty quick blog because we do have strong storms rolling through right now. The storms this morning likely woke up a few people out of their sleep. The storms will continue for the first half of the day and may contain some strong winds and even hail at times. They will start leaving the area through the mid-morning and the afternoon today will be windy and warm with a high near 64. Tomorrow will be partly cloudy and a little cooler, but still mild, 51. Friday we could have more severe weather as we reach a high of 64. We will cool off into the mid and lower 40's for high temperatures over the weekend with a few snowflakes possible, but warm temps return quickly next week. Keep an eye to the sky today and might as well turn on the news if you are awake this early. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Piqua school talk, thunderstorms returning

I talked to the third graders at the High Street Elementary in Piqua yesterday. The students were great and had questions that could have kept them there until today. Eventually one of the teachers gave them a limit of two more questions...but in my opinion that is the best when students have dozens of questions because the students are more engaged. I will be going back in a couple weeks to talk to the first and second graders. If you are interested in having me talk to your students' classes or maybe even a community group, I would be more than willing to come out and visit!

Yesterday was a fantastic day and I spent the evening in the garage working on mopeds when I finished my school talk. Today will be a little more cloudy, but temperatures will be near 50 again. Tonight thunderstorms will return to the area after midnight, but will pull off to the east of here through the morning tomorrow. The main threat for the storms will be strong winds and small hail. I may need to roll into the station a couple hours early to make sure my normal show is ready to go. We will be VERY warm for Leap Day tomorrow, high of 63. By the way, does anyone celebrate Leap Day...any festivities? Thursday will be a little cooler with a high of 50 and partly cloudy, then back to 59 Friday with showers returning later Friday into early Saturday. That will cool us back into the mid 40's for the weekend. Stay alert tonight and make sure to have your NOAA weather radio turned on tonight for the storms...until then though, have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Great Weekend, DAM Riders Wrench & Swap

This weekend turned out fantastic weather-wise. We had plenty of sunshine later Saturday and then wall to wall sunshine on Sunday. Temperatures were a little cool in the morning, but ehhh, I will take it for February. Dawn and I hung out around the house most of the weekend with Buckeye, who is doing really well with his recovery from the surgery. I did head to our first annual winter DAM Riders (Dayton Area Moped Riders) wrench and swap. We had this in Middletown at one of the member's car shop. We brought our spare parts and projects to all get together and socialize. It was a lot of fun to see everyone and their projects because the DAM Riders are going to have some seriously clean builds on the road this spring. You can see one of my projects on the far left in the photo.

Quick look at the forecast. First Daytona... looks like more rain today for the first ever rain postponement of the Daytona 500. 80% chance for rain showers for the afternoon so I think there is a pretty good chance for another rain delay or another day postponed...(which is fine with me so I can watch it tomorrow, since I have a school talk today). Here at home we have another great day with highs near 50 today and tomorrow with a mix of sun and clouds. Thunderstorms return Tuesday night into Wednesday and we will be VERY warm on Wednesday with a high in the low to mid 60's. Temps fall back off for Thursday in the mid 40's with partly cloudy skies, but then more wet weather returns late Friday into the weekend. The roller coaster temperatures will continue for the end of the week...mid 40's Thursday, mid 50's Friday, then mid to lower 40's by next weekend. Enjoy the great weather today and have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Buckeye is home

I can't say that Buckeye likes wearing the cone, but it is a little tough love. Buckeye had his surgery yesterday to have two of his lumps removed. Everything went well with that, but now he has an 8 inch suture on his hind side that is stitched up. We took off the cone for a little bit last night and made sure he didn't try to twist around to tear out the stitches or mess with his wound. They also cleaned his teeth while he was knocked out and that turned out well too. Dawn and I could tell he was in pain from the surgery last night and when we tried putting the cone back on he really fought with us, but he eventually gave in. I am sure he feels confined in the cone, but we can't run the risk of him tearing out the stitches...because he did try to get to them when the cone was off last night. Poor guy, but at least it is all for the best. I fired up the grill last night and we had a few mini-steaks from the farm, and since he was behaving pretty well, we of course spoiled him with some of the tender pieces after the surgery.

Oh! I need YOUR help. We are having a little friendly competition at work. We all got new Facebook pages. To access mine you can click HERE. We are trying to see who the first two people are that can get to 1000 "Likes" Feel free to help me out and post to get more people to jump on board. Apparently a few other people are getting some "outside" help so I could use some help, myself. Thanks in advance!

Temperatures are cooler this morning, sitting in the mid 30's. We will see a few light rain showers changing over to a wintry mix this afternoon. Light snow showers will stick around on and off for parts of the area tonight into early tomorrow, but with the ground so warm I do not expect the snow to cause many problems since it will be melting. Saturday we will stay in the mid 30's for highs and then back in the mid 40's Sunday with more sunshine. Partly cloudy & near 50 Monday and then mid 50's for Tuesday and Wednesday with rain moving in late Tuesday and Wednesday. Stay safe on the roads tonight and have a good one! Don't forget about the Facebook page. Thanks!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Morning Show Birthday

The rolls are switched and I brought in some birthday cupcakes for Meghan Mongillo today. To be honest when she told me three weeks ago that her birthday was the 23rd I put it in my phone calendar. I saw it in my calendar a couple of times the last week, but this morning when I was walking out the door at 2AM, I was like shooooooooot. Luckily Kroger isn't too far out of my way so I made sure to stop and pick up some napkins, plates, cupcakes, and donut holes for the morning crew. I really love the people I work with because they are totally worth spending a little money on from time to time keeping up the morning moral..they do the same as well... I mean, let's be honest, you need a fun group of people to start work at 3AM. Anyway, Happy Birthday Meghan!

We are dealing with dense fog across the Northern Miami Valley this morning, but Dayton and the south is clear and cool. That will clear out later with rain moving in for the afternoon and highs in the lower 50's. Temps will drop off quickly tonight and tomorrow as the light spotty rain showers turn over into light snow showers by Friday afternoon. Light snow will continue Friday night into Saturday with cooler temperatures, BUT with such warm temperatures the last few days, none of the snow will stick; it will melt. There will be more sunshine on Sunday and temps will bounce back into the mid 40's by Sunday and upper 40's by the start of next week. The system next week is slowing down and appears to arrive in the middle of the week now, so drier weather sticking around. Stay safe if you see fog this morning and have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Man's best friend meets man's worst fear

I have blogged about my dog Buckeye a time or two, but this one is a little different. I mentioned how his nickname is Flawless despite him being nearly blind from birth due to severe cataracts and the fact that he has a tumor on his backside. We had to take Buckeye to a new vet after his paw was bothering him earlier this year. While we were there they gave us a price to remove his growing tumor near tail because it has nearly reached the size of a tennis ball. Surprisingly the surgery was about a third of the price as what we were quoted by another vet and while he is under they are going to clean his teeth. He will go under the knife tomorrow morning so I am happy I have nothing planned today other than some laundry and spend some time with him. I know he will do just fine, but it is still scary because when he has been put under before he takes longer than normal to come out of the anesthesia.

This morning will be a pretty nice morning with dry conditions and temperatures sitting in the mid-upper 30's for lows. This afternoon a few spotty showers may affect the Northern Miami Valley, but a decent part of the area will stay dry all day. We will get to a high of 50 today and 57 tomorrow! A little better chance for rain tomorrow, but then falling temps for Friday. Friday we will start out with a little spotty rain shower or two in the morning followed by a wintry mix as temperatures fall through the day. The ground will be so warm that any light snow that we see Friday night into Saturday will melt quickly. Cool on Saturday with a high in the mid 30's, but back into the 40's for Sunday with a wintry mix possible early next week. Enjoy the mild temps and have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Presidential Progress

We were lucky enough to have President Abraham Lincoln on our morning show yesterday. It was SHOCKING how much he really looked like Honest Abe. He had a quiz for Meghan and Dan and Meghan won big time, despite all of Dan's last minute studying.

I finally got the last of my moped parts back from powder coat. It has been quite the experience because it has taken about five times longer than expected. The frame and one wheel turned out perfect, but the other wheel was a little less than perfect. There were a lot of dimples in the metal is what I am told, but it almost looks like it was not properly stripped or over stripped. You can't really tell until you are up close to the wheel, but I am putting it on my rear wheel and luckily the company made it up to me. I wanted the nice wheel on the front of my Magnum since that is where I will be highlighting my disc brake, k10 Suzuki fork, and Mag Dash with GPS and temp guage tucked inside the original speedo housing. I did let my Maxi's tank soak in a vinegar mixture the last five days to eat out as much rust as possible. I think I got about 98% of the rust and grime out. I also put on my new custom decals on the tank and tried to clear coat the tank to keep the decal from ever wanting to peal. Well a little gas spilled and ate right through the clear coat so that isn't happening. Luckily it didn't affect the decal at all. The bikes are slowly coming along and once the new MLM clutch braces are for sale I will have everything I need for both of my bikes. Almost there, just motor rebuilds and assembly.

Hopefully you enjoyed the dry weather yesterday. Wintry mix moving in right now, but temps are juuuuuust above freezing so it will melt quickly, but the first line is very light. The second line of rain/snow is heavier and will arrive around daybreak. If temps remain cold enough we could see a little dusting because of how heavy the rain/snow is falling in Indiana. The temps will warm up quickly this afternoon into the mid-upper 40's. We will see spotty hit or miss rain showers later today and through the next few days. We will also warm up into the 50's for Wednesday and Thursday, but a cold front will will roll through Friday with falling temps we look to see the rain change to a wintry mix. By Saturday morning we could still see a few flurries linger, but we will be cooler for the weekend and another wintry mix possible early next week. Stay safe out there this morning and have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Enjoy the sunshine today, rain on the way

Monday sure is starting off pretty cruddy. I left home a little early to grab a Powerade on my way into work. I also picked up a carton of half and half for the coffee for myself and my coworkers because you can never half enough of that around here on the morning show. Well after starting the newscast I went to get my first coffee and the seal was broken on the carton. Everyone said they hadn't touched it yet so I had to throw it away...total bummer!

I also spent the weekend with no hot water until yesterday evening. Our water heater went out Friday afternoon conveniently timed because Dawn's mother and brother visited from Cleveland over the weekend. It was a lot of fun with them visiting, but taking a cold shower was not fun and Dawn and her family went to her cousin's for hot showers instead. I am just hoping all the bad luck is over with and the rest of the week will be much better, despite just tripping over my feet walking into the weather center....maybe that was because of my lack of morning caffeine, haha.

As the title eluded, we have rain on the way. Today will be another great day, just like we had over the weekend. We will have plenty of sunshine with a high of 42 today. Rain showers arrive mid-morning tomorrow and we will see on and off showers for your Tuesday with a high of 47. We will get into the low 50's Wednesday and Thursday with only a slight chance for rain those days. Out of Wednesday and Thursday I would think later Wednesday looks to be the best chance with a weak disturbance moving through. Friday will be wet as well with another cold front bringing cooler weather for the weekend. The rain on Friday may end as a wintry mix later in the day so I will keep a close eye on that. So, as the title said, enjoy the sunshine today because a wet week is on the way. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Fridays are awesome

There is nothing better than waking on on Friday morning at 1:15AM knowing that you don't have to do it the next two days. I do love my job, especially coming into the studio on Friday...spirits are high and so is the caffeine in our blood stream. The week is like a roller coaster of tiredness. Monday is not normally that bad because I am caught up on sleep, Tuesday is the worst because I am just trying to get back into the rhythm, then the days progressively get better, finishing with Friday. I normally jump out of bed and it is hard to bum my spirits on a Friday, cuz even if I only get to sleep until 7AM Saturday... that is nearly 6 extra hours of sleeping in. So to you, I offer this cheers, HERE'S TO FRIDAY!

Today looks like great weather for us. Mild and mostly sunny with highs in the mid 40's. More clouds for Saturday with similar temps and a SLIGHT chance for a sprinkle or flurry heading into Sunday, but less than a 10% chance. Sunday will be a little cooler with highs in the mid-upper 30's followed by 40's all next week. Dry weather will stick around until later Tuesday night when rain will return...so yeah, a pretty fantastic forecast for this February Friday. HERE'S TO FRIDAY! Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

GoPro Moped Video

Pipe work from Andrew Michael on Vimeo.

I mentioned yesterday that I got a GoPro camera with my tax rebate. I shot a little video in the garage on Tuesday while I was working on my powder coated moped exhaust pipes. I am on the fence, but I may end up selling my 3CCD JVC camera because the GoPro offers microphone inputs and may shoot just as good of video for a camera that costs a third of the JVC. Anyway, hope you enjoy the video: vimeo.com/36836614.

Rain showers this morning will kick out of here by midday. The rain will be pretty light, but hopefully enough to wash away all the salt on the roads. I need to get my truck washed...the underside is caked with salt. Temps will remain in the mid 40's for the next few days. More sunshine Friday with clouds returning Saturday as a cold front swings through the area later in the day with a few flurries possible into the evening and Saturday night. Right now not looking like very much moisture, but still could be a little slick in spots Sunday morning. Sunday we will top out into the upper 30's, but 40's returning next week with any chance for rain holding off until the middle of the week. Stay dry this morning and have a good one.

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Fun Valentine

Yesterday was a little grungy in the afternoon. Drizzle, temps just barely above freezing, but I still managed to have a great day. I found a great place to get my moped powder coated and I went to pick it up yesterday. I thought all the parts would be finished, but they still needed a part to finish my wheels...hopefully those will be ready in the coming days. Anyway, I was able to pick up my moped frame and all of my moped friends in Dayton are chomping at the bit to see what it looks like, so I took a teaser picture of just the swing arm and posted it to our site. I need to do some decal work and other wrenching before the bike is assembled, but I will be sure to share a photo of the before and after when it is finished. I also found a place in Franklin that sells AMSOIL Saber oil for my moped. 1977 Mopeds had a great blog entry getting to the cause of why so many people seize their Polini builds. The basic answer is that synthetic oils burn much hotter so when people are mixing as rich as 40:1 then the ring will expand and eventually the piston catches the exhaust port. Saber is meant to run 100:1, which seems crazily lean, but science and real-life testing doesn't lie. I spent the late afternoon putting the baffles back on the powdered exhaust pipes and while I was doing that, my GoPro arrived. With my tax refund I had enough money to pay off a credit card and get a little extra something for myself. That is the benefit of having Uncle Sam take out a little extra money each paycheck because nothing is worse than shelling out money come April 15th. I asked Dawn where she wanted to go for dinner and she picked BW3's...yea I picked the right wife! We had a lot of fun playing the trivia and enjoying our time together. I am taking her out to The Elevator in Columbus in a few weeks, so that will be our "romantic" dinner.

The drizzle and mild temps yesterday did help melt some of the snow and the mild temps the next few days will continue to melt any snow left. One thing that will help with the melting is the rain that will move in later tonight just after sunset. Rain showers overnight and tomorrow, but highs will remain in the mid 40's for the rest of the week and start of the weekend. By Sunday we will begin to cool off into the upper 30's and maybe even a flurry possible late Saturday as the cold front swings through, but not looking like any accumulation snow. Temps will warm back into the 40's next week so no accumulating snow for the near future. I am looking forward to the mild temps on the way. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

The North Wins Again

Sure enough, the north saw more snow, again. This winter has been quite a letdown if anyone is a fan of snow. Here in Dayton we have seen about a dusting so far, maaaaybe half an inch so far. As you can see in the webcam image I grabbed from Dayton ODOT camera (4:15AM) the roadways are just wet. However off to the north in Celina, thanks to Wabash Telephone, the roads are snow covered with about an inch of snow already. We still will see a little more snow through the morning with another half an inch possible, so the forecast will hold true from yesterday: Up to 1" south of I-70 and 1-2" for the north. I know I may be eating these words later, but I want one good snow storm. I want a healthy dumping of 6-8 inches of snow, but this winter the atmosphere just doesn't want to play along. Pardon the analogy, but the atmosphere has had a little too much cheese and can't squeeze anything out this winter.

Well as I said, we could see another half an inch of snow through the rest of the morning and then in the early afternoon we will warm up a little bit, high of 36, and get a very light wintry mix with rain mixing with the snow. The wintry mix will be light enough that it should not cause too many problems other than wet roadways. Temperatures will warm into the mid 40's for the rest of the week with rain Wednesday night into Thursday. Still mild Friday but cooler Saturday as we see a few flurries return and highs near 40 for most of the weekend, but more mild air returns next week. Stay safe on the roads and have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Moped Friday Fun & More Snow Tonight

Friday turned out to be a little more fun than expected. I was helping rebuild one of my friends e50 moped motor and then the word spread that we were working on mopeds. After an hour or so the garage was filled with everyone antsy to get back out on two wheels. Rebuilding the motor turned out super fast and easy since it was my second rebuild... and I have to rebuild both of mine in the coming weeks...so a great refresher for me. Had a lot of fun hanging out and talking about plans for the group for the upcoming year. We haven't had a Moped Monday in a few weeks because of the cold weather and everyone's bike in pieces for winter projects. We hung out in the garage through the afternoon and then everyone peaced out for their weekend preps. We had one of Dawn's childhood neighbors down for the weekend so I had to get cleaned up for that. We had a lot of fun this weekend and also got to watch Dawn's cousins play a couple basketball games with Centerville Hustle.

The snowy system that came last Friday arrived slightly earlier than expected. With temperatures still above freezing, the first half an inch of snow melted cutting down the snowfall totals and we saw generally between 1-2" of snow across the area. This winter has been very tricky for forecasting the snow. It seems that every time we get snow the models normally double the snowfall forecast that we actually see. The last couple systems I have been going with that trend and forecasting the low end of the forecasted range. That being said....more snow on the way for tonight. I think that areas south of I-70 could see up to 1" and areas north of I-70 will see 1-2". The snow will start around 9PM tonight and last into tomorrow. The "heaviest" of the snow will fall before daybreak tomorrow with only a few light snow showers tomorrow morning. With temperatures getting into the mid 30's tomorrow we could see a light wintry mix for the south tomorrow, but a lot of the moisture will be pulling out of here through the morning while it is still cold. We will deal with clouds and low 40's for Wednesday followed by rain Wednesday night into Thursday. Thursday will be the warmest day of the week, mid 40's, followed by cooler temps, near 40, for the end of the week and weekend. Stay warm out there this morning with wind chills in the teens. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Upping snowfall totals & moped project update

We will get to the forecast in just a bit... I wanted to drop a little update on my moped projects. I still need to rebuild both of my engines with new bearings and seals, but the other parts of the bikes are really coming along. My Puch Maxi is being powder coated currently and I hope to have it back any day now. I finished putting new sealed bearings in the wheels and I also have the disc brakes ready to go. The new forks are installed the Puch Magnum along with new bearings, but need to wait for the Maxi to finish the new suspension on there. Gotta love good finds on eBay. That is where I found out about the Versailles shop with the cheap hydraulic forks and also found these GPS mounts. I picked up a GREAT deal on the GPS from Craigslist a month ago. Since the speedometers are essentially useless because I go faster than they can go I am putting a GPS mount on the Mag Dash. The mounts are very high quality and meant for mountain bikes so they completely lock down the GPS from wanting to rattle free. I did have to do some modifications to make them work with the new forks, but their bolting configuration is VERY similar to the dash mounts. The big thing I am waiting on now, other than the Maxi back from powder coat, is Motion Left Mopeds coming out with a new three shoe clutch brace with all the hardware. I want to get that so I am not warping my clutches with RPMs getting over 8000. I will finish buttoning up the bodies until then and once the clutch braces are available in a couple weeks I will be able to rebuild the motors. I can't wait to finish my bikes and take them out for a little photo shoot when it warms up. (It is very nice only having two mopeds and not more...I can focus more on quality)

Alright...forecast time. The forecast models have been ramping up the moisture with the coming snow and upper level energy will also help enhance the snowfall totals a little bit. I expect the snow to arrive right around the evening commute, pick up in intensity toward midnight, then it quickly moves out of here overnight followed by stronger winds tomorrow and much colder air. Based on the latest information I am thinking 1-2+" of snow for areas south of I-70 and then 2-3+" north of I-70. Hopefully the road crews will be able to tackle the roads pretty well overnight; in case you have any early morning travels for Saturday. Watch out for blowing and drifting snow in the rural areas through the day tomorrow. We will be much colder tomorrow with a high of 23 and then 28 on Sunday. Next week temperatures will gradually warm and then light snow/wintry mix possible on Tuesday and then rain/wintry mix on Thursday as start seeing highs in the 40's again. Temperatures will play a huge part in what kind of precip we will see next week so I will keep you posted. Enjoy the winter wonderland and have a great weekend!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Quiet weather for today, snow & cold blast on the way

High pressure is really dominating much of the central part of the country right now. The strong area of high pressure will provide us with plenty of sunshine today, but the cold front plowing down from Canada will leave us very cold for the weekend. Highs of 39 today and tomorrow and snow showers will roll into the Ohio Valley around noon tomorrow and last on and off through the afternoon and early evening. This again looks to be light...so a dusting across most of the area. Roads will be slick again and likely cool enough for some snow to stick if it falls quick enough and if the pavement is left untreated. The big story is the big cool down for the weekend. Highs will be in the mid to upper 20's for the weekend. We will slowly warm up next week. Temps will be near 40 by Tuesday where we could see a little light snow, but the real moisture from the gulf looks to pump into the Ohio Valley area for the end of next week. Enjoy the sunshine today and have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Snow moving in

Wanted to crank out the blog before the snow completely covers the area and I get busy tracking the snow and road conditions. This image was from just before 4:30AM and the snow is building, but should be done and out of here by noon. I expect less than an inch for most of the area, but more snow on the way later Friday...maybe a few sprinkles as well since we will be getting into the upper 30's for the end of the week. That system will have less moisture, so less precip. That will blast cold air into the Midwest for the weekend with highs in the 20's, but we will slowly warm up next week near 40 by the middle of the week with a lot of moisture pumping up from the gulf... a situation we will need to keep a close eye on in the coming days. Stay safe out there this morning and have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Snow and winter returning

Winter has been VERY mild for Ohio so far... but things look to change by week's end. We will have a cold front push though later today and snow looks to arrive late tonight and another cold front blasting through later Friday leaving us below freezing for the weekend. The snow will arrive just before daybreak tomorrow morning and I am not expecting a lot. We could pick up a light coating, but it does not have enough moisture to break out the shovels or snow blowers. The second cold front looks to be a lot of the same...very little moisture for much snow for late Friday...likely just a few flurries or dusting. Next week looks to be a little more interesting...by the middle of next week the models have shown gulf moisture making its way up from the south and with temperatures cold enough we will need to keep an eye on the situation, but right now it is more than seven days out... so it's almost a shot in the dark to call anything specific at this point. Get the coats handy and give yourself a little extra time tomorrow morning. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Man that Manning!

I have a small soft spot for Matt Light on the Patriots, but other than him, I would be seen rooting for the Yankees first...which will never happen. It was not very difficult as to who I would root for during the Superbowl and the Giants deserved the win much more. Back in college, during the spring, I was walking around the mall and they were having an AMAZING clearance on jersey's so I bought a Peyton Manning jersey.(I think it was only $15) I figured he will likely be a pro bowler in the future and I respect his game. Well I also thought if I wore one Manning jersey it would work for the other Manning, Eli. Haha, the game turned out to be a great match-up and the commercials were pretty decent as well with beer, cars, and snacks taking the main spotlights. Special shout-out to Springboro native, Jake Ballard, who now is a Superbowl champ. The tight end sadly was injured in the first half and spent most of the second half in the training room...still gets a ring though. All-in-all it was a great Superbowl and now I wait until the Browns make it there.... next year?!?!
The weather yesterday was GREAT as well. As a matter of fact, there is VERY LITTLE wet action across the entire country. It has been a while since I have seen the US this dry with less than 1% of the country seeing any precipitation. Today we will get into the upper 40's with more sunshine. Tuesday will be a little cooler with highs in mid 40's and increasing clouds as the cold front swings down from Canada. Tuesday night into Wednesday we will see a few flurries, but as dry as the air will be, the cold front will not have much moisture to work with. Temps will cool down for the end of the week and by next weekend we may be lucky to get above freezing. The good news is that, other than the few flurries Wednesday, we look to remain dry over the week ahead. Enjoy today and keep the coat handy. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

National Wear Red Day

Meghan bosses Dan and I around a lot... well not really, but yesterday she told us to wear red about five times. Today is National Wear Red Day to raise awareness to help fight heart disease in women. Hopefully you read this before leaving the house so you can wear red too.

My birthday turned out fantastic. I got to spend most of the day with Dawn relaxing, going for a walk since it was so warm, and that was followed by a fun dinner at Dark Horse Tavern...their BBQ is amazing. Since we had Papa Johns on the morning show I had my pizza fix so I went with my second favorite. I loved just relaxing and enjoying the day and beautiful weather.

Today will be the last day of great weather. We will see plenty of sunshine with highs in the low 50's, but rain returns tomorrow. The rain will arrive just after daybreak and should pull out of the area by Saturday evening. The Northern Miami Valley may see a few snowflakes mix in at times, but not expecting any accumulations since the ground will be wet and warm. The heaviest of the rain will be mainly south of I-70. Highs tomorrow will be in the mid 40's and that will be the same for almost the entirety of next week. We will cool off with highs near 40, but still above normal for early February. We also look to stay dry for the entire seven day forecast other than tomorrow. Hope you have a great weekend and stay dry. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Groundhog's outta the bag, It's my Birthday

I am normally not a person to flaunt my birthday, but Meghan Mongillo would not let my birthday go unannounced today. She was very sweet and brought in donuts for everyone along with a birthday plate, balloon, and napkin (which I am wearing for a pocket square). We had a little fun this morning at 4:30AM before the boss was watching and light the candles on the donut and I blew them out during the weather chat. Thanks Meghan! When I grew up, on our birthday we got to pick up the mail, answer the phone, pick dinner, and got a cake. We never received presents and I kinda liked it that way. Instead of looking forward to the presents we looked forward to day itself and the things it brought...like later curfews, haha.

I have another confession... I never know how to treat Groundhogs Day. I am not sure if people look forward to it or not since it is my birthday. Kinda like a few friends with birthdays on Christmas or other big holidays. Anyway I did a little research and the myth or legend behind Groundhogs Day goes back to Germany. Easterly winds from Siberia would bring dry, cold air with plenty of sunshine...so when the groundhog would see its shadow it would go back to hibernating more because the easterly winds would keep bringing cold winds. If the winds were from the west, the North Sea, then it would bring more moisture, milder temps, and clouds...so when the groundhog came out of the hole it would not see its shadow because warmer winds are coming from the Sea. So there is a little science to the legend, but I am not sure how accurate Punxsutawney Phil really is here in America.

The weather looks really great again today. A little chilly this morning with current temps just barely above freezing. This afternoon more sunshine with highs in the low 50's and more of the same tomorrow. Rain showers arrive Saturday and a lingering shower or two on Sunday. We will then slowly cool off into the low 40's for next week along with more sunshine. Enjoy the sunny 50's while they are here. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

Buckeye feeling better, despite the wet weather

In my Monday's post I mentioned how Buckeye got hurt over the weekend. He went to the vet Monday and got some medication for his swelling and pain...and he is much more spry now. He was still limping around a little bit yesterday, but it is such a relief to see him in less pain. He was running around yesterday and back to his old fun self instead of laying around and resisting moving at all.

This is a special segment, FOR YOU! I am working on scheduling my school/organization talks. I am very flexible and can work around your schedule for the most part...apart from early mornings obviously, haha. But if you are part of the Rotary Club, safety committee, or anything that you think I could help with or entertain you for an hour, let me know! Seriously...or ask the kids if they would like me to come in for a school talk. It is one of my favorite parts of this job and I am looking for more talks to schedule. (By the way, it's free!) Just wanted to throw that out there, you can email me at work at amichael@daytonsnewssource.com.

To the weather...we are dealing with some early morning showers, but they will be out of here by mid-morning. This afternoon we will see a little clearing with highs in the mid 50's. Highs near 50 for the end of the week with a mix of sun and clouds and then rain returns for the weekend. Saturday looks to be the best bet for rain and then maybe a light shower or flurry on Sunday with a little left over moisture. Highs will fall into the mid 40's for the weekend and then low 40's for early next week with lows back below freezing. Stay dry this morning and have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael