Michigan has been very lucky this summer with respect to forest fires. Other portions of the country, not so much. Here's a current map, also showing the smoke drift. The entire UP and the western part of the lower peninsula are getting plenty of haze from fires both out west and down south.
What's with the smoke drift near new england? Did it travel over the Atlantic? And, what are the triangles?
OK, Al, it's only a tropical storm, but you can use it as a warmup. As our man-on-the-spot for the extreme southeast it's your job to travel to the projected landfall sites for tropical storms and hurricanes and strap yourself to a tree or pole near the beach and then report back to us later what you saw and experienced.
I've been speaking to the few knowledgable people I work with about the possibilities. What they tell me is that erika could be a hurricaine by Monday. While many of these storms do break up, this one has potential. The major issue is if she travels over the mountain ranges in the Dominican Republic. If she doesn't, the much smaller islands between us will not provide anything to weaken the storm. Combine that with ocean temps in the high 80's, and there might be serious issues. If she heads westward into the Gulf, meteorologists say the wind shear from the southwest is enough to break it up.
If things don't go well, my avatar may be me floating down the street.
It's potential frozen water time, at least for a tiny interior portion of the northern lower peninsula. The map on the left shows contours for dates (by week) of the average first appearance of freezing for an overnight low. However, that won't happen this week. The Gaylord NWS has been saying for a few days now that the first week of September might be the hottest ever recorded for Michigan, and the map on the right shows overnight lows in the 60s for tonight. Forecast highs for the Soo are in the 80s for the next 6 days.
Are you going to do that writing thing again this year?
I'll probably set some goal for this year's Nano in November, but maybe not the official 50,000 words. I managed 50k each of the last two years, but both times by the end of the month I was fed up enough with the manuscript that I didn't do anything with it for quite a while afterward. I think in the long run I might end up making less total progress by doing the 50k binge than if I didn't. 
Maybe I'll set a lower goal this year, like 20k or 25k.
Cool clouds.
Nice picture Cystem_Phailure
I'll probably set some goal for this year's Nano in November, but maybe not the official 50,000 words. I managed 50k each of the last two years, but both times by the end of the month I was fed up enough with the manuscript that I didn't do anything with it for quite a while afterward. I think in the long run I might end up making less total progress by doing the 50k binge than if I didn't. Maybe I'll set a lower goal this year, like 20k or 25k.
50,000 ÷ 30 = 1700 words per day.
1700 ÷ 32 words per minute = 1 hour.
So figuring maybe an hour and a half per day of steady typing, possibly broken into two parts ... hmmm, sounds like an interesting challenge. May have to give it a try one of these days. 
Neat picture of Mt. Rainier! I wish they'd put a gondola lift up to the top of that mountain so I could get up there! 
I'll probably set some goal for this year's Nano in November, but maybe not the official 50,000 words. I managed 50k each of the last two years, but both times by the end of the month I was fed up enough with the manuscript that I didn't do anything with it for quite a while afterward. I think in the long run I might end up making less total progress by doing the 50k binge than if I didn't. Maybe I'll set a lower goal this year, like 20k or 25k.
50,000 ÷ 30 = 1700 words per day.
1700 ÷ 32 words per minute = 1 hour.
So figuring maybe an hour and a half per day of steady typing, possibly broken into two parts ... hmmm, sounds like an interesting challenge. May have to give it a try one of these days.
Neat picture of Mt. Rainier! I wish they'd put a gondola lift up to the top of that mountain so I could get up there!
careful there or you will end up like the Close Encounter of the Third KInd !
1700 ÷ 32 words per minute = 1 hour.
So figuring maybe an hour and a half per day of steady typing, possibly broken into two parts ...
It's a little more than that for me-- I can't compose new material at the same rate as I can key from reading existing copy. I've roughly measured before that if I've already got a fairly good idea of what I'm going to be writing for a session (meaning that I've already got the gist of a scene or conversation worked out in my head so I don't have any lengthy gaps sitting there thinking now what?) I can compose somewhere around 700 words per hour, and I can do that for 3 or 4 hours straight before I need to stop the session. 700 words per hour is only about 11 words per minute, which is about a fourth of my actual keying speed.
So to churn out the required daily average of 1667 words typically takes me more than 2 hours. Realistically there are days where I don't get around to writing anything, that are offset by days where I can put out amounts as high as 4k or so. There are people entered who generate 20k or 30k in a day-- I can't do that, and wouldn't want to.
@ CP; interesting!
@ KCO; 
Yesterday's (September 1) high temperatures in the contiguous U.S. didn't have much variation. The NWS says the very even distribution of warm temps is a little unusual for the 1st week of September when at least some portion of the north is typically getting some cooler Arctic air drifting south.
The NWS has a nice online weather info resource for schools or just perusing. Basic topics include the atmosphere, global weather, clouds, the ocean, thunderstorms, upper air, etc. The site is called JetStream -- Online School for Weather.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/
OK, Al, it's only a tropical storm, but you can use it as a warmup. As our man-on-the-spot for the extreme southeast it's your job to travel to the projected landfall sites for tropical storms and hurricanes and strap yourself to a tree or pole near the beach and then report back to us later what you saw and experienced.