I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but we missed a storm -- and a lot of rain -- by a few miles. Folks in Wisconsin are getting hit by a LOT of rain -- over five inches in many places! We can see lightning in our northern sky, but it is still dry here and the forecast for Friday is sunny and 95°.

These two photos were taken from a nearly identical location on my deck. The photos are of housing vacant lots immediately south of my house. The "winter" photo was taken February 22 and the "summer" photo was taken July 22 --  five months apart. It's currently 90° outside with high humidity and the "winter" photo looks oddly refreshing to me.

It was nice to finally get some rain yesterday afternoon and even overnight. I'm not sure how much rain we received, but it was certainly welcome.

It's in the mid-70s now and it's forecast to be in the low-80s by afternoon. I hope my lawn greens up again.

I'm hoping these dark clouds contain a lot of rain as we desperately need the moisture. I don't have high hopes though.