I was out swimming this morning, first time this summer with my mask and fins. Swimming in the South Branch of the Potomac River, the river is low and water is warm.

Swimming at the upper town park. Didn't see or find much. Good many sunfish, 3 smallmouth bass, 10 inches or better. Few little carp, 6 or 8 pounders.

Did come home with a new pair of safety glasses, top half of a fishing rod. Junk.

One guy was bank fishing, I'm not sure, but I was in the water about 2 hours. Never did see any action over his way.

98 degrees here Monday.

I had 70* at 6:00 am.

I'll try not to look at the gauge anymore today. It's going to be nasty.

For the last few days, those who live inland had highs in the upper 80s-low 90s. Those of us who live near Lake Michigan (known as the 'big pond') had highs in the mid 60s! Now the forecast for us near the lake is for mid 80s along with the possibility for some strong storms later. It's also nasty humid with the due point around 70.

Frank.

It's been hot and dry here, and honestly not calling for much change in the forecast.

Early this year we had a bunch of rain, the ground was soaked good, when it did warm up the grass and pastures really took off.

All of the farmers that I've talked to have had a really good hay harvest. One of my landowners told me that last season, they baled 121 bales (round bales, 700 hundred pounds each or so?) This year they had 174. Same field, same equipment and all.

If we don't get rain soon, that will probably be their first and only cutting.

Think about the fuel. You cut it down, rake it, go back across the field to bale it. Plus the man hours and all.

We need rain. And just today, areas in the mid-west are flooding. And we can't buy a drop.

They cut the hay on my son's farm last week and the fields yellowed up right away. It started raining yesterday and they are now greening back.

The temps are in the high teens C.

Well here's an update on the possible storms I mentioned earlier. Yup, a strong line of storms came through SE Wis. At least five confirmed tornados with possibly more being listed after investigation of the damage is complete. Lots of damage to buildings, trees, roads, etc. Power outages. But no fatalities. Anywhere between an inch and a half to over four inches of rain caused roads, fields, driveways, and basement flooding. Lots of cleanup scheduled before another round of forecasted storms comes through Monday night and into Tuesday. No damage here at the homestead.

Frank.

Well, I'm glad no one was hurt.

We did have a rain early this morning, I had 0.66 inches. That's not much.

Not enough to change the river flow or milk up the creeks. My brother and I were out swimming one day last week, we could see a good 10 to 12 feet in the water.

That little bit of rain is just enough to make it hot and sticky today. It was pretty nice out early, wait till about noon, it's going to be nasty.

Spring weather is long gone in this part of the country. We are hot and dry!

We had 0.33 inches of rain last evening, there is no sign of it today. It's gone. No water in the creeks. We are dry.

Looking off to the north-west there are a few high thin clouds that won't amount to squat, it's windy and hot.