So I was planning on chasing today in NW IL and possibly Eastern Iowa. Even the 00Z models last night looked "ok" (not "great") and I thought maybe I could get one more last chase in this year. Well, that was not to be. Today is crap, between the cap and instability and cloud cover all over the midwest. Needless to say, I stayed home this morning and slept in and came to work late.

I also purchased myself a new digital camera today from Newegg. The Canon Powershot A480 will be a nice 'pocket camera' which I can use to carry around and take pictures of events like concerts or whatever else. I also plan on getting a Canon DSLR of some sort before next chase season, but we will see how that one plays out.

I booked my flight this morning to go to Oklahoma City next month. I have a few things I want to accomplish, and want to get a weekend on Steve's boat in before summer is over. I am looking forward to that trip.

Most of my Storm chaser friends on facebook from the southern plains have been complaining about the scorching heat wave down there. Temperatures in Oklahoma made it to 112F yesterday. That's insanely hot, and not something I'm into. On the flip side, 95 degrees would sound really great about now. Grand Rapids, MI is on pace to set a record for the coolest July ever. WOOD TV 8 Meteorologist Bill Steffen wrote about it today in his blog.

So while all everyone on the southern plains is sizzling hot, we are very cool for this time of year. Most of our mornings have started off in the 50's, and our high temperatures have failed to break 80 most days this month so far. I think we even failed to hit 70 a day or two in there. This is not summer, that is for sure. Currently it is cloudy and 78 degrees here in Lansing.