Some fine videos

Toroidal vortices, abstract and real-- I hadn't thought about generalizing smoke rings.

World's largest rope swing: physical exuberance for adults

Suppose you had two giant animatronic cranes with great big video screens on their bellies....

Links from elenbarathi here, plus a few more videos.

Storm report

Steady rain, highish wind.

I've seen more rain-- we're not yet at "Philadelphia pretending to be Brazil".

My notion that being on a short east-west street would blunt the ground level winds may be correct. The relatively young maple tree in front of the house (3" diameter trunk, maybe 20' tall for the very thin branches at the top, most of the crown is maybe 15' tall) isn't being blown around nearly as much as a much taller and bulkier tree about five houses eastwards. On the other hand, the bigger tree is also much closer to the intersection.

Warm and dry so far. My biggest worry is a combination of electricity outage and flooding-- the basement has-- and may need-- a sump pump. Second biggest worry is a long electricity outage.

I'm guessing and hoping that the storm in itself won't be very dangerous here. I'm not close to the ocean or rivers, and I'm not in the snow zone.

Silver lining: I don't want to hear one word, not one word, about a water shortage on the east coast next summer. Maybe not for the summer after that, either.

Wishing everyone well....

Hyperlocal weather report, South Philly

Hard steady rain, but not enough to affect visibility. Surprisingly large raindrops. Some leaves off the trees, but the majority are still on. The wind is intermittent, but noisy.

I have no reason to go outdoors, but I don't think it would be dangerous yet.

How's the weather where you are?