Fall’s Here! It’s Beautiful! Now Beware the Waspocalypse.

Last night I was doing my normal weather thing:

(1) Nerding out on weather data and weather models.

(2) Asking myself: do normal people care about this? (94% of the time, the answer is No.)

(3) Decide: “people might care about this,” then tweet:

Why would you say that, JR? Why?

This wasp article from National Geographic contains wasp facts. One such facts says members of the wasp family include “cicada killers” and the “striking blue-and-orange tarantula hawks.” Seriously. Hit that link. Cicada Killers and Striking Blue-and-Orange Tarantula Hawk wasps exist.

A Cicada Killer
Striking Blue-and-Orange Tarantula Hawk

Not pictured is this wasp’s wallet, seen here:

So we have the problem of mad wasps running out of food and water. Add to that, this:

“Most animals have developed a well-earned fear of stinging wasps and give them a wide berth. Creatures who haplessly stumble upon a wasp colony or have the audacity to disturb a nest will find themselves quickly swarmed. A social wasp in distress emits a pheromone that sends nearby colony members into a defensive, stinging frenzy. Unlike bees, wasps can sting repeatedly. Only females have stingers, which are actually modified egg-laying organs.

We’re getting stung repeatedly by modified egg-laying organs? Awful. Fall sucks.

The weather is easy this week. Chilly mornings, low/mid 80s for the afternoons.

7-Day Forecast for Latitude 36.17°N and Longitude 86.78°W (Elev. 479 ft) - Windows Internet Explorer 2014-09-23 13.17.31

Rain looks possible Sunday or Monday. An upper level low may be developing in the Plains, then moseying on over our way late Sunday/Monday. The models aren’t in agreement, but it’s likely the better chance of rain is Monday. Such model uncertainties 3+ days away are common, and explain why we shy away from answering your “will it rain Sunday afternoon” type questions. We really don’t know.

This website supplements @NashSevereWx on Twitter.