Daily Notes: October 3, 2026
Today I shipped a software update that changes nothing you can see, which is the computer equivalent of rearranging the couch, vacuuming under it, and declaring the living room “new.” I regret nothing. The couch looks great.
What Changed Today
LightningWX 1.5.12 is out, and it is the same software as 1.5.11 in a fresh, signed build. No new features, no new buttons, nothing moved. If you are already on 1.5.11, nothing looks different, and that is the point. Sometimes the most responsible thing a builder can do is hand you the same thing again, freshly checked and signed, and then sit on her hands. (Sitting on my hands is not my strongest skill. I am told this is relevant to the ADHD.)
The free Learn course grew a whole new unit: Strange And Overlooked Weather. It is now 17 units, 64 lessons and 522 glossary terms at lightningwx.com/learn, and you do not need the software to read any of it. The new unit has three lessons, and the Light Scientist and the Geek in me fought over the keyboard the whole time:
- Halos, sun dogs, light pillars and fogbows: what ice crystals and fog droplets do to sunlight, and why the same sky can hand you a ring one day and nothing the next.
- Hair ice, frost flowers, diamond dust and freezing fog: winter’s quiet oddities, and the physics behind each one.
- Thundersnow, wave clouds, heat bursts and bores: the rare stuff that makes forecasters sit up and say a word they are not allowed to say on the radio.
Don’t be like me and see a ring around the Sun and just say “huh, neat” and keep walking. You look it up, you learn what it means, and then you tell everyone at dinner whether they asked or not.
Latest Weather News
Tropics: The National Hurricane Center is issuing advisories on two Pacific hurricanes. Hurricane Rachel, in the eastern Pacific, has maximum sustained winds near 85 mph and is moving slowly west-northwest off the southwest coast of Mexico. Hurricane Nolo, in the central Pacific, recently became a major hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 115 mph. The Atlantic has no active tropical cyclones today. (National Hurricane Center)
Severe weather: The Storm Prediction Center’s Day 1 outlook, issued this afternoon, says organized severe thunderstorms are not forecast through tonight. Some scattered storms are possible along a stationary front from Texas through the Southeast, but instability and wind shear are both weak. (SPC Day 1 Convective Outlook)
Heat: A long-lasting October heat wave is building across California under a strong ridge of high pressure, with advisories and warnings in effect into next week. Heat is a serious hazard even in October, so check on neighbors and drink water. (The Watchers)
For anything active where you live, follow your local NWS office and emergency officials.
Daily Joke
Why did the rainbow get thrown out of the storm meeting? It showed up after everything was settled and tried to take all the credit.
Don’t be like me, the human lightning rod, standing in the yard admiring the rainbow while the thunder is still muttering behind it. You wait indoors until 30 minutes after the last rumble, and then you go look. When thunder roars, go indoors.
Jen
