According to the Denver Post, the 'balloon boy's' father is am amateur meteorologist. http://www.denverpost.com/ci_13568863

From the Post: "Richard Heene is an amateur scientist based out of Fort Collins. He and his partners call themselves the "psyience detectives." Heene is a storm chaser who collects data to prove that rotating storms create their own magnetic fields.

He began his research in 2002 with lab experiments, then moved on to dust devils. In 2005, he flew a plane around Hurricane Wilma's perimeter."

It all sounds a bit fishy at this point. I'm not balloon expert like they had on FOX News, who suggested the kid might be hiding under his bed, but it looks like there was no real way into the balloon from what they showed on the ground. Then the other question is was this enough helium to lift a kid?

Looks like there was no child in the balloon after all. We can only hope that the boy is somewhere safe in his neighborhood and that he didn't fall out of the balloon...

Just found ballooon boy - hiding in the attic of his parent's house: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/15/colorado.boy.balloon/index.html

Well, I guess that's good news even if the whole thing seems a bit ridiculous now.

Today was RAW, but we definitely need the rain, so I'm satisfied.

Anybody have a good explanation for this formation? I wish I had been there to see it!

http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2009/10/14/halo-cloud-over-moscow-creates-ufo-buzz/

Unfortunately we seem to be locked into a five-day "much-needed-rain" raw spell. I'm already fed up with this raw weather; even the crickets have run into hiding or are being prematurely killed by all this cold.

This is some of the worst weather I've seen for so early in the season--it compares only with 10/10/79 when we got the unusual early snow here in Arlington. Wonder if it will dip into the thirties & we might see some sleet or snow before all this crud exits us.

Our only problem--we can't ever seem to get this sort of five-day spell later in the season when we could use a good multi-day snow event. All we ever seem to get is this lousy, cruddy long-term cold rain.

Sorry El Bombo but some of us welcome this rain. We have not had any rain in October and for those who do not live in a concrete jungle it is essential that the shrubs and trees get the moisture at this time of the year. Hope it doesn't interfere with your dances.

My folks up near Williamsport PA have 2 inches of snow on the ground so far (9 pm). Reminds me of the only other time I saw it snow up there in mid-October. We got 4 inches on Oct 17, 1977. And we all know what kind of winter that was. I'm just saying.

I agree this weather is raw.
At least you didn't have to be outside in it for much of the day like I was.
Working at an airport is tough, especially on days like today. So the next time your flights delayed and you're aggravated that you've sat on the ground for 3 hours, just be thankful you're in a nice warm airplane, or inside the terminal, instead of outside in the rain with the ground support guys.

CM_in_Fairfax, I think it is a hole punch cloud.

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