The new Washington
Jump to CWG's
Outside now? Radar, temps
Follow us on Twitter
Find us on Facebook
PM Update: Warmth To Depart After Short Stay
Cooler March conditions return Thursday
* Dueling Climate Meetings | March Temperature Swings *
Morning clouds broke up for a time during early afternoon, and the sun helped temperatures jump quickly to highs in the upper 60s and low 70s. Showers missed the area through much of the day, but an isolated sprinkle is not out of the question through afternoon. A cold front passing by will soon deliver gusty northwest winds that will sweep away the warmth, leaving more average (and below average) temperatures in its wake.
Tonight: Winds kick up and early-evening temperatures stay mild, falling through the 60s and into the 50s under partly to sometimes mostly cloudy skies, before we reach the 40s prior to midnight. Overnight, skies trend mostly clear as a northwest wind at 10-20 mph, with higher gusts, makes near-average lows in the low-to-mid 30s feel chillier from time to time.
Tomorrow (Thursday): Temperatures return to more typical levels for March on Thursday. Under mostly sunny skies, highs should range from the upper 40s to near 50. Northwest winds will continue, but lighter than what we'll see this evening and overnight.
See Dan Stillman's full forecast through the weekend.
Michigan Ice Floes: This is not something you see every day. High winds coming off Lake Huron funneled an "ice surge" into Saginaw Bay. The outcome? 10 feet or more of ice piled onto lakeshore homes. I guess those folks are hoping for some warm weather soon.
By
Ian Livingston
| March 11, 2009; 3:15 PM ET
Categories:
Forecasts
Save & Share:
Previous: Dueling Climate Meetings Aim to Steer Policy
Next: Forecast: Spring Weather Takes a Sabbatical
Posted by: Ian-CapitalWeatherGang | March 11, 2009 3:42 PM | Report abuse
A certain "professional", based in State College, was talking about that several days ago.
Posted by: MKadyman | March 11, 2009 4:06 PM | Report abuse
Enhanced fire threat behind the front this evening. NWS forecasting relative humidities below 30% with gusty winds. Wind shift has happened in DC, looks like temps are on their way down now.
Posted by: Ian-CapitalWeatherGang | March 11, 2009 5:10 PM | Report abuse
It's "floes," fellows!
Posted by: dcbyday | March 11, 2009 5:34 PM | Report abuse
@dcbyday
Thanks!... fixed.
Posted by: Dan-CapitalWeatherGang | March 11, 2009 5:38 PM | Report abuse
Interesting video, thanks for sharing.
That's interesting about early next week, but I'm not completely giving up on Saturday night yet. Lou Scally (NBC-25 Hagerstown) mentioned flurries a couple of times in his evening forecast.
Posted by: spgass1 | March 11, 2009 6:28 PM | Report abuse
Ian are you mocking the EURO or raising a small glimmer of hope?
Posted by: manassasmissy | March 11, 2009 6:46 PM | Report abuse
manassasmissy,
I would say he is raising a small glimmer of hope (for us snow lovers). The model runs of the Euro have shown the potential for an East Coast Storm. The other models have yet to fall in line although they tend to show a pattern of precipitation and chilly weather for that time frame. Remember that we are talking about 7 days in the future. It could be "blow torch" for all we know. Keep your fingers crossed and let's see how the models run for the next 48 hours. If the pattern and trend remains, we can then start to hope.
Posted by: pjdunn1 | March 11, 2009 7:31 PM | Report abuse
manassasmissy: As a resident of this area I have learned hope is important. The Euro is usually among the best models at any given time, so it's worth watching. The storm has some similarities to the one that gave us snow earlier in the month at this range... but that extra two weeks of warming is pretty significant. Those types of situations are definitely better than what we saw most of the winter, but by mid and late March it's pretty tough.
As others have noted over the past few weeks, there is still plenty of cold air not too far away and we are about to tap back into some of that. If snowlovers were lucky to get the Mar 1-2 storm they may need to be doubly lucky to come out big on any future event.... Hopefully one way or another we'll get some needed precip out of it, even if that's chilly rain.
Posted by: Ian-CapitalWeatherGang | March 11, 2009 7:43 PM | Report abuse
12z EURO was nice! about an 1.85" of QPF. To my knowledge the Euro does not have much support. How weird would it be to have two March snow storms and we could not even buy a storm in Jan-Feb lol. Figures when everyone is ready for spring, we get snow. Gotta love D.C weather!
Posted by: clintonportis17 | March 11, 2009 10:17 PM | Report abuse
Generally it's sort of late by now for a major snow...a nasty raw rain seems a better bet.
Posted by: Bombo47jea | March 12, 2009 12:02 AM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.
The new EURO is spitting out a snowstorm early next week. LOL?