Forecast: Alternating Dry and Wet Periods

Mostly dry today, wet tomorrow

* Cherry Blossom Coverage | March Recap *
* Later: Averting Catastrophic Global Warming *

EXPRESS FORECAST

Today: Early A.M. Fog. Partly cloudy. Low-to-mid 60s. | Tonight: Cloudy. Low 50s. | Tomorrow: Rain showers again. Low 60s.| Tomorrow Night: Clearing skies, breezy. 40s. | A Look Ahead

FORECAST IN DETAIL

Spring is a season notorious for weather variability and the upcoming five days will exemplify this. We are looking at shower opportunities coming in and moving out quickly from one day to the next. This is good news for relieving the dry D.C. conditions (as reported yesterday in the March recap), but it challenges us weather forecasters. The best news of the day weather-wise is that the weekend still looks nice overall.

Webcam: Latest view of D.C. from the Netherlands Carillon at Arlington National Cemetery. Courtesy National Park Service. Refresh page to update. See this image bigger on our Weather Wall.

Today (Thursday): The cloud canopy may be difficult to break today, but the sun is certainly going to try to push its way through. The best chance for that is probably midday into the early afternoon following some earlier morning fog chances. Look for highs in the low-to-mid 60s with cool breezes from the north. Confidence: Medium-High

Tonight: The clouds reclaim the entire sky again with lows dipping down toward the lower 50s. Confidence: Medium-High

Keep reading for the improving forecast through early next week...

Tomorrow (Friday): We're back on the wet side again tomorrow with showers around the area (70% likelihood). Shower chances appear best at around mid-day. Clouds will hold high temperatures down in the lower 60s or possibly cooler in spots. Confidence: Medium

Tomorrow Night: A somewhat more effective cold front sweeps the area on Friday night and we'll see our dew points fall and the winds increase. This means the 40s for lows could feel even cooler. Confidence: High

A LOOK AHEAD

Saturday is looking dry and mostly sunny, but temperatures remain tricky. The best expectation is for highs in the lower 60s right now, but very dry dew points and strong breezes from the northwest will probably make conditions feel cooler to the skin. Do not be surprised to see some areas struggle to go much past 60 (north/west of city). Confidence: Medium-High

After some morning coolness in the low-to-mid 40s, warming then gets a better foothold on Sunday with mostly sunny skies, calmer winds, and temperatures moving toward the upper 60s or possibly warmer in spots. However, we are seeing signs that cloud cover could begin to return by late Sunday afternoon into evening. This sets the stage for clouds and possible showers Sunday evening with lows close to 50. Confidence: Low-Medium

The forecast for Monday is wet again with showers and thunderstorms increasingly likely. Look for somewhat cooler highs in the lower 60s. There are hints that stronger cooling could return toward the middle of next week, but given our fast-moving weather patterns, nothing should last too long! Confidence: Low