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Forecast: Storms Threaten Again This Afternoon
More sun & less humid for weekend
* Flash Flood Watch in Effect From Noon Through This Evening *
* Car vs. Tornado: What Should You Do? | Later: Going Green *
Today: A few showers. Then scattered p.m. storms. 79-83. | Tonight: Early-evening storm? Then clearing. Around 60. | Tomorrow: Partly to mostly sunny & less humid. 20% chance of a p.m. thundershower. Around 80. | Sunday: Mostly sunny. Near 80. | A Look Ahead
FORECAST IN DETAIL
We'll need to tote that umbrella again today, which features a chance of strong to severe storms this afteroon into early evening. But in the wake of a cold front passing through today, the weekend presents a pleasant package: Gradually clearing skies, comfortable temperatures and decreasing humidity. The nice weather likely lasts into Monday.
Radar: Latest D.C. area radar loop shows movement of precipitation over past two hours. Powered by HAMweather. Refresh page to update. Click here or on image to enlarge. Or see radar bigger on our Weather Wall.
Today (Friday): A few morning showers may pop around the area. Then, skies may try to fool you by turning partly sunny with afternoon highs reaching near 80 or into the low 80s. Yet, the atmosphere remains unstable thanks to a cold front in our vicinity. So scattered showers and thunderstorms could erupt during the afternoon into early evening. Some storms could be severe with gusty winds, hail and heavy rain. Confidence: Medium
Tonight: Rain could still threaten around dinnertime, then skies should begin to clear. We're partly cloudy overnight. It will feel nice as winds from the northwest bring in drier air. Temperatures bottom around 60 degrees. Comfy! Confidence: Medium
Are we in the clear for the weekend? Keep reading...
Tomorrow (Saturday): Partly to mostly sunny skies prevail along with a dry breeze from the northwest. Throw in highs near 80 and we have a very nice late-spring day. The only potential hiccup is a passing afternoon or evening thundershower (20% chance) due to a disturbance in the upper atmosphere. Confidence: Medium
Tomorrow Night: A 20% chance of an evening thundershower, then partly cloudy and rather cool with with lows in the 50s. Confidence: Medium
Sunday: Mostly sunny. Yipee! And humidity levels remain pleasantly low as temperatures climb to highs near 80 with light winds. A perfect day to get outside. I'll be throwing the frisbee around. How 'bout you? Confidence: High
Sunday night should be a good one for stargazing. Skies will be mostly clear, and low temperatures again will be just a touch cool -- in the upper 50s to near 60. But I think that's pretty pleasant. Don't you? A nice finish to our weekend, I'd say. Confidence: High
On Monday we're still looking good with partly to mostly sunny skies and highs in the mid-80s. Perhaps a touch of humidity returns as a breeze picks up from the south. Monday night, a cold front could touch off a shower or thunderstorm. Confidence: Medium-High
Tuesday looks partly sunny and a bit humid with highs in the 80s and a chance of showers and thunderstorms. I guess it was only a matter of time until our rain threat returned, eh? Confidence: Low-Medium
By
Camden Walker
| May 29, 2009; 10:45 AM ET
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Posted by: Camden-CapitalWeatherGang | May 29, 2009 9:25 AM | Report abuse
So humid this morning! Miserable walk to work. A sign of things to come... but at least we can look forward to a low humidity weekend.
Posted by: CapitalWeatherGang | May 29, 2009 10:33 AM | Report abuse
While generally a good summary, Camden, you were incorrect on one point. It's not the cold front that made things unstable today, but the fact that the air was warm and moist (dew points in the high 60's), had an unstable lapse rate, and was aided by strong heating by the sun this morning....that alone was enough for thunderstorms (the CAPE was around 1500). The front, of course, added even more upward motion to the warm air and helped intensify thunderstorm activity, but that itself was not the cause of the instability itself. You can have strong cold fronts with very stable air ahead of them (which sometimes happens in occlusion) and even dry fronts.
Posted by: MMCarhelp | May 29, 2009 6:24 PM | Report abuse
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Anyone seeing rain showers? It looks to be a dry morning after earlier wetness!