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Forecast: A brief mild spell, then dry and cold
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Today: Partly sunny. 49-53. | Tonight: Increasing clouds. 35-40. | Tomorrow: Mostly cloudy, 20% chance of showers. 50-55. | A Look Ahead | Get Express Forecast by E-mail
FORECAST IN DETAIL
Our active weather pattern eases a little as we'll have a mostly dry work week for the first time in about a month. We'll also have a couple of semi-mild days before cold air makes a return Wednesday. The cold air will last through the weekend when the precipitation outlook is a little more uncertain.
Today (Monday): After some morning fog and low clouds, partial sunshine should gradually emerge by mid-to-late morning. North and west of D.C., watch out for black ice early this morning, especially on elevated surfaces (bridges, overpasses and ramps). By afternoon temperatures moderate from the low-to-mid 30s for the morning commute to around 50 or so in the afternoon. Winds will be light. Confidence: Medium-High
Tonight: Clouds increase ahead of the next cold front. The clouds and winds from the south will keep overnight lows from falling too far, only dipping to the upper 30s to around 40 (suburbs to city). Confidence: Medium
Keep reading for the forecast through the weekend...
Tomorrow (Tuesday): A cold front brings mostly cloudy skies and just a slight (20%) chance of a shower. Southerly winds out ahead of the front will give us one more mild day, with highs 50-55. During the afternoon winds will switch around to out of the north. Confidence: Medium-High
Tomorrow Night: Clearing and colder tomorrow night, with lows in the upper 20s in the colder suburbs to around freezing downtown. It will also be breezy with a wind from the north at 10-15 mph. Confidence: Medium-High
Cold high pressure settles in Wednesday through Friday providing us with partly to mostly sunny days and mostly clear nights. Highs each day will be in the low 40s with overnight lows ranging from the low 20s in the colder suburbs to the upper 20s downtown. Confidence: Medium-High
It remains chilly over the weekend as some reinforcing shots of cold air drop southward, possibly (30% chance) accompanied by some snow showers or flurries. We'll also have to watch to see if any coastal storminess develops, but that's a low probability at this point. Highs both days should be around 40 with overnight lows in the 20s. Confidence: Low-Medium
By
Jason Samenow
| December 14, 2009; 11:00 AM ET
Categories:
Forecasts
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Posted by: Kevin-CapitalWeatherGang | December 14, 2009 6:14 AM | Report abuse
Can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to this dry week.
We really need the drying days.
Posted by: ThinkSpring | December 14, 2009 11:34 AM | Report abuse
The Weather Channel is advertising the "possibility" of a significant coastal storm this weekend. They were very specific indicating that some models show it going out to sea and other showing it tracking up off the coast. Thoughts as of noon?
Posted by: stinkerflat1 | December 14, 2009 11:53 AM | Report abuse
The cold air comes in; it gets dry...by the time moisture returns, so does the warm-air advection; thus we get a nasty, raw rain in place of the snowstorm we're all looking for.
@stinkerflat1, The advance charts for next Sunday show a rather complex frontal storm system developing to our south and southwest. This feature could conceivably spin up a "coastal" [probably Miller B type] somewhere off the Carolinas; where it heads is anyone's guess at this time, but expect the models to waffle on the storm track & intensity in the next few days. Meanwhile it will be nice to have a few dry days in the interim...
Posted by: Bombo47jea | December 14, 2009 12:56 PM | Report abuse
Henry's blog on Accuweather has talk of a possible coastal storm as well. The NAO is in the tank and the GFS is showing a coastal storm developing on Sunday. But right now, he said its too far out into the future.
Posted by: NoVAredsox | December 14, 2009 1:55 PM | Report abuse
Didn't Accuweather suggest something for this week too? What happened to that?
Posted by: authorofpoetry | December 14, 2009 2:51 PM | Report abuse
This morning in Burke VA, there was a very thin sheet of ice on every surface. At the same time, the air was foggy. Ignoring that fact that these conditions could conceivably be called "frog," I don't recall seeing anything like freezing fog happen very often.
Seems like you would have to have cold ground, saturated air, and warm air aloft to prevent outright precipitation.
Posted by: ennepe68 | December 14, 2009 2:54 PM | Report abuse
Beware the Pogonip
Posted by: Havoc737 | December 14, 2009 3:12 PM | Report abuse
@ authorofpoetry
Exactly. When I think of Henry M., I picture a carnival barker.
If I remember correctly, this "storm" that he had predicted for mid-week this week, brought "tears to his eyes".
LOL
Posted by: ThinkSpring | December 14, 2009 3:25 PM | Report abuse
ThinkSpring - I know! I was running around telling my wife and co-workers about the 'big one.' Wow do I look like an idiot!
Posted by: authorofpoetry | December 14, 2009 3:33 PM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.
Special Weather Statement for Fairfax, VA
Issued by The National Weather Service
Baltimore/Washington, MD
4:39 am EST, Mon., Dec. 14, 2009
... POSSIBLE ICY SPOTS ON AREA ROADWAYS...
TEMPERATURES ARE NEAR OR BELOW FREEZING AT MANY LOCATIONS IN NORTHERN VIRGINIA AND CENTRAL MARYLAND. WITH WET ROADWAYS ACROSS THE AREA... SLICK AND ICY SPOTS ARE POSSIBLE THIS MORNING. MOTORISTS ARE URGED TO USE EXTREME CAUTION... REDUCE SPEED... AND AVOID QUICK CHANGES IN SPEED OR DIRECTION. TEMPERATURES SHOULD RISE ABOVE FREEZING BY 900 AM EST... ENDING THE THREAT FOR WATER FREEZING ON THE ROADWAYS.