Forecast: Beautiful today, cooler this weekend
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Today: Sunny. 72-76. | Tonight: Clear. 51-57. | Tomorrow: Increasing clouds, isolated thundershowers late afternoon. 79-83. | A Look Ahead | Get Express Forecast by E-mail
FORECAST IN DETAIL
By David Streit, CWG Meteorologist
Today will be a picture perfect one: the kind you want to save for those dog days of summer. However, we then embark on a roller coaster ride of weather. It starts tomorrow with a summery day capped by some late-evening thundershowers. Then we dive down to a weekend of much cooler temperatures. Isolated pockets of frost are even possible Sunday morning in the colder suburbs. Finally, we pull into the station with a seasonable day to start the work week on Monday.
Today (Thursday): Thanks to high pressure dominating much of the Eastern U.S., we'll enjoy plenty of sunshine with just a few puffy afternoon clouds. Highs will be very pleasant, reaching the mid-70s, with winds from the west at just 5-10 mph. Confidence: High
Tonight: High pressure holds, meaning mostly clear skies. A light wind from the southwest (at around 5-10 mph) gives us pleasantly mild temperatures, falling into the 60s during the evening with overnight lows 51-57 (suburbs-city). Confidence: High
Keep reading for the forecast through Monday....
Tomorrow (Friday): A cold front crosses the Appalachians midday leading to increasing clouds. But that won't stop temperatures from peaking in the upper 70s to low 80s. Winds from the west should be near 10-15 mph. A shower or thundershower is possible late in the day, but most activity should hold off until the evening and overnight. Confidence: Medium-High
Tomorrow Night: It'll be a warm evening with temperatures falling through the 70s to the upper 60s. Thundershowers are possible through the evening, but most of the action probably won't come through until midnight or a little later. Expect a few brief downpours but nothing too severe. Winds from the west could pick up to near 25 mph in any stronger storms. Lows drop to the mid-to-upper 50s after the storms pass and winds shift to come from the northwest. Confidence: Medium
After a sprinkle or two Saturday morning, look for skies to break by midday with clearing by evening. In the wake of the cold front, highs will struggle to do better than the low-to-mid 60s, made to feel chillier by a brisk wind from the northwest around 10-15 mph. Temperatures will drop quickly through the 50s in the evening. Confidence: Medium-High
Sunday morning will be quite chilly with lows in the upper 30s to low 40s. A few pockets of frost can't be ruled out in the outlying north and west suburbs. Afternoon temperatures recover nicely, though, under mostly sunny skies. Highs should reach the upper 50s to low 60s with winds from the northwest near 5-10 mph. Readings drop into the low-to-mid 50s Sunday evening. Confidence: Medium-High
Monday gets off to a chilly start with morning lows in the upper 30s to mid-40s. Overall, it should be a seasonable day with sunny skies, light winds and highs in the mid-to-upper 60s. Confidence: Medium-High
By
David Streit
| April 15, 2010; 10:30 AM ET
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Posted by: JerryFloyd1 | April 15, 2010 6:06 AM | Report abuse
JerryFloyd1 - yeah SLCB is likely gone till late year. Hope youre not too disappointed. And we'll see about Bob Ryan. Interesting politics behind all of this, I would bet!
Posted by: Camden-CapitalWeatherGang | April 15, 2010 8:06 AM | Report abuse
Camden, I contacted WRC to express my feelings about Ryan's departure in very strong terms and got the standard corporate reply. Like the station is ever going to admit that they made a big, big mistake.
BTW, if you want to see a real howler, check p. 61 (box) in the March/April issue of WeatherWise where someone writing about the December Snowpoc states that Harrisburg, Pa. and Virginia Beach, Va. are less than 100 miles apart and uses this incorrect information to reinforce the point that the December storm was a yin/yang event, etc.
One of the reasons CWG has such a devoted following is you fact check your data and forecasts so carefully and on the very rare occasions when you miss something, it's corrected right away.
In a city of where people (including me, when the flakes start falling) hyperventilate and some folks are constantly calling each other out, it's good to see your team rarely gets excoriated.
Posted by: JerryFloyd1 | April 15, 2010 8:24 AM | Report abuse
Any chance we won't see any rain Friday night? Or at least have it arrive earlier than overnight? I need dry roads on Saturday morning :)
Posted by: snowlover | April 15, 2010 10:34 AM | Report abuse
This might be getting far afield - but could the current volcano eruptions have any consequences for weather on this side of the world?
Posted by: wildwolf45 | April 15, 2010 12:39 PM | Report abuse
If the ash gets high enough to stay suspended, then yes, eventually the volcanic ash can have some long term effects on our weather. Keep in mind that the prevailing winds are generally west to east, and the ash would have a long way to travel to get here.
Posted by: dcawx | April 15, 2010 1:41 PM | Report abuse
Great Day for an outdoor lunchbreak!
Posted by: Brian-CapitalWeatherGang | April 15, 2010 2:06 PM | Report abuse
wildwolf45: Keep in mind that those eruptions with a high concentration of sulfur dioxide (which can cause a sulfuric acid parasol to form in the upper atmosphere) have the greatest likelihood of affecting (cooling) the atmosphere, I think that's what you're referring to.
Don, Capital Weather Gang
Posted by: Weatherguy | April 15, 2010 2:21 PM | Report abuse
@Don & dcawx - That's the kind of info I was looking for. Essentially was wondering if enough ash is pumped out and moved west over Eurasia - could it cool the air enough to make for below average temps by the time it got across the Pacific and continent to here?
Probably not, but this is largest eruption I can recall since St Helens!
Posted by: wildwolf45 | April 15, 2010 2:33 PM | Report abuse
Doug hills van came to my school today
Posted by: snowlover31 | April 15, 2010 5:15 PM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.
If Accuweather's forecast is to be believed, the impending chill will last through the rest of the month, with temps running as much as 10 degrees below normal.
But I grudgingly acknowledge the SLCB is probably "iced" 'til next December. So for now, the focus is on Snovechkin and the Caps and m-a-y-b-e a Cup for Washington.
Good to know that Bob Ryan will be back on the air. I miss watching Bob almost as much as the snow.