And now for something completely different . . .

Currently

Spring is back after a brief taste of summer. A cold front passed through the Washington metro area around 5am this morning, and temperatures continued to drop through the morning hours, generally to the low or mid 60's around noon. Dulles was only 61 at noon, over 20 degrees cooler than yesterday at the same time. An area of showers which moved in from central Maryland in late morning has hung around most of the area, except for the southeast portion. The Nats played the first several innings this afternoon in a light rain. Under persistent cloudiness and northeasterly winds, temperatures will have trouble making it to the historical average high for today's date of 68. Today happens to be the latest date in April which has never reached 90 degrees, although interestingly May 2 has also never exceeded 89.

Outlook

With continuing cloudiness tonight, temperatures will drop to near 50. Highs tomorrow will be in the low 60's at best. As Josh describes below, the reversal of seasons continues as another front moves in with even colder air over the weekend.

Blog Log

RealClimate, "a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists", has a new post on the relationship between ozone depletion and global warming. This is one of the most common areas of misconception in the public view of climate issues. Apparently, people have gotten the idea that the Earth is warming because more solar radiation is coming through the ozone hole. In fact, these are two distinct issues. Complicating the discussion, however, is the fact that there is some connection between them that affects the possible actions to deal with these two separate problems.