Delightful

5:10 Update

Tropical Depression 12 has formed over the Bahamas, and a tropical storm warning has been issued for the central and northwest Bahamas. The National Hurricane Center expects further strengthening, and tropical storm or hurricane watches may be issued for portions of southern Florida tonight. The forecast track takes the storm across southern Florida into the Gulf, where further strengthening to hurricane force is possible. When and if it's named, it will be Katrina.

5:00 Update

It's not often that you hear the word "delightful" applied to Washington DC August weather, but that's the term of art for today. With a sky marred only slightly by a broken layer of clouds at 25,000 feet, temperatures are in the low to mid 80s, and dewpoints are mainly in the 50s. The cold front which pushed through here has hung around to the south, bringing the kind of gloomy Tuesday to that area which we had the last couple of weeks. Radar at mid afternoon showed showers from just south of Ocean City southwestward back across the lower Chesapeake Bay and Tidewater Virginia. Norfolk, Newport News, and Langley AFB were all reporting light rain and temperatures of 75-77 at 3pm.

Outlook

For tonight, partly cloudy skies will be accompanied by temperatures in the mid to upper 60s. Tomorrow should be very similar to today: partly cloudy, comfortable humidity, and high temperatures near 83.

Tropical Topics

If you blinked, you missed Jose, which developed just off the Mexican Gulf coast and moved inland early today. It was already dissipating this morning about 70 miles from Mexico City, and advisories have been discontinued.

A "Special Tropical Disturbance Statement" was issued for the area in the southeastern Bahamas which was at least indirectly related to what was once T.D. 10. Advisories are beginning at 5pm; we'll post an update when something is issued.

The low which is now 650 nm west of the Cape Verde Islands continues moving west. Conditions are marginally favorable for development.

Extreme Makeover: Weather Channel Edition

An alert reader sent us a link to a Harper's Magazine article titled, "It's Going to Be a Hot One". This is a transcript of "a presentation given by Terry Connelly, senior vice president of Programming and Productivity, to female on-camera meteorologists (OCMs) at The Weather Channel in August 2003." Citing the example of Daryn Kagan of CNN "wearing a short black skirt with a slit up the side", he concludes that the "boundaries that we've set for ourselves shouldn't be there." The quotation ends with "Do you want to look old? That's what happens when you don't smile. And have a big nose." I guess this explains the exotic outfits and huge earrings Alexandra Steele has been wearing with all the goofy grinning and happy talk on the new version of Evening Edition.