The "M" Word

Update: Thunderstorms with heavy rain and lightning to affect immediate area between 8 and 11pm tonight

We haven't had use for the "m word" around here for a while, but as Camden noted earlier, temperatures and humidities are both up this afternoon in the Washington DC metro area. Temperatures jumped by as much as 6 degrees from 2pm to 3pm, approaching or exceeding 70 in most places, while 81 was posted at several locations on the southern fringe of the region. By 4pm, upper 70s were widespread.

Showers which moved through this morning are now well off to the north and east of the area. The rainfall total was around 0.10". There's still a chance for a few showers to break out through this evening, but a better chance late tonight and tomorrow. At post time, a few heavy showers were sprouting around the northern Shenandoah Valley.

Latest surface weather map from IntelliWeather. Subtract 4 hours from time shown for EDT.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Clouds will increase tonight with lows in the mid to upper 50s and a 70% chance of showers by morning. Temperatures will remain nearly steady or falling slowly in the mid 50s during the day tomorrow with rain likely through mid afternoon.

Political Science

"Muzzle" was the word in a WaPo Federal Page story yesterday titled, "Climate Researchers Feeling Heat From White House". This was a follow-up to earlier stories on the Administration censoring reports, interfering with press access, and otherwise limiting the distribution of climate research results at NASA and NOAA. (If this sort of thing is going on in the physical sciences, it kind of makes one wonder about some of the less scientific statistics coming out of Washington, doesn't it?)

"Majority (veto-proof)" was the word in Maryland. In the face of large majorities in the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates, Gov. Ehrlich signed the Healthy Air Act yesterday. Besides requiring reductions in pollution from coal-fired power plants, the bill joins Maryland with 7 other northeastern states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Along with the WaPo, the bill was covered in the Baltimore Sun ("Md. enacts law to cut power plant emissions"), New York Times ("Pollution Pact Gets Maryland as 8th Member"), and Associated Press ("Md. Governor Signs Air Pollution Bill").