Improvement Continuing

Now

Decreasing humidity. Although the cold front which brought yesterday's rain moved through the area in the early morning hours, clouds behind the front were slow in clearing out. Nevertheless, temperatures this afternoon have rebounded to the upper 70s with decreasing humidity. National Airport bumped up to 80° at the 5:00 report.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Comfortable conditions. Skies will continue to clear tonight with very comfortable temperatures and low humidity. Temperatures in the low to mid 60s inside the Beltway could very well reach some mid 50s in the coolest 'burbs. Tomorrow will be sunny and dry with a few scattered clouds and highs in the low 80s.

For the extended outlook, see Josh's post below.

Summer Storms Summary

Local utilities are still struggling to catch up with the damage caused by the most recent round of storms which dropped heavy rains on already saturated ground. The NWS precipitation analysis for the 24 hours ending at 8am today shows rainfall coverage throughout the local region, but there was a wide range of amounts. Within about a 50 mile radius of the District, amounts were as low as under 0.50" (blue) to over 3" (red-orange).

There were three distinct "stripes" of heavy rain (yellow/orange/red) running generally towards the east-northeast; the heaviest amounts were well south of the Washington metro area, from near Richmond across the lower Chesapeake Bay and into the Maryland and Virginia Eastern Shore.

Climate Corner (Continued)

Today's WaPo has an editorial on the subject of "Acid Oceans", which we mentioned yesterday. News articles on the ocean acidity study published yesterday have also appeared in:

• San Francisco Chronicle
  
• Boston Globe (AP)
  
• USA Today
  
• St. Petersburg Times
  
• Anchorage Daily News
  
• Discovery Channel News
  

Tropical Topics

The tropics remain quiet.