Look Out for Fall-ing Temperatures And Heating Bills?

Now

Cloudy, cool. Some sunshine at times filtering through a high overcast (generally over 10,000 ft.) has been enough to push temperatures only to the upper 60s in most of the Washington metro area this afternoon. A few spots, notably Culpeper and Leesburg, have been able to reach the 70° mark or more, however.

Showers, some moderate to heavy at times, have been mainly confined to the Maryland Eastern Shore and Delaware. Salisbury, which reported a heavy thunderstorm around 4:00, has picked up about ¼" of rain so far today. Some showers ahead of an approaching cold front are still possible through this evening in the DC area.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Fewer clouds, cool. The chance of showers tonight, mainly this evening, is 30%. Lows will be in the upper 50s to near 60 downtown. Tomorrow will be partly cloudy most of the day with cloudiness increasing late and highs in the upper 60s with lower humidity. Temperatures tomorrow night will be the coldest so far this season, in the 40s.

For the outlook through the rest of the week, scroll down to Dan's post below.

Winter Heating Outlook

The online USN&WR today has an analysis of home heating bills this winter in light of the official winter weather outlook announced yesterday. The good news for natural gas users: Expected warmer than average temperatures and lower gas prices should reduce bills. The bad news: Your utility probably locked in gas at a much higher price than the current market when supplies were expected to be short because of potential hurricane impacts in the Gulf of Mexico.

Pictured: Man with large heating bill, from WaPo