October Winds Down

Trick or Treat Outlook: Scroll down to Matt's post for the evening forecast.

Now

Sunny, mild. As October winds down to Halloween under some scattered high clouds, temperatures in the Washington metro area have reached the low to mid 70s by mid afternoon today. Some showers ahead of an approaching cold front are possible tonight, but they are most likely after the witching hour of midnight.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Warm, chance of showers late. Clouds will increase after midnight tonight with low temperatures in the low to mid 50s. The chance of showers by morning is around 20%. Skies will be variably cloudy tomorrow with a slight chance of showers and highs near 69°.

For the outlook through the rest of the week and into the weekend, scroll down to Jason's post below.

This October's average wind speed is about 10% below the long-term average of 8.8 mph, but the chart shows that there have been several more extreme events at roughly one week intervals, culminating with the 48 mph gust from the west-northwest on Saturday.

Political Science and Mediarology: Stern Warning

Today's WaPo has an article on Page A18 which reports on a British Government study directed by Sir Nicholas Stern analyzing the potential economic damage from global warming. The impact is estimated to range from 5 to 20 percent. An accompanying article notes that, despite a wider political spectrum than in the U.S., there is a strong consensus for climate change action in Britain, with the 3 major parties each accusing the others of not being active enough on the issue. By contrast, the WaPo yesterday editorialized ("Changing Climate on Climate") on the continued inaction of the current administration on climate change.

According to the NYT, residents of the Bangor, Maine, area are unlikely to see this news on TV. The general manager of the ABC and Fox stations WVII and WFVX (both under the same ownership) is quoted as issuing a stern warning prohibiting the stations, which recently began broadcasting previously taped versions of the 11:00 news, from covering global warming. When "Bar Harbor is underwater, then we can do global warming stories," he said.