Fall Fading Fast

Now

Cloudy, cold. As we enter the last 10 days of meteorological autumn, a big southerly dip in the jet stream, accompanying northwesterly breezes at the surface, and a mostly overcast sky have prevented temperatures from breaking 45° in much of the Washington metro area this afternoon. National's high of 46° occurred before 11am, and the high at Dulles was only 43°. Meanwhile, radar shows very widely scattered snow flurries in the mountains of southwestern Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

As the jet stream dip becomes cut off from the main flow, potential holiday travel problems will develop and linger into the end of the week, especially over the Southeast.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Chilly. As clouds break somewhat tonight, lows will be near 34° downtown to the upper 20s in the cooler 'burbs. Tomorrow will be partly cloudy and chilly with highs near 50°.

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

Multimedia

The DVD version of the climate change documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" is being released tomorrow. The DVD is currently ranked #6 in sales at Amazon, where it is being sold at a 43% discount. Extras include commentaries by the director and the producers, a 30-minute update with Al Gore, a "Making of" feature, and a music video by Melissa Etheridge. The packaging is made from 100% recycled materials. A portion of the proceeds from the sales will be used to help support the bipartisan Alliance for Climate Protection.

Also shipping soon is the DVD "Storms of 2006". All of the profits from the sale of this video, a volunteer effort by 55 storm-chasing contributors, will be donated to the American Red Cross disaster relief fund. Last year's edition, "Storms of 2005", was exhibited at the American Meteorological Society national meeting earlier this year.