Strong southerly flow ahead of a strong low pressure area over the western Great Lakes brought balmy temperatures to the entire East Coast this afternoon. Readings in the 60s and even the 70s reached well into northern New England. Here in the Washington DC metro area, the month is ending on an up note with widespread upper 70s. 
Showers out ahead of the cold front extending southward from the low were just reaching the outskirts of Pittsburgh and the northern West Virginia panhandle around 4pm. By 5pm, a first wave of showers had ended at Pittsburgh with less than 0.10" of rainfall; Morgantown WV reported a trace. A few of these showers may make it over the mountains into the metro area overnight, but the focus of upper-level energy will remain near or to the north of the Great Lakes.Tonight and Tomorrow
Clouds will increase this evening with a 40% chance of showers in the late evening or early morning and lows near 56. Tomorrow will see a chance of showers in the morning and decreasing clouds in the afternoon, highs near 70.
"Parched March"
Today's WaPo has an article "After a Parched March, Water Worries Percolate" discussing the developing drought situation in the area. One item not mentioned is that a scan of the records indicates that if the current total holds through midnight, this month would join only 3 other months in 135 years of Washington records with less than 0.10" of precipitation. The others were April 1985 (0.03"), October 2000 (0.02") and October 1963 (trace).
It's Definitely, Delightfully spring in the Washington DC metro area this afternoon, but the Drought continues into a 6th week. Southerly flow from a large high pressure area sliding off the Atlantic coast brought spring conditions as far north as southern Canada. In Farmington, Maine, a sure sign of the season is the return of the 
Skies will remain clear to partly cloudy through tomorrow afternoon with lows in the upper 40s and highs in the mid 70s. Clouds will increase later in the day tomorrow with only a slight chance of showers before midnight to close out the probable record-breaking month.
The drought continues in the Washington DC metro area this afternoon. Scattered showers, a few with moderate rain, were mostly confined to the mountains of West Virginia at mid afternoon. A few very widely scattered showers had made their way along and east of I-81, but they were all south of I-66. They were heading to the northeast, but the easternmost ones seemed to be drying out as they got nearer to I-95. Charlottesville reported light rain at 3pm which lasted less than 20 minutes, and the amount was a trace. Sunshine through a broken high overcast was enough to push temperatures into the low 60s at most metro area locations.
Unless a downpour parks itself directly over the official rain bucket tonight, we are well on our way to breaking the record for driest March by a margin of over ½". This raises the interesting question of the connection between temperature and precipitation in March. Is a dry March warm because it has more sunshine, or is it dry because there is more cold, dry northwesterly flow? 
(Thank you, 
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