Some Pain Leads to Weekend Gain

Now

Cloudy, cool. A stationary front nearby to the south and an easterly breeze have kept temperatures struggling to break the 60° mark in the Washington metro area this afternoon. Showers and sprinkles have been very widely scattered, with only a trace officially reported. By late afternoon, the leading edge of a widespread area of rain had just reached the southern portion of the Virginia/West Virginia border. Showers are more likely overnight and part of Friday, leading up to a nice weekend.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Cloudy, cool, showers likely. Tonight will be mostly cloudy with showers or thunderstorms likely and lows in the low to mid 50s. Showers or thunderstorms will become less frequent by tomorow evening. Highs will be 69-72°.

For the outlook through the weekend and beyond with Larson's Long-Range, scroll on down to Josh's post below.

P/E Ratio Revisited

As we noted last fall, there was a tendency in 2006 for above-average precipitation to occur in a fewer than average number of events. That pattern has been repeated this month: The total rainfall is already over 40% above the long-term average, but only 7 days so far have had measurable precipitation, compared with an April average of 9.6. The bulk of this month's precipitation was the 2.55" which fell in 24 hours on the 14th-15th, and there has been no measurable amount since.

CapitalWeather.com chart from NWS data, photo © Kevin Ambrose

Programming Note: PM Update will be taking off tomorrow through next week. Behave yourselves until we get back.