Here Comes the Sun? Not YetShower chances shift to tonight and tomorrow

Now

Cloudy, very warm, humid. Brisk southerly breezes have pushed temperatures to 80 or above for the 15th time this month, despite persistent overcast skies. By 4pm, National was 81°, although Dulles was only 79°. Dewpoints are in the noticeably humid range of the low 60s. In the much-sought precipitation department, radar shows only the most isolated activity east of the mountains. Fortunately, some areas of the Southeast which need the precipitation even more than we do have been getting some pretty good rainfall amounts.

The surface weather map at 4:09 this afternoon from The Weather Channel shows precipitation bypassing the Mid Atlantic region to the north and west.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Mostly cloudy, warm, chance of showers. Tonight will be mostly cloudy and humid with a 40% chance of showers, mainly after 8 p.m., and lows in the mid to upper 60s. Mostly cloudy skies will continue through tomorrow with a 40% chance of showers and highs 68-74°.

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

Climate Corner

A tip of the rabbit ears to the Professor for a pointer to a new paper appearing this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The to-be-published results have some bad news on the efficiency of CO₂ removal from the atmosphere:

This study finds that the recent swift increase in atmospheric CO₂ is due to faster economic growth coupled with a halt in carbon intensity reductions, in addition to natural sinks removing a smaller proportion of emissions from the air. Efficiency of natural sinks to remove emissions from human activities has been declining for 50 years.

Mediarology

The PBS NOVA science series is reviewing solar energy tonight in an episode entitled, Saved by the Sun (originally broadcast on April 24). Showtime is 8pm on WETA 26 and WMPT 22.

Political Science

The Hill Heat blog has a review of the Warner-Lieberman climate legislation and a comparison with competing proposals. The bill known as the America's Climate Security Act has been endorsed by the National Environmental Trust as well as the utility company PG&E.