Hot and Humid to Cool and Crisp

Now

Variable cloudiness, much cooler. Today's WaPo front page and garden section point out that the 27th consecutive day without measurable precipitation may not be good for water supplies, but abundant sunshine should be helpful for the kickoff tomorrow of the Solar Decathlon on the Mall. Go Terps and 'Tute!

After some popup showers, mainly to the north, accompanying a second cold frontal passage last night, northwesterly winds gusting as high as 25 mph at times have helped keep temperatures generally in the mid 60s this afternoon. After reaching 66° earlier (the same as yesterday's low), National was back down to 63° at 4pm; Dulles and BWI were 62°. The air is also quite dry; dewpoints are as low as the mid 30s.

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

Tonight and Tomorrow

Partly cloudy, cool. Under decreasing clouds, lows tonight will be in the upper 40s to near 50° in the city and the mid 40s in the 'burbs. Tomorrow will be mostly sunny and breezy with highs 65-68°.

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

El Niño Update

The latest El Niño/Southern Oscillation Discussion, released today, indicates that "La Niña will likely continue into early 2008." La Niña conditions strengthened last month in all of the Niño regions with negative sea surface temperatures expanding westward in the equatorial Pacific. Expected impacts of a weak-to-moderate La Niña in the next several months include above average precipitation in the Pacific Northwest and continued below average precipitation in the Southwest. The next update is scheduled for November 8.

Mediaorology

Bob Ryan, a former President of the American Meteorological Society, is the co-author of an important guest editorial in the August Bulletin of the AMS on the subject of climate change and the public. It says, in part,

Increasing numbers of broadcast meteorologists, to whom the public looks for information and guidance on climate change and global warming, are not offering scientific information but rather, all too often, nonscientific personal opinions . . . We strongly believe that, above all, if we are to professionally, fairly, and objectively communicate scientific information (as opposed to a personal or political opinion), we should use our scientific training to stay as informed as possible . . .