Inauguration Weather Update: Cold, Mainly Dry

The latest extended outlook from the Climate Prediction Center, for the 6-10 day period Jan. 19-23, continues to call for cold temperatures in the Washington, DC area. Probabilities are 50%+ for below-average temperatures through nearly the entire East Coast.

Precipitation chances are 33-40% for below-average amounts.

Cold Arctic air making its way toward the East Coast on Wednesday will persist at least through the weekend before Inauguration Day. After highs in the low 30s tomorrow, temperatures are likely to remain below freezing through Saturday, with only a little moderation into the early part of next week. This means that highs on Inauguration Day are likely to be in the low to mid 30s.

Current indications are that the chance of precipitation will be low, less than 30%, on January 20.

Today's temperatures (preliminary):
High 38
Low 29
Departure from average: -1
Month to date: +0.6

Precipitation:
Today 0"
Month to date 2.02"
Departure from average +0.65"
Days with measurable accumulation: 4 out of 13

Click here for all Inauguration Weather posts.

Images, top to bottom (click to enlarge):
6-10 day temperature,
6-10 day precipitation forecasts from Climate Prediction Center/National Weather Service/NOAA;
GFS model output map for sea level pressure, 1000-500 mb thickness, and precipitation, 7 am, January 20, 2009, from NCEP/NWS/NOAA