Warming Washington, Wandering Wilma

After yesterday's high of 68 and a low this morning of 53, temperatures this afternoon in the Washington DC metro area are well into the upper 60s under bright sunny skies. This is likely to be the 15th day so far this month with temperatures at or above normal. The first half of the month has averaged almost 5 degrees above the long-term normal. I turned on my heat for the first time last night, probably the latest I've ever done so as a homeowner.

Tonight and Tomorrow

With diminishing winds and clear skies tonight, lows should be in the low 50s inside the Beltway and in the 40s in the outlying areas. Tomorrow will again be sunny and dry with highs around 75.

Tropical Beat

At 5am this morning, TD 24 became Tropical Storm Wilma. This is only the second time in over 150 years that 21 storms of tropical storm strength or higher have occurred in a single season. Wilma is only 2 days short of beating by a month the development of the previous 21st storm on Nov. 15, 1933. Wilma has also already exceeded the strength of that 1933 storm, which only reached minimal tropical storm strength of 35 kt (40 mph). At 2pm, maximum sustained winds were 50 mph; strengthening to a hurricane is expected. The storm has drifted southward recently, but a more westerly and eventually northwesterly track is expected. There is huge uncertainty in the path at this point, however.

Media Matters

The Weather Channel has begun running ads for the Weather Man movie starring Nicolas Cage as a Chicago TV weatherman whose "personal life is in complete disarray." The movie opens next Friday.

Tony Perkins will appear exclusively on Fox 5 when he returns to Washington, not on other Fox outlets as well, according to the dcrtv blog.

Also from dcrtv is the news that Comcast in the Baltimore area will be carrying the Channel 11 (WBAL) digital weather channel "11 Insta-Weather Plus".