Lazy Hazy Daze

Now

Haze and clouds have limited some close-in locations to the upper 80s this afternoon, but outlying places such as Leesburg (91°) and Frederick (93°) have exceeded the 90° mark. Even Momma Nature's kitchen was feeling lazy, cooking up only a few scattered thundershowers in the mountains of West Virginia.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Tonight will continue warm and humid with lows in the low to mid 70s. Tomorrow will be similar to today, but a degree or two warmer in most places; highs should be 89° to 92&deg. The chance of afternoon or evening thunderstorms is 35%.

For the extended outlook through the weekend, see Jason's post below.

Thunderstats

With the year only a little more than half over, Washington is already close to the long-term annual average of 30.6 thunderstorm days. The 3 thunderstorms in January were followed by 1 in February and none in the extremely dry March, but the pace picked up again through the rest of the spring and early summer. June's total of 12 was double the average of 5.9, and we have had 2 thunderstorms (the 2nd and 4th) so far in July vs. the average of 6.5.

In the continuing aftermath of the recent flooding rains, the IRS announced today that the headquarters building on Constitution Ave. will be at least partially closed until January for repairs. Three million gallons of water flooded the building's basement and sub-basement, destroying air-conditioning and electrical equipment.

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

Climate Comments

Today's WaPo editorial, "A Sorry Record", comments on federal government policies for promoting greenhouse gas reductions. It concludes that

. . . the longer this country goes without action, the more difficult will be the reductions necessary to help prevent an environmental catastrophe.