Warm and Humid; Beryl Brushing By Beantown

Now

Warm and humid conditions prevail throughout the Washington metro area this afternoon. Temperatures at mid afternoon were in the upper 80s to 90° and dewpoints were mainly in the low 70s. National Airport claimed to have light rain at 3pm, but it was virtually undetectable on radar.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Warm and humid: Tonight will be warm and humid, with a slight chance of a passing shower or thunderstorm through this evening and lows in the mid 70s. Tomorrow will be (wait for it . . . ) warm and humid! (Hey, it's July in DC, folks.) Highs should be close to where they were today; that means right 'round the upper 80s in most parts. The chance of thunderstorms is 40%.

For the chances of improvement in the short and medium range, see Larson's Long-Range below.

Tropical Topics

Tropical Storm Beryl is moving toward the northeast with maximum winds of 50 mph (down from 60) late this afternoon; some further weakening is expected. At 5pm it was about 150 miles southwest of Nantucket on a track which is likely to just brush the southeastern coast of Massachusetts. Radar shows some showers over central and eastern Long Island and the outer portion of Cape Cod.

Non-stop breathless coverage of this relatively minor event from Cantore & Co., complete with tourists on cellphones waving in the background, is predicted for TWC.

No-AC DC

Most sane people will find this very hard to believe, but there are some otherwise normal-looking residents of the DC area who actually dislike air conditioning. The WaPo profiles this phenomenon in today's Home section.

Britain Bacon

The Guardian newspaper reports that Britain was "bacon" along with much of Europe under record heat yesterday. The reading of 36.3° C (97.3° F) at Charlwood (near Gatwick) broke the national all-time July record of 36° C set in 1911. The new record was in turn surpassed by 97.7° F at Wisley in Surrey.

Photo of a pedigree Berkshire pig keeping cool in Worcester, England, from Guardian Unlimited.