August Anniversary Approaches

Now

Warm, a bit more humid. Temperatures in the upper 80s this afternoon are similar to those of yesterday here in the Washington metro area, but dewpoints have crept up from the upper 50s to the low and even mid 60s. Depending on your personal tolerance of humidity, you may need AC tonight even if you had it off last night. Regional radar is very dry, except for some scattered storms southwest of Richmond.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Similar to today. Lows tonight will be near 70 in the warmer urban areas to the mid 60s in the cooler 'burbs. Tomorrow will be a lot like today, but with slightly higher humidity, highs in the upper 80s.

Scroll down to Jason's post below for the outlook through the weekend.

Tropical Topics

Tropical Depression 4 was moving west-northwestward today at longitude 27.5W, away from the Cape Verde Islands. Its maximum sustained winds of 35 mph late this afternoon were only a little below tropical storm strength, which it is expected to reach "very soon." If it does become named, it will be called Debby.

The Weather Channel presented some statistics last night on storms which become named east of longitude 35W. Of those 34 storms in the last 20 years, only 4 reached landfall in the U.S., but several (perhaps all; I'm quoting from memory here) were major, including 2004's Ivan.

Broadcast News

The second part (acts III and IV) of Spike Lee's documentary on Katrina, "When the Levees Broke" is on HBO at 9 tonight. If you missed the first half last night, the entire 4 hours will be rebroadcast next Tuesday, the anniversary of Katrina, at 8pm. The program was previewed in yesterday's WaPo.

The Discovery Channel is presenting "Surviving Katrina" on Sunday at 9pm.

This is also Katrina Week on The Weather Channel, with various Storm Stories and other documentary features.

Photo of director Spike Lee from AP, via washingtonpost.com