Feel of Fall

Now

Breezy, cool. Northwesterly breezes gusting as high as 25 mph at times have brought a definite fall feel to the Washington DC metro area this afternoon. With the sun impeded by the clouds associated with the large upper-level trough which helped bring the cold front through the area yesterday, temperatures are having a hard time reaching 70°. The highest official hourly reading has been 69° at 2pm, after which scattered clouds gave way to a broken overcast and a temperature drop of 3°. The fall crispness is especially noticeable with the dewpoint readings in the low 40s, which are as much as 20° below the level of 24 hours ago. The composite radar image shows virtually no precipitation east of the Rockies, except for some showers enhanced by the eastern Great Lakes and some thunderstorms in southern Florida.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Cool. Winds will diminish somewhat after dark, but persistence of the cloud cover with the trough aloft will prevent low temperatures in many places from reaching the levels which could be implied from the low dewpoints. Lows should range from the low 50s downtown to the upper 40s outside the Beltway. Tomorrow will be partly cloudy, less windy, and cool with highs around 70°.

For the outlook through Friday and the weekend, scroll down to Dan's post below.

Tropical Topics

After giving a quick hit to the Azores, Tropical Storm Gordon has weakened, although it still maintained its tropical characteristics this morning; peak winds were 60 mph. It is becoming extratropical after a journey of almost 10 days through the Atlantic. Maximum winds are now 50 mph; the last tropical advisory was issued at 5pm.

Hurricane Helene weakened slightly to 105 mph this morning. The storm has begun a northward turn, moving northwest at 9 mph. It is still expected to remain east of longitude 60W. Its strength, large size, and persistence in the central Atlantic, however, have caused swells to increase along the East Coast.

Potentially the next tropical system is a large wave with strong showers and thunderstorms several hundred miles southwest of the Cape Verde Islands.