Extremes and Supremes

Now

Mostly cloudy, warm. A mid to upper level cloud deck and a sun intensity roughly equivalent to Jan. 15 might indicate otherwise, but strong southerly breezes pushed the November closing day temperatures very close to where they started the month in the Washington metro area. Highs were 70° at both National and Dulles; BWI was 71°. Dewpoints were nearly muggy in the spring-like mid and upper 50s.

Radar showed some widely scattered light showers during the afternoon. These were mainly in the mountains, although the PM Update Mobile Unit observed some sprinkles in the Shady Grove area of Rockville/Gaithersburg.

Temperature chart at 3pm today from Unisys shows teens in Oklahoma and 60s along the New England/Canada border.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Showers, continued mild. Mild temperatures will continue through tonight with increasing clouds and a 50% chance of showers by morning; lows will be in the mid to upper 50s. Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy with showers likely and highs in the upper 60s, turning much colder at night. A High Wind Watch is in effect for the afternoon through the evening, and there is a slight chance of thunderstorms.

For the outlook through the weekend and beyond with Larson's Long-Range, scroll down to Josh's post below.

Extremes

Last evening, Seattle broke the all-time monthly precipitation record of 15.33" in 115 years of record. Olympia WA was also threatening its monthly record of 19.84", although so far today the record appears intact.

Supremes

Regarding the EPA CO₂ regulation case heard by the Supreme Court yesterday: The RealClimate blog has links to an editorial in the Tuesday NYT and, for the lawyer types, the actual briefs, pro and con, from the case. The Prometheus science policy blog at the University of Colorado also has a discussion of the friend of the court brief filed by a group of climate scientists. Today's WaPo has an article about yesterday's court arguments (page A3 in the carbon-based edition). Last night's PBS NewsHour had discussions with Marcia Coyle of the National Law Journal and between Vicki Patton and David Rivkin, lawyers on each side of the case.