A low pressure area moving northeastward from Oklahoma toward the Great Lakes on this afternoon's weather map will keep us in the warm temperatures for a couple more days until the colder air behind it brings some of the chilliest (no, not "silliest", Spell-Check!) readings of the season for the weekend. After that, some type of storm activity is likely to develop along the front to the south, but nothing major is showing up yet. We'll be keeping an eye on it as usual in the days ahead. (Even though the PM Update will be taking a "non-snow" day tomorrow, we'll still be watching while we catch up on some other projects.)
Surface weather map at 1pm today from HPC/NWS/NOAA
Tonight and Tomorrow
For tonight, lows will be near 40 in the city to the mid 30s in the 'burbs under scattered to broken clouds. Tomorrow's highs will be near 60 with some scattered clouds.
Budget Blues
Yesterday's WaPo Federal Diary reports that budget cuts are prompting the National Weather Service to offer early retirement to about 1000 employees. Based on past experience, only 50 are likely to volunteer, but naturally such a program impacts the areas with the most experience. The St. Petersburg Times points out that 13 out of 42, or 30%, of the staff members at the National Hurricane Center are eligible. This has prompted Florida Senator Bill Nelson to say,
"That's the most ridiculous budgetary policy decision I've ever heard, when you're dealing with a matter of life and death, of inbound hurricanes."