Hot Shot

Now

Hot, humid. It's a two-fer in the Washington metro area today as the proverbial mercury reached 90° for the second day in a row by early this afternoon, hitting at least 94° at both National and Dulles. At Dulles, this ties the record for the date set just last year. This is the first time this season we've had consecutive 90° days. From the sun-drenched patio of Update Central here in west-central MoCo, the remote readout is a bit too enthusiastic in displaying triple digits, but the official reporting stations at Culpeper and Frederick registered 97°.

Humidity, while not oppressive, is somewhat more noticeable than yesterday with dewpoints rising from the mid 50s to the low and mid 60s (afternoon relative humidity around 35%). Some scattered thunderstorms have popped up near Winchester and also further south towards Charlottesville.

Hot and muggy conditions will prevail through tomorrow as a nearly-stationary cold front lurks around the "back door" (along the Mason-Dixon line). Cooler temperatures will await the arrival of a cold front from the west on Wednesday.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Muggy. There is a slight chance of widely scattered thunderstorms through this evening, especially to the west. It will be warm and muggy tonight with lows in the low 70s downtown to some upper 60s in the 'burbs. Tomorrow will be hot and humid with a 30% chance of thunderstorms late in the day or at night and highs 91-96°.

For the outlook through the rest of the week, scroll on down to Jason's post below.

Mediarology

Congratulations to WTTG Channel 5's Sue Palka, who won the local Emmy award on Saturday for best weathercaster. This is the second time in recent years that Sue has collected the trophy. She also won in 2005. Among its total of 16 Emmys, the station also won the spot news award for coverage of tropical storm Ernesto.

Climate Corner

Despite some teething troubles, the authoritative British journal "Nature" has formally launched its "Nature Reports Climate Change", including sections for latest news and blogs. An introduction to Vol. 1 calls for "An end to hot air" on the subject.