Scattered Showers Still Somewhat Spotty

** Severe Thunderstorm Watch in Effect Until 11 PM **

Now

Warm, humid, scattered thunderstorms. Ahead of a cold front moving slowly but steadily southeastward from the Great Lakes, showers and storms have been fairly widely scattered across the Washington metro area this afternoon. National had a light thunderstorm early this afternoon, but total rainfall was a pitiful 0.02". The brief shower at Dulles was good for only 0.01". One or two more lines of storms are likely to bring rain and thunder to at least some parts of the metro area through the evening and possibly into the morning hours; a few storms could be severe. Cooler temperatures will arrive tomorrow in time for a more pleasant weekend.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Evening storms likely, gradually cooler and less humid. Showers and thunderstorms will be scattered through the region (60% chance at any given location) through this evening and possibly into the overnight hours. Otherwise, warm and humid conditions will continue for the rest of tonight with lows 69-75°. Considerable clouds and showers tomorrow morning could linger into the afternoon, though some clearing is possible by late afternoon. Highs will be 80-84° with gradually decreasing humidity.

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

Rainfall Review

In marked contrast to exactly a year ago, when torrential rains caused a state of emergency to be declared, yesterday's showers were extremely spotty through the metro region. Even the small area of dark blue in western MoCo on the NWS precipitation analysis map to the right represents 0.5" or less. As has frequently been the case recently, areas from northeast of Baltimore to above the Mason-Dixon line have received much more generous amounts. In the latest weekly drought report, the metro region is in the Moderate Drought range on the Long Term Palmer Index.

Tropical Topics

A tropical wave is producing showers across the Bahamas and portions of Florida. Any development is expected to be slow as the system moves northwestward, but locally heavy rains are likely.