Approaching August Averages

Now

Sunny, warm, less humid. Behind a weak cold front which has now moved off the Mid Atlantic coast, conditions are much more pleasant today than the weekend's sauna, which saw dewpoints at times above 75°. Temperatures this afternoon in the upper 80s (87° at 5pm at both National and Dulles) are near or a little above seasonable averages, and dewpoints are generally in the low 60s. Radar is clear in all directions for several hundred miles.

Tonight and Tomorrow

Partly cloudy, warm. Lows tonight under partly cloudy skies will range from the upper 60s downtown to the low 60s in the cooler 'burbs. A more easterly wind direction tomorrow creates some problems with the temperature forecast, but as of now the models are virtually unanimous in keeping skies mainly sunny, so highs should range from 83-88° with only a little more humidity. (Yes, I do hesitate to depart from Jason's always excellent forecast, but I also have some good company on this.)

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

Tropical Topics

The National Hurricane Center is watching a tropical wave in the eastern Atlantic, about 800 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands. It could possibly develop slowly during the next couple of days.

Mediarology

The PBS science series NOVA commemorates the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by rebroadcasting its excellent program, "Storm That Drowned a City". Check your local listings, but it's scheduled for 8pm tomorrow on WETA 26 and WMPT 22. The chart to the right, from pbs.org, shows the extent of the Katrina flooding by superimposing the blue-outlined area, from White Oak nearly to Tyson's Corner and southeast to Oxon Hill, on a map of the DC metro region.

As Jason noted yesterday, weather got almost as much attention as the play action at Saturday night's Redskins-Ravens game. Congratulations to WUSA-9's Howard Bernstein on his excellent coverage of the event. Tune in here at CapitalWeather.com on game days for the SkinsCast.