Still Seeking September's Seasonable Showers in Spectacular Sunshine

Now

Sunny, warmer. It's a perfect day to sneak out early and mow the lawn with your pollution-reducing cordless electric mower, if you have any grass still alive to mow. A northeasterly wind and a slight increase in humidity (dewpoints up to the mid 50s) produced some morning low clouds which held temperatures down until bright blue skies once again appeared. By mid afternoon, temperatures were well into the upper 70s in most locations, and the traditional hot spot of Culpeper was 81°.

The down side, of course, is that much-needed rain is still not in the forecast. National is now below 25% of average precipitation month-to-date and just barely over 75% for the entire year.

CapitalWeather.com chart from NWS data, photo © Kevin Ambrose

Tonight and Tomorrow

Partly cloudy and comfortable. Under partly cloudy skies, lows tonight will range from the low 60s in town to the mid and upper 50s in the 'burbs. Patchy fog is possible in low-lying areas. Some morning clouds tomorrow should give way to abundant sunshine, slightly warmer temperatures, and a little more humidity with highs 78-82°.

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

Tropical Topics

The area of storminess over northern Florida and the adjacent Atlantic continues to show some strength as it drifts westward toward possible further development as a subtropical or tropical cyclone in the next couple of days.

Otherwise, the remnants of Ingrid are still dead.

Weather Biz: CNBC Meets the Weather Channel

Phil Flynn of Alaron Trading and recently-appointed Chief Strategy Officer Paul Walsh of Storm Exchange discussed "Fall Weather Risk" on CNBC's Squawk on the Street this morning. During the segment, the assertion was made that 30% of the economy is subject to weather-related risk.

The Storm Exchange calculates a "sweater index", which is the cumulative total of daily low temperature deviations below 60°. Warm weather in September is considered bad for retail sales because: (1) People have better things to do than shop at the mall, (2) Demand for winter clothes is low. Other indices provided by the Exchange include: the Thanksgiving travel rain delay index and the Labor Day BBQ index.