DC Dryness Continues March is Second Consecutive Dry Month

Following a record dry February in Washington, 0.5" of precipitation fell the first 2 days of March, but the trend has been downhill from there. With only a week and a half left in the month, the total so far of 0.87" is a little above the record dry March of 1910 (0.57"). For the months of February and March together, however, the total to date of 1.22" is barely half of the record low 2-month total set in 1947. Over 1" of precipitation needs to fall in the next 11 days in order to avoid setting a new record. As of now, the best chance of precipitation appears to be only a 30% chance of showers toward the end of next week.

Image: CapitalClimate chart from NWS data, background photo © Kevin Ambrose

Here Comes the Sun . . . Al Gore is Still Fat!

The Best Al Gore Rejoinder Award should go to a comment at Deltoid's Shorter Heartland Conference Bad Medicine Show post:

Al Gore is fat. And, it's the sun

It seems to me that we could easily solve this whole problem just by using Al Gore to block out the sun.

Your Bonus Cancelled? No Problem Get Bailout Cash for Home Energy Efficiency Improvements

CNBC video aired Wednesday morning surveys the opportunities for tax savings with home energy efficiency:

See also:

• Energy Star (EPA)
  
• Tax Incentives Assistance Project (TIAP)
  
• DSIRE (Database of State Incentives)

Disclaimer: The Climate Capitalist owns stock in General Electric, parent of CNBC

Record Warm St. Patrick's Day in Midwest

Update: Another 84 new high records were set, and 59 were tied, on the 18th.

Original post:
Temperatures reaching the low 70s as far north as southern Wisconsin and southwestern Michigan set or tied long-term daily maximum temperature records for March 17 across several Midwest states. The Downtown Kansas City Airport tied the record of 82° set in 1894. Other record readings in Missouri were reported at Joplin, St. Joseph, Columbia, and the Kansas City International Airport. Stations in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, and Wisconsin also contributed to the total of 11 record reports. Including cooperative reporting stations, 53 daily temperature records were tied or set across the entire U.S.

Images (click to enlarge): Daily high temperatures for March 17 from Unisys, March 17 high temperature records tied or set from National Climatic Data Center