We haven't had use for the "m word" around here for a while, but as Camden noted earlier, temperatures and humidities are both up this afternoon in the Washington DC metro area. Temperatures jumped by as much as 6 degrees from 2pm to 3pm, approaching or exceeding 70 in most places, while 81 was posted at several locations on the southern fringe of the region. By 4pm, upper 70s were widespread.Showers which moved through this morning are now well off to the north and east of the area. The rainfall total was around 0.10". There's still a chance for a few showers to break out through this evening, but a better chance late tonight and tomorrow. At post time, a few heavy showers were sprouting around the northern Shenandoah Valley.
Latest surface weather map from IntelliWeather. Subtract 4 hours from time shown for EDT.
Tonight and Tomorrow
Clouds will increase tonight with lows in the mid to upper 50s and a 70% chance of showers by morning. Temperatures will remain nearly steady or falling slowly in the mid 50s during the day tomorrow with rain likely through mid afternoon.Political Science
"Muzzle" was the word in a WaPo Federal Page story yesterday titled, "Climate Researchers Feeling Heat From White House". This was a follow-up to earlier stories on the Administration censoring reports, interfering with press access, and otherwise limiting the distribution of climate research results at NASA and NOAA. (If this sort of thing is going on in the physical sciences, it kind of makes one wonder about some of the less scientific statistics coming out of Washington, doesn't it?)"Majority (veto-proof)" was the word in Maryland. In the face of large majorities in the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates, Gov. Ehrlich signed the Healthy Air Act yesterday. Besides requiring reductions in pollution from coal-fired power plants, the bill joins Maryland with 7 other northeastern states in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Along with the WaPo, the bill was covered in the Baltimore Sun ("Md. enacts law to cut power plant emissions"), New York Times ("Pollution Pact Gets Maryland as 8th Member"), and Associated Press ("Md. Governor Signs Air Pollution Bill").
A vigorous batch of upper-air energy, reflected at the surface as a weak low-pressure trough, rattled through the Washington DC metro area this morning. It brought liquid and frozen showers, and even the rumble of thunder, to many locations along with gusty winds. The northwesterly breeze, gusting over 35 mph at times, is reinforcing the cold air over the region; temperatures were barely making it into the low 50s at mid afternoon, about 10° below the long-term average for the date. It's also very dry; dewpoints are near 20° in most places. (Ft. Belvoir is still, undoubtedly bogusly, reporting at least 10° below everyone else.)
Under scattered to broken clouds, temperatures tonight will fall to the upper 30s city to the lower 30s in the colder 'burbs. Tomorrow will see mainly sunny skies and temperatures rebounding to a more seasonable range, with highs around 64.
Speaking of our friends at WaPo, if you think they've been getting bashed here for their climate coverage, check out what the 
Weather forecasting is often as much of an art as a science, and the current (March) issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society features a painting based on an infrared image of hurricane Katrina. The art is the work of 
Strong southerly flow ahead of a strong low pressure area over the western Great Lakes brought balmy temperatures to the entire East Coast this afternoon. Readings in the 60s and even the 70s reached well into northern New England. Here in the Washington DC metro area, the month is ending on an up note with widespread upper 70s. 
Showers out ahead of the cold front extending southward from the low were just reaching the outskirts of Pittsburgh and the northern West Virginia panhandle around 4pm. By 5pm, a first wave of showers had ended at Pittsburgh with less than 0.10" of rainfall; Morgantown WV reported a trace. A few of these showers may make it over the mountains into the metro area overnight, but the focus of upper-level energy will remain near or to the north of the Great Lakes.
It's Definitely, Delightfully spring in the Washington DC metro area this afternoon, but the Drought continues into a 6th week. Southerly flow from a large high pressure area sliding off the Atlantic coast brought spring conditions as far north as southern Canada. In Farmington, Maine, a sure sign of the season is the return of the 
Skies will remain clear to partly cloudy through tomorrow afternoon with lows in the upper 40s and highs in the mid 70s. Clouds will increase later in the day tomorrow with only a slight chance of showers before midnight to close out the probable record-breaking month.
The drought continues in the Washington DC metro area this afternoon. Scattered showers, a few with moderate rain, were mostly confined to the mountains of West Virginia at mid afternoon. A few very widely scattered showers had made their way along and east of I-81, but they were all south of I-66. They were heading to the northeast, but the easternmost ones seemed to be drying out as they got nearer to I-95. Charlottesville reported light rain at 3pm which lasted less than 20 minutes, and the amount was a trace. Sunshine through a broken high overcast was enough to push temperatures into the low 60s at most metro area locations.
Unless a downpour parks itself directly over the official rain bucket tonight, we are well on our way to breaking the record for driest March by a margin of over ½". This raises the interesting question of the connection between temperature and precipitation in March. Is a dry March warm because it has more sunshine, or is it dry because there is more cold, dry northwesterly flow? 
(Thank you, 
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