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Katrina Leaves Behind One Last Tropical Day

Dan Stillman @ 11:15 PM

Forecast First

Today: As the remnants of Katrina continue to lift off to the north, the Washington area will be left with a partly cloudy, warm and humid day. Temps will climb into the upper 80s, and isolated showers and thunderstorms are possible, although I think most of the activity will be off to our north and east.

Tonight: If you're headed for the DC United game at RFK, expect temps in the upper 70s with only a slight chance of a passing shower.

Tomorrow: A drier and more tranquil weather pattern begins to set in. Look for a fair amount of sunshine and highs in the upper 80s. The weather should be perfect for tomorrow night's Redskins-Ravens preseason game in Baltimore -- no rain and temps in the mid-70s.

Friday and the Holiday Weekend: As of now, the outlook is quite good. Sunny on Friday with highs in the mid-to-upper 80s. Sunny and mid-80s on Saturday. Maybe a touch cooler on Sunday and Monday, with continued sunny skies and highs in the low 80s. The beaches look good, too.

Taking Stock and Helping Out

The catastrophic consequences of Hurricane Katrina began to sink in yesterday as jaw-dropping images of mass devastation, heroic rescues and repugnant looting were seen all along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. In New Orleans, levee breaks sent flood waters rising yesterday, washing away any initial hope that the city had been spared the worst of the storm.

Meanwhile, as elderly war veterans and President Bush headed to Washington yesterday, local rescue teams made their way toward the Gulf Coast. Channel 4 will air a fundraising telethon later today. And the Associated press has this list of organizations accepting donations to aid victims and the relief effort.

Front Pages Fall Behind Storm

I was surprised by what was missing from the front page of Sunday's Washington Post -- any mention whatsoever of Hurricane Katrina. I was even more surprised when I found no mention of Katrina on the front pages of other major newspapers as well, including the New York Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and San Francisco Chronicle.

To their defense, Katrina was still only a Category 3 storm as of 11 p.m. EDT Saturday night, and the target audiences for these papers were well removed from where the storm was to make landfall. Still, it was becoming clear long before press time on Saturday evening that Katrina would likely grow in strength and threaten the Gulf Coast, including New Orleans, with at least the potential of catastrophic conditions by Monday.

Newspapers that I feel gave Katrina appropriate play on their Sunday front pages -- besides those serving audiences within and near the storm's potential impact area -- include the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times and (sorry Washington Post) the Washington Times (pictured above). Yesterday's front pages can be found here, and today's here.

On the TV side, Wonkette has this commentary on Fox News Channel's Katrina coverage.

Picture courtesy of the Newseum.

Bloggers Stay Ahead of Storm

With journalists and TV news crews unable to access many of the areas hardest hit by Katrina, bloggers have become a lifeline of sorts for anyone looking for information about storm damage, or even for those looking to connect with friends and relatives. Slate has this story about the vital role blogs have been playing, while MSNBC has been clicking around the Web as well.

Here at CapitalWeather.com, we welcome any news you have to share about the conditions down south. We'd especially like to hear from local residents with friends and family along the Gulf Coast. Please use the comments link below to let us know what you've heard.

Our thoughts go out to everyone in the DC area and around the country who have been impacted by the storm.

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