Thursday, August 04, 2005
A MOSsy day
Steve Scolnik @ 3:30 PM
HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM EDT THIS EVENING
6:00 update: Tropical Depression 9 is now official.
The MOS (Model Output Statistics) predicted MOS (More of Same) for today, and that's pretty much what's being observed in the Washington DC area. Temperatures generally in the mid 90s at mid afternoon were a degree or two higher than yesterday. National, which topped out at 95 yesterday, matched that reading at 3pm and kept right on going to 97 the next hour. Ft. Belvoir claimed 99, but its dewpoint at 55 indicates that something was probably out of whack with the robo-observer. Here at the Non-Standard-Exposure Afternoon Blog Central, we were seeing triple digits by 3:00; we're now looking at an alleged 102. This was not totally out of line, however, with the official report up the pike at Frederick of the big 1-0-0 at 3:21.
There are a few more areas of showers and thunderstorms on radar, but these are still very widely scattered. One area with some moderate rain was in the vicinity of Annapolis and southward through central Anne Arundel County. Another area, with a small region of heavy rain, was straddling the southern Prince George's/Calvert County line. These seem to have merged later into a single area with more heavy rain just southeast of Upper Marlboro which then headed east to the Bay.
Outlook
It will be little consolation if you get soaked, but showers and thunderstorms will remain scarce through this evening. Lows will be similar to last night: mid to upper 70s in the city, lower 70s elsewhere. Tomorrow will again be hot and humid, highs 93-95, but an approaching cold front will increase chances for showers and thunderstorms to 50% by evening.
Tropical Topics: Hello, Harvey, Goodbye
Tropical Storm Harvey, packing top winds near 65 mph this afternoon, paid a quick visit to Bermuda this morning and is now headed eastward toward eventual weakening in the north-central Atlantic, although a little strengthening is still possible in the meantime. Here is a report from Bermuda early this morning (5am local time), showing winds gusting to 44 kt (50 mph) with a moderate thunderstorm:
TXKF 040824Z 10032G44KT 2SM TSRA SCT005 BKN013CB OVC50 A2963 RMK OCNL LTGIC SW+W CB SW+W PRESFR SLP035
The tropical wave about 600 miles west of the Cape Verde Islands in the eastern Atlantic has a low pressure area associated with it and shows signs of wanting to become Tropically Depressed. If so, advisories may be issued by late this afternoon or tonight.
Looking forward a bit, the earliest there has been an "I" storm since storms actually had names was Iris on Aug. 22, 1995. Even in the record-setting 21-storm year of 1933, the ninth storm did not appear until Aug. 24.
Surf City DC
If you're a frustrated surfer feeling stranded inland in DC, check out the "Endless Summer" article in the August Washingtonian.
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