Tuesday, January 31, 2006
January Blows Out of Town; February Follows Shortly
Steve Scolnik @ 4:45 PM
It's another day to exercise the anemometer in the Washington DC metro area as a developing storm off the coast heads northeastward. Northwesterly gusts in excess of 40 mph have been reported in some places. A midnight high of 49 is slightly out of reach from being matched with mid afternoon readings in the mid and upper 40s.
Yesterday's +17° departure from average was the third highest of the month and brought the monthly average to 43.0. That puts this January in a dead "heat" with 1998 for 7th place on the all-time list, or 3rd place since observations moved from the city to the airport. Tonight's midnight temperature will be the determiner of the final standings.
Tonight will be mostly clear with lows near 34 cityside, upper 20s in the colder 'burbs. Tomorrow's highs will be near 50 with partly cloudy skies.
Apparently content with the Sunday lead article on climate change we cited in yesterday's P.M. Update, the WaPo makes room for a full-page American Petroleum Institute ad in today's edition by moving the subject to the Metro section. The typical Office Workers Eating Lunch Outside in Shirt Sleeves article puts the obligatory "he said/he said" into the mouths of two construction workers from Frederick. (Would you like Freedom Fries with that?)
The NYT, on the other hand, has a follow-up article (remember those from when sound bites were longer than 3 seconds and Woodward and Bernstein were still alive?), "Lawmaker Condemns NASA Over Scientist's Accusations of Censorship". The article quotes a letter from the Republican chairman of the House Science Committee to NASA, in which he says,
My notes showed that the "Weather Man" movie was scheduled to come out on DVD this week just in time for Groundhog Day, but a visit to my local Blockbuster revealed that it is scheduled for Feb. 21. Also coming out soon (next week, in fact) on disc is "Elizabethtown", whose guitar soundtrack I have been unable to get out of my head from the Weather Channel's Local on the 8s. At least, I assume the music is from the movie. TWC doesn't usually identify the source of specific background tracks, just listing the rotation set for an entire month on its web site. Last night after midnight, however, there was a brief credit for the movie soundtrack following the local forecast; that's the first time I've seen any such music identification on the air.
Photo of Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst with Umbrella from "Elizabethtown", via rogerebert.com
Yesterday's +17° departure from average was the third highest of the month and brought the monthly average to 43.0. That puts this January in a dead "heat" with 1998 for 7th place on the all-time list, or 3rd place since observations moved from the city to the airport. Tonight's midnight temperature will be the determiner of the final standings.
Tonight and Tomorrow
Tonight will be mostly clear with lows near 34 cityside, upper 20s in the colder 'burbs. Tomorrow's highs will be near 50 with partly cloudy skies.Political Climate
Apparently content with the Sunday lead article on climate change we cited in yesterday's P.M. Update, the WaPo makes room for a full-page American Petroleum Institute ad in today's edition by moving the subject to the Metro section. The typical Office Workers Eating Lunch Outside in Shirt Sleeves article puts the obligatory "he said/he said" into the mouths of two construction workers from Frederick. (Would you like Freedom Fries with that?)
The NYT, on the other hand, has a follow-up article (remember those from when sound bites were longer than 3 seconds and Woodward and Bernstein were still alive?), "Lawmaker Condemns NASA Over Scientist's Accusations of Censorship". The article quotes a letter from the Republican chairman of the House Science Committee to NASA, in which he says,
"Good science cannot long persist in an atmosphere of intimidation . . . Political figures ought to be reviewing their public statements to make sure they are consistent with the best available science. Scientists should not be reviewing their statements to make sure they are consistent with the current political orthodoxy."Of course, the article also quotes the spokesperson for Sen. Inhofe, Republican from Oilahoma, who finds out Everything He Ever Wanted to Know from a science fiction book. So, take your pick.
Reel Weather
My notes showed that the "Weather Man" movie was scheduled to come out on DVD this week just in time for Groundhog Day, but a visit to my local Blockbuster revealed that it is scheduled for Feb. 21. Also coming out soon (next week, in fact) on disc is "Elizabethtown", whose guitar soundtrack I have been unable to get out of my head from the Weather Channel's Local on the 8s. At least, I assume the music is from the movie. TWC doesn't usually identify the source of specific background tracks, just listing the rotation set for an entire month on its web site. Last night after midnight, however, there was a brief credit for the movie soundtrack following the local forecast; that's the first time I've seen any such music identification on the air.Photo of Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst with Umbrella from "Elizabethtown", via rogerebert.com
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