We’re in another day of transition with a front and some rain coming through. Steadier rain was coming down near the PA-MD line early this morning, but most of this has fizzled out for the afternoon. Another wave of isolated showers could roll in from the west, so shower chances remain in play until 6-7 PM. The more notable change is the uptick in northerly winds and gradually falling temperatures. We hit our highs for the day around midnight in the 60s and 70s, and it’s been getting chillier ever since. Readings will be in the 40s by sunset, and with 20-25 mph gusts continuing through the night, we’ll bottom out around freezing early Saturday morning.
After the joy of warmer temperatures and peak bloom, it’s not ideal that it will stay chilly through most of the weekend. There will be plenty of sunshine to enjoy, but steady northerly gusts will make a jacket a requirement if you’re out and about across the Tidal Basin or city. Gusts of 25-30 mph will cap our afternoon highs in the upper 40s tomorrow, but there will be some improvement by Sunday. A flip to southerly winds and more sunshine will push us back toward 60 degrees, after one more night in the 30s on Saturday night. As high pressure retreats off the East Coast, this southerly wind flow will continue to warm us up into next week.
A few more clouds enter the mix on Monday and Tuesday, but high temperatures will hit the upper 60s and mid-70s on respective days. The month of April will likely kick off with readings in the 80s before our next front and batch of active weather arrives. The timing and placement of this front will be tricky and ultimately determine a lot for our forecast late next week. What seems most likely right now is that this front will interact with the warm and moist air to produce isolated showers and thunderstorms on Wednesday. As the front nudges closer, rain chances will increase as temperatures drop off a bit, with scattered showers likely Thursday and some steadier rain will follow that next Friday…