WASHINGTON — Those living in the D.C. area are used to muggy summers with hot and hazy conditions.
So far this week, though, there haven’t been any thunderstorms to offset the humidity.
That might change Wednesday.
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At 2 a.m. Wednesday, a cold front is just to the north and west of the WTOP listening area.
After we burn off some patchy fog in the morning, a cold front will slip through the region on Wednesday and clear the area by late evening.
Once again, daytime temperatures will be on the warm side, approaching the 90- degree mark and staying in the upper-80s due to increasing cloud cover throughout the day. It will be pretty humid throughout the day.
However, as the cold front passes through the region, there is a 30 to 40 percent chance that some thunderstorms will develop throughout the afternoon and evening hours.
Don’t expect a widespread event or severe weather; the usual triggers — instability in the atmosphere and wind shear — should be on the low side for Wednesday. We’ll have some moisture to work with in the atmosphere, so we might see short-lived storms that could bring quick downpours. We could always use some rain the D.C. region.
Good news: We’re not nearly as drought-stricken as we usually are at this time. However, both BWI and Dulles airports saw precipitation deficits for the month of July.
Dulles had 2.09″ of rain in July, down from an average of 3.67″, and BWI had 2.80″ of rain in July, down from an average of 4.07″. DCA was at a surplus of rain measuring +0.95″.
Interesting note: At these airports, most of the rain fell in the first 15 days of July; the second half of July was mostly dry.
I do not believe everyone will see rain tomorrow, but it would be nice to get some. The next chance of rain is late Saturday leading into Sunday.
Until then, we’re looking at a trend that seems all too familiar for this summer – – a few days of hot and humid air, followed by a few days of below normal temperatures and low humidity.
The low humidity arrives Thursday with clearing skies. Temperatures on Thursday and Friday will be slightly below normal.
So if you are headed to FedEx Field for the Redskins first preseason game: enjoy! Great weather for the start of football season!
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