Drive west across the mountains and you'll find sunshine. Drive to northern New Jersey or the Outer Banks of N.C. and there's sunshine, forecasters say. But from PA to VA and here in Mobtown it's day after day of thick clouds, dark and dreary drizzle. Brian Guyer, a National Weather Service forecaster at Sterling, says the clockwise circulation around high pressure in southeastern Canada is blowing winds off the Atlantic and into our region. The damp air runs upslope into the Appalachians, cooling, forming a dense overcast on the eastern side of the mountains that condenses into fog and drizzle. Until the winds shift, it's stuck there. Meteorologists call it "damming."

"What we need is some front to come blowing through and sweep away the moisture and clear the atmosphere," he said. There is a cold front on the way, but the air behind it is neither dry nor clear. It will bring more rain Saturday night into Sunday, followed by "mostly cloudy" weather the balance of the weekend. It says "partly cloudy" for the start of next week. But that, Guyer says, may be wishful thinking. Dammed indeed.