We'll see sunshine this week, but east winds will allow for plenty of moisture and clouds to barge in off the ocean. Daytime highs will hold in the high 70s, rising to about 80 by mid-week. The nights will be cool and pleasant, too, in the 50s. No need for heat or AC this week. You might even try a fire in the fireplace in the evening.

Those temperatures are actually 5 or 10 degrees above normal for this time of year. 

September ended, as expected, with only 0.35 inches of rain at BWI, the fourth-driest September on record for Baltimore. (Average Sept. precipitation is 3.98 inches.) It was also the fourth-warmest since 1980. Here is the rundown on the warmest average September temperatures for that period:

1980:  72.2 degrees

2005:  72.0 degrees

1998:  71.8 degrees

2007:  70.6 degrees

30-year average:  67.4 degrees 

The NWS forecasters out at Sterling note that BWI recorded only four days of measureable rainfall in September. That ranked as the fifth lowest total on record. There were six days with maximum temperatures of 90 degrees or more. That was the 12th highest number for a September since record-keeping began in Baltimore in 1871.