« Fay fades, we stay dry, get cooler | Main | Fay stalls, drowns Florida »

Perfect through the weekend; Fay rain later?

Boy, you can't beat this forecast. From today straight through the weekend, forecasters are calling for sunny to mostly-sunny skies. Afternoon highs will stick close to seasonal norms - in the mid-80s - and the nights will be fine for opening the windows and shutting off the AC.

It looks for now like we're done with the 90-degree beatings we've been taking this week. The backdoor cold front late yesterday dropped temperatures noticeably. After a high over 90 yesterday afternoon, we fell to 52 overnight out on the WeatherDeck. Here are the readings from The Baltimore Sun's weather station at Calvert & Centre streets.

BWI reported a high yesterday of 93 degrees (the fourth 90-plus day this month), and then an overnight low of 62 degrees. 

So, are we done with the 90s for the summer? I wouldn't bet the ranch on that. BWI had six days in the 90s in September last year. But then, we had 16 days in the 90s in August of last year, too. And we're not going to come close to that this month.

Thanks largely to a cool August (a degree cooler than the long-term average so far, with 12 of 19 days below the norm), this summer has been generally cooler than the last two. At least so far. Here are the counts of 90-plus days, by month:

2006: May (2); June (6); July (18); August (13); September (0); TOTAL: 39

2007: May (3); June (7); July (10); August (16); September (6); TOTAL: 42

2008: May (0); June (9); July (10); August (4) through the 19th; TOTAL: 23

Now, as for Fay...  In their discussion this morning, forecasters at Sterling say that by Sunday, the high pressure system we're under now will begin to move off the coast. That will put us in the return flow, bringing warmer, wetter air up from the South. Humidities will rise, increasing the chance for showers or thunderstorms Sunday night into Monday.

By the middle of the week, moisture from the remains of Tropical Storm Fay could begin to cross our region, bringing rain. But forecasters can't tell yet where or precisely when that would occur.

Here's the latest advisory for Fay. Here's the five-day forecast track. And here's the view from space. 

If it comes, we could use it. BWI is running 1.68 inches below average for the month. Drought monitor data show abnormally dry conditions close by, in Delaware and New Jersey. Streams are low in central Maryland and water tables are falling, although that's not unusual for mid-summer.

On the map below, red and orange dots represent streams flowing at rates in the driest quarter of the archived record. 

No emergency, but a good dose of rain would be welcome.

USGS 

 

 

Comments

Actually, the total of 90+ days at BWI in 2007 was 45 - it was 90+ on October 7, 8, and 9...

FR: You're right. Good catch.

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

Please enter the letter "r" in the field below:
About Frank Roylance
Frank Roylance is a reporter for The Baltimore Sun. He came to Baltimore from New Bedford, Mass. in 1980 to join the old Evening Sun. He moved to the morning Sun when the papers merged in 1992, and has spent most of his time since covering science, including astronomy and the weather. One of The Baltimore Sun's first online Web logs, the Weather Blog debuted in October 2004. In June 2006 Frank also began writing comments on local weather and stargazing for The Baltimore Sun's print Weather Page.
Maryland Weather Center
WJZ Weather Forecast
Weather forecast
Watch the most recent Baltimore-area weather forecast from WJZ.
Most Recent Comments
-- ADVERTISEMENT --

Resources and Sun coverage
• Weather news

• Readers' photos

• Data from the The Sun's weather station

• 2008 stargazers' calendar

• Become a backyard astronomer in five simple steps

• Baltimore Weather Archive
Daily airport weather data for Baltimore from 1948 to today

• National Weather Service:
Sterling Forecast Office

• Capital Weather Gang:
Washington Post weather blog

• CoCoRaHS:
Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network. Local observations by volunteers

• Weather Bug:
Webcams across the state

• National Data Bouy Center:
Weather and ocean data from bay and ocean bouys

• U.S. Drought Monitor:
Weekly maps of drought conditions in the U.S.

• USGS Earthquake Hazards Program:
Real-time data on earthquakes

• Water data:
From the USGS, Maryland

• National Hurricane Center

• Air Now:
Government site for air quality information

• NWS Climate Prediction Center:
Long-term and seasonal forecasts

• U.S. Climate at a Glance:
NOAA interactive site for past climate data, national, state and city

• Clear Sky Clock:
Clear sky alerts for stargazers

• NASA TV:
Watch NASA TV

• Hubblesite:
Home page for Hubble Space Telescope

• Heavens Above:
Everything for the backyard stargazer, tailored to your location

• NASA Eclipse Home Page:
Centuries of eclipse predictions
Blog updates
Recent updates to baltimoresun.com news blogs
 Subscribe to this feed