11:40 AM | "A Taste of Summer"

[3-hour temperature change map between 8 and 11am shows surge of warmth near DC; courtesy NOAA]

Discussion

Warm air is surging into the DC metro region today (11am temperature in Culpepper, VA is 81 degrees) and it will arrive in Philly on Friday and then in New York City on Saturday. Once here, the warm air mass will stick around right through the early part of next week and the warm spell is likely to peak on Monday afternoon. This early taste of summer will, however, not be rain-free. In fact, while there can be a scattered shower or thunderstorm at just about any time through tomorrow night, they will become more numerous on Saturday all along the I-95 corridor from DC-to-Philly-to-NYC. These showers and thunderstorms should then clear out of here in time to allow for a warm, dry and mostly sunny Mother’s Day on Sunday.

Temperatures on Monday afternoon could flirt with the 90 degree mark in the DC metro region, rise to the mid 80’s in Philly, and to near 80 degrees in New York City (normal highs are 73 at DCA, 71 at PHL and 68 in Central Park, NY). At the same time, it will turn much colder on Monday across the Rockies and central Plains and this could lead to an interesting nationwide weather picture featuring temperatures not far from 90 degrees in the DC metro region, accumulating snow in Denver, Colorado, and some wild weather in between those extremes. That colder air mass in the central and western states early next week will then definitely make a move towards the east coast. A cold front is likely to arrive in the Mid-Atlantic region by the middle of next week with showers and thunderstorms and then it’ll turn noticeably cooler again around here by the end of next week.