7:00 AM | ***Powerful and potentially damaging wind gusts later today and tonight in the 50-60 mph range***
Paul Dorian
6-Day forecast for the Washington, D.C. metro region
Today
Partly-to-mostly sunny, cooler, becoming very windy with gusts possible later today in the 50-60 mph range, highs in the upper 60’s; W winds increasing to 20-30 mph; gusts possible in the 50-60 mph range
Tonight
Very windy with gusts possible in the 50-60 mph range, partly cloudy skies, turning much colder, lows in the lower 40’s
Saturday
Mainly sunny, still windy early in the day, but the winds should die down in the afternoon, chilly to start, milder in the afternoon, upper 60’s for afternoon highs
Saturday Night
Partly cloudy, chilly, near 50 degrees for late night lows
Sunday
Mainly sunny, warmer, lower 80’s
Monday
Mainly cloudy, warm, chance of showers, lower 80’s
Tuesday
Mainly cloudy, warm, chance of showers, lower 80’s
Wednesday
Partly sunny, warm, chance of showers, upper 70’s
Discussion
A cooler air mass will arrive in the region today following the passage of a strong cold front in the overnight hours and temperatures this afternoon will be confined to the 60’s for highs. Temperatures late tonight will drop into the lower 40’s which will be quite a change from the mid and upper 80’s that we experienced on Wednesday afternoon. While the cool down will be quite dramatic from the summer-like warmth at mid-week, the bigger story will be the winds which could gust to the 50-60 mph range later today and tonight – potentially resulting in downed limbs and power outages. The combination of a strong and intensifying low pressure system departing to our northeast and an approaching strong high pressure from the western Great Lakes will create an intense pressure gradient in the Mid-Atlantic region – and result in those potentially damaging wind gusts. The winds will die down later tomorrow and temperatures will climb noticeably from the chilly lower 40’s at the start of the weekend to the lower 80’s mark by later Sunday.
Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Perspecta, Inc.
perspectaweather.com