There will be plenty of cloudiness around early today, but clearing skies this afternoon can allow for temperatures to turn milder compared to Thursday and then they’ll surge later this weekend to very mild levels on Sunday. The weekend will become quite wet, however, with the chance of light rain/drizzle on Saturday and Saturday night, and then occasional rainfall is likely on Sunday. The rain on Sunday can become heavy at times and the winds can be quite strong as a cold front slides eastward towards the coast. In addition, there can be a strong-to-severe thunderstorm or two raising the chance for damaging wind gusts in the Mid-Atlantic region. It turns cooler on Monday following the passage of a cold front, but as is increasingly common for this time of year, the cool down should be short-lived. It should become very mild again in the Mid-Atlantic region by the middle of next week.
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Numerous ingredients are coming together for what is likely to be a multi-day severe weather event from the central US to the east coast during the period from later Friday to Sunday night. These ingredients include not just one, but two strong upper-level lows, powerful jet streaks at multiple levels of the atmosphere, an influx of warm, humid air on the storm’s front side, and a surface low pressure system that will deepen to rarely ever seen barometric pressure levels as it moves from the central Plains to the western Great Lakes. All severe weather parameters are on the table during this multi-day event including swaths of intense and damaging winds, strong tornadoes, hail, and torrential rainfall that can result in flash flooding.
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An ocean flow of air will continue to keep it on the cool side around here and there will be plenty of low clouds around limiting any potential heating during the day. There is a total lunar eclipse later tonight, but these same low clouds can have a negative impact on overall viewing conditions. If it is indeed visible, the “totality” phase of the lunar eclipse will last for about an hour from around 2:30-3:30 AM.
Temperatures will climb a bit on Friday with the possible return of some sunshine, and then they’ll surge this weekend to very mild levels on both Saturday and Sunday. The weekend will become quite wet, however, with the chance of showers later Saturday and Saturday night and then occasional rainfall on Sunday. The rain on Sunday can become heavy at times as a strong cold front slides eastward towards the coast and there can be a strong thunderstorm included as well. It turns cooler on Monday in the Mid-Atlantic region following the passage of the cold frontal system, but the cool down will be brief and we’ll get very mild again by the middle of next week.
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The passage of a “back door” cold front will bring cooler conditions to the region for both today and tomorrow as low-level winds have shifted from a southwesterly direction to north-northeast. (I refer to this kind of cold front as a “back door” since it “sneaks in” from our northeast instead of the more conventional approach of a cold front from our west). Temperatures will begin to rebound on Friday and it’ll be quite mild this weekend. The weekend becomes quite wet, however, with occasional rainfall likely from later Saturday through Sunday. Some of the rain can be heavy at times late this weekend and a strong thunderstorm is possible. It turns cooler on Monday following the passage of a more conventional “west-to-east-moving” cold frontal system.
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The combination of an intense upper-level low, powerful jet streaks at multiple levels of the atmosphere, strong southerly low-level flow of warm, moist air, and a deepening surface low pressure system will likely lead to a severe weather outbreak from later Friday into Friday night. Indeed, this threat of severe weather may continue right through the upcoming weekend as it shifts slowly to the east reaching the Atlantic seaboard by the latter part of the weekend. The deepening surface low pressure system may reach central pressures not often seen in this part of the nation which will result in a very strong pressure gradient potentially leading to widespread damaging winds. In addition, this unfolding atmospheric setup can lead to some strong tornado activity from later Friday into Saturday across portions of the central and eastern US.
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Today will be a nice day throughout the Mid-Atlantic region with plenty of sunshine and afternoon high temperatures well above normal for this time of year. A “back door” cold front will bring cooler air back to the region for tomorrow and Thursday as low-level winds switch to a north-northeast direction. (I refer to this kind of cold front as a “back door” since it “sneaks in” from our northeast instead of the more conventional approach from the west). Temperatures will surge to milder levels at the end of the week and it’ll stay quite mild through the upcoming weekend. The weekend becomes wet, however, with showers possible from late Saturday through the day on Sunday and some of that rain can be heavy at times.
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Spring-fever alert” type weather is coming to the Mid-Atlantic region for this afternoon and Tuesday as temperatures climb to well above-normal levels following a chilly weekend. A back door cold front will usher in cooler conditions for Wednesday and Thursday and then temperatures will surge to much milder levels again for the Friday/Saturday/Sunday time period. A strong front is likely to result in rain around here by Saturday night and Sunday and some of that rain can turn out to be heavy at times.
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It remains windy and chilly today in the wake of a secondary cold frontal passage on Thursday afternoon with gusts of 40+ mph on the table. A weak system will pass by tonight and it can produce a few rain and/or snow showers, but nothing too significant. Widespread warming across the middle of the nation will spread east next week and it’ll produce “spring-fever alert” type weather here next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with high temperatures in the 60’s. One final note, it is time this weekend to turn the clocks ahead an hour to switch back to Daylight Savings Time.
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A strong cold front passed through the region last night and it has ushered in a noticeably cooler air mass to the Mid-Atlantic region. Winds will become very strong later today from a west-to-northwest direction as a secondary cold front crosses the region….gusts to 50 mph are possible during the PM hours. A weak system will push into the area on Friday night with a few rain and/or snow showers possible and the weekend looks to be on the chilly side for early March.
Looking ahead, a big-time warmup is on the way for next week which can feature high temperatures near 70 degrees by Wednesday (not quite done with the cold shots though). One final note, this weekend is that time once again to push clocks forward an hour as we flip back to Daylight Savings Time.
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Ingredients are in place for strong-to-severe thunderstorm activity later today into early tonight along the DC-to-Philly-to-NYC corridor which will include downpours and the possibility of damaging wind gusts. In addition, a few isolated tornadoes are on the table later today in the Mid-Atlantic region and an enhanced risk of tornadoes will take place farther to the south from southeastern Virginia into the Carolinas. Meanwhile, in the storm’s cold sector, there are blizzard conditions today across portions of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin where 60+ mph winds can cause considerable blowing and drifting of snow.
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