The oppressive heat and humidity of the early week should break today, to be replaced by off-and-on rains, cooler temperatures and perhaps the remnants of an indecisive tropical storm.
“We’ve been in a southerly flow for the last couple of days,” said Dennis Feltgen, National Weather Service meteorologist. “We’ve been building humidity for the last couple days and we’ve been building up heat. But that’s all going to be changing.”
While the high temperature in Washington eclipsed 90 degrees on Tuesday, highs today through Labor Day might not top 80 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Rain also is in the forecast, as a stalled cold front to the north rolls through and the remnants of Tropical Storm Ernesto — which was headed for Florida late Tuesday — go where the wind takes them.
The region needs rain. Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport had recorded .96 inches in August, more than 2 inches below normal. Baltimore/Washington International Airport is down 1.81 inches for the month and 6.5 inches for the year.
Ernesto’s forecast track has shifted drastically over several days, as tropical systems often do. The National Hurricane Center first had the storm entering the Gulf of Mexico, targeting Louisiana or Mississippi. Then it was going to hit Florida and spin off into the Atlantic Ocean. Then the thinking shifted west, taking the remnants over western or central Virginia and Pennsylvania.
“I wouldn’t cancel the picnic for this weekend at all,” Feltgen said. “But we are going to hold the chance of showers through Saturday as well.”
