D.C. area forecast: Settling into an unsettled summer pattern

Today: Partly to mostly sunny. Isolated t’storm? Near 90. | Tonight: Partly cloudy. 67-73. | Tomorrow: Increasing clouds. 40% chance of storms. Near 90. | A Look Ahead | Get Express Forecast by E-mail

A somewhat subjective rating of the day’s weather, on a scale of 0 to 10


Still a bit humid, and there’s an outside chance at a storm. But for what we’ve been used to, it’s pretty nice out there. Get the Digit on Twitter | Discuss on Facebook

As we near the Dog Days of summer, we find ourselves heading into a typical summertime pattern the next several days with warm and somewhat humid conditions along with fairly regular chances for afternoon storms. Lucky for us, most of that holds off until tomorrow, with a little less humidity and lower storm chances making for a pretty nice close to the weekend.

Today (Sunday): A mostly splendid day out there as humidity dips a bit and so do our rain chances. We’ll have partly to mostly sunny skies and temperatures a few degrees cooler than yesterday with highs near 90. We can’t quite rule out an isolated shower or storm or two (20% chance). Confidence: Medium-High

Tonight: A slight chance of an evening storm goes away overnight as lows drop to the upper 60s and low 70s under partly cloudy skies. Confidence: Medium-High

For related traffic news, check out Dr. Gridlock. Keep reading for the forecast through midweek...

Tomorrow (Monday): Humidity edging higher and a lobe of upper-level energy swinging through lead to a 40% chance of mainly afternoon showers and storms. Mostly sunny skies early should boost highs to near 90 before clouds increase during the afternoon. Confidence: Medium

Tomorrow night: Rain chances stay up around 40% even without the daytime heat, as an approaching system provides a focus for shower and storm development. Otherwise, skies are mostly cloudy with lows in the low-to-mid 70s. Confidence: Medium

Our semi-tropical pattern continues into Tuesday and Wednesday. Upper-level low pressure stays parked overhead, keeping us in an unstable air mass. That's good news for those hoping for rain, as we’ll have a chance of scattered showers and storms both days. No extreme heat expected, just average summer weather with humid highs in the upper 80s to low 90s. Confidence: Medium