Overnight: Clear but Warm and a bit Humid

Lows: 63-68 | Wind: s 5-10

South winds have brought back heat and humidity.  What an April with another outbreak of tornadoes in the south tonight.  The cold front associated with that severe weather will be near us Wednesday and be the focus for possibly severe storms of our own Wednesday.  Some pop up storms may develop Tuesday but generally sunny and warm most of the day.  Cooler less humid air comes in for Thursday

In the meantime, tonight's forecasts and weather news will be posted on a temporary blog. Just hit up TBD.com and you should automatically be directed there.

See you in The Future!

FULL DISCLOSURE: This blog post, ostensibly about the new tornado record for April and the twister threat for the next 3 days in the South, is a thinly veiled excuse to publish the above video, which has sent the bar for tornado freak-out videos flying to new heights. The footage is from a funnel cloud last Tuesday in Girard, Ill. There is bleeped-out profanity and uncensored knuckleheadedness as these clowns yell their heads off about a tornado while driving straight into it.

Tornadoes for Virginia; tornadoes for Maryland! Tornadoes for everyone! April has shattered prior records for most tornadoes – preliminary stats indicate 292 popped up across the U.S., a leap above the old record of 267 in April 1974. (The average for the month is 163.) And with still a few days to go before May, the country will likely see more tornadoes stacked atop that already towering record.

There’s a moderate risk of severe weather in the South during the next three days, according to the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center. Washington, D.C. is not in the SPC’s current assessment, although a cold front moving through Thursday could produce thunderstorms.

Here’s the SPC’s forecast for Wednesday (pardon the ALLCAPS and meteorology jargon):

THE MOST FAVORABLE COMBINATION OF RICH LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE...STRONG SHEAR...FOCUSED LARGE-SCALE ASCENT...AND ANTICIPATED LACK OF APPRECIABLE PRIOR CONVECTION INDICATES A RELATIVELY HIGH-CONFIDENCE AREA OF CONCENTRATED SIGNIFICANT THREAT FOR POTENTIALLY STRONG TORNADOES AND WIDESPREAD WIND DAMAGE CENTERED OVER THE MID SOUTH/TN VALLEY REGION.

Over at the Weather Underground, meteorologist Jeff Masters predicts that a “huge tornado outbreak” is imminent. The threat comes from a powerful storm system that is coming together over the Mississippi Valley and will rush eastward over the next three days. Masters gives Tuesday the highest chance for damaging storms. He says:

A more serious threat of severe weather exists for Tuesday over Arkansas and surrounding states, with the Storm Prediction Center calling the situation "potentially significant/dangerous." The heightened severe weather risk extends through Wednesday, with a moderate risk of tornadoes and severe weather in Tennessee and surrounding states. … This week's action will substantially pad the record. (Emphasis mine.)

Before I discuss these subjects, let’s take a look at the extent of the "super outbreak" of mid-April. There have been other super tornado outbreaks throughout history, such as the one in April 1974 that resulted in 335 fatalities. And unfortunately, there will be more massively deadly tornado outbreaks in the future. With populations growing in tornado-prone areas, there is an increasing risk of future outbreaks causing loss of life. Even with all the radars, precise tracking and advance warning we have now, there were still 24 lives lost in North Carolina the weekend of April 16-17. Look above at all the National Weather Service warning areas from just this one storm.

As the tornadoes were sweeping across the south, snow was spreading across the upper plains, Texas was/is suffering a prolonged drought and the last of some record snows are melting in northern New England after another brutal winter. What is going on with the weather? This must be because of climate change – correct?

First of all, the climate is not static. There is a great saying among meteorologists that “Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.” Look at the long-term global average temperatures over the last 100-plus years:

And here are the average temperatures for the past 1,000 years, as inferred from things such as ice-core samples and tree-ring measurements:

What do you notice? The global temperature changes. The “climate” has always and will always be changing. And the weather, what we get day to day and year to year, also will always be changing.

There are many natural “drivers” of the climate, from solar variations to volcanoes to changes in ocean currents and land and ice composition. Even the variation of the earth’s orbit and the wobble of the planet on its axis matters. But there is also the climate “driver” we have introduced into the weather system: billions of tons of carbon dioxide released into the environment, as shown in the famous Keeling curve.

I’m not going to go into the politics and policy of climate and weather… “wouldn’t be prudent.” But suffice it to say that the measurements and accumulating evidence does show that the chemistry of the air and ocean is changing and that that the human footprint on the environment is becoming more obvious. Look at this picture I have shown before of contrails from aircraft over western France. The weather that day was “mostly cloudy,” but not because of any natural dynamic:

So are we changing the weather? Sure. Cities are warmer than surrounding countryside, humidity is higher in Arizona and New Mexico due to new grass and trees being planted (and watered) that are releasing moisture into the air. There’s even some evidence that raindrops are different in highly polluted regions of the world. And while we can’t blame every, or even any, storm on climate change, there is some recent research that indicates that weather extremes or at least the probability of heavy-rain events may be increasing in a slowly warming world.

Kevin Trenberth, a researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., says that there is a climate-change element in all weather. (Here is a fascinating read on the subject.) Trenberth believes that a slowly warming world leads to warmer oceans and more moisture in the air, creating a higher probability of heavier rains and, if the air is cold, even more snow. Hello, New England and Washington of two winters ago.

Some climatologists also suspect that with the global north-to-south temperature gradient becoming less pronounced (the high latitudes are showing a greater positive temperature change than the tropics), our average seasonal jet stream or pattern of mid-latitude Westerlies is changing. That might mean that large cut-off or almost stationary upper-level whirls are becoming more likely. The Weather Channel’s Stu Ostro has some fascinating studies on this and has quite a presentation showing what sure feels like long-term and significant changes in the general pattern. You can see the warmer high latitudes in this NOAA map of temperature anomalies for 2010:

So my final answer, at least right now, is that no, not every big weather event is caused by climate change. However, weather is part of climate and climate is part of weather; they are not two distinct things. We know from observations that the earth is now in a general warming period. Will that eventually mean a higher probability of heavy rain events? I think so. Will it mean a higher probability of heavier winter snows, even with a warming world? Sure. A higher probability of slow-moving, persistent patterns of heavy rains, longer droughts and more prolonged heat waves? Yes, I think that's likely.

But we’ll know better in another 20 to 50 years. Join me then? That depends more on modern medicine than modern meteorology.

Monday: Warm/humid, isolated storm possible

Highs: 84 - 87 | Wind: S 10-15

A few summer-like days are going to string together to start this week. Look for warm days, along with some of the first noticeably higher humidity levels, and slight chances of a few isolated afternoon/evening thunderstorms. A weak front is draped across the Washington region, and with such warm temperatures and higher humidity levels, any weak little system will spark the possibility for a storm in the afternoon and evening hours. Morning low temperatures will start off mild each day through Thursday with lows only in the 60s. The next cold front sweeps through on Thursday with a high likelihood of showers and thunderstorms. Cooler spring air will drape across the region on Friday and into this next weekend!

Today: Partly Cloudy, Warm, Iso PM. Storms

Highs: 83-88 | Wind: South 10

A summer-like pattern takes us residence for a couple of days with heat and humidity and highs well above our average of 69 degrees. Expect partly cloudy skies, highs in the mid 80s and the chance of a couple of afternoon thunderstorms. Overnight temperatures remain mild in the 60s under scattered clouds. Tomorrow and Wednesday the pattern repeats itself with low to mid 80s, partly cloudy skies and a couple of afternoon storms.

Thursday a cold front swings through bringing more widespread showers and storms with highs in the low 70s. Cooler, less humid air settles in to round out the week and start the weekend with highs near 70 under mostly sunny skies. Have a great day!

Two tornadoes bum-rushed St. Louis during a foul-weather outbreak on Good Friday that rated as the city's worst storm in four decades. The meaner big brother of the pair, which wielded EF-4 strength, left a trail of ruination 22 miles long and about half-a-mile wide. Recent estimates show 2,700 buildings damaged or destroyed in north St. Louis.

The bigger twister made mincemeat of St. Louis-Lambert International Airport, ripping a hole in the ceiling, smashing all the windows in Concourse C and pushing parked planes around the tarmac. Security cameras caught the chaos from inside the airport. In the video above, you can see what look like blue-shirted TSA officers booking it into the bathroom while debris is violently sucked up a hallway as if someone had opened the airlock on the Space Station. Strangely, a man chatting on his cellphone doesn't seem to mind in the least. Must've been an important call.

For more security footage plus an account of the suddenly tornadic airport, follow the jump.

Frontier Airlines employee Connie, uhm, Ladyman described the bedlam to local news station KSDK :

"The door started hissing and whistling and pressure started coming under the door. We said this seems unusual," she said.

Ladyman's coworker and a passenger ran to hold the door shut.

"My coworker says, 'I cannot hold this door any longer.' When they both moved, the steel door that was locked flew open. At that time I was standing by the computer. It literally picked me up. I'm 150 pounds," she said. "We all ran. There was a man looking out the window, he got glass on his front on his back. He had his shirt on ... I had a guy who was taken down there in a wheelchair. I've never seen a man run so fast in a walker in all my life."

While that sight was unfortunately not caught on tape, these scary scenes were. Look at how the rooms go dark before the tornado just slams into the building:

And this warm streak isn't over by damn sight. Temperatures are expected to surpass 80 degrees during each of the next three days. It might be a wet 80 degrees at times, either due to rainstorms or hot, soggy air that feels like dog breath. Expect meteorologists this week to be dusting off that summery term, “humidity.” Oh look – ABC7's Steve Rudin already has. “People will definitely notice a lot more humidity in the air. It will feel a lot more sticky,” he says.

A cold front is stalling over southern Pennsylvania, pushing warm air our way. Monday will likely be the crescendo in this mini heat wave, with high temperatures wavering between 82 to 87 degrees. If we hit that upper ceiling the heat will be 18 degrees above the average max. There's a chance that a thunderstorm could shadow the Shenandoah Valley but D.C. looks to avoid it at this point. (Latest forecast here.) The warmth loses some of its grip on the region Tuesday and Wednesday, but only by a few degrees. Then a cold front rushes through, probably on Thursday, a disharmonious chord that will dislodge the fevered temperatures and summon the threat of powerful thunderstorms.

So enjoy this weather while it lasts. If you're having any trouble doing that, perhaps this January post from Arlington's biking forums will make you appreciate what we got:

6.8°F at the house when I left this morning at 0545. Roughly 5.2°F out on the W&OD trail via. my Kestrel meter, and 12°F according to the bank clock in McLean at 0700. When I arrived, my helmet straps were ice, my facemask was white with ice, and for the first time ever, the INSIDE of my jacket was ice. That's right, my sweat froze to the inside of my jacket. Winter commuting is like a daily science experiment isn't it!

Overnight: Partly Cloudy and Mild

Lows: 60s | Wind: W/SW 5-10

Quieter conditions are expected during the overnight hours as temperatures slowly fall into the 60s. Areas of patchy fog may develop, but should not cause any problems for the morning commute.

Monday will be warmer and more humid with highs approaching the middle 80s. Areas south and west of D.C. may see highs in the upper 80s to near 90 degrees. Spotty showers and isolated thunderstorms may develop across the Shenandoah Valley and Potomac Highlands during the late afternoon hours. Above-average temperatures are expected Tuesday and Wednesday. A cold front has the potential to bring another round of severe weather to the mid-Atlantic late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.

Stay with ABC7, NewsChannel 8, TBD.com and Weather Now for additional updates.

This Evening: Scattered Showers and Thunderstorms End by 11PM

Temperatures: 70s-80s | Wind: SW 10-20

A warm front will continue to move northward this evening into Pennsylvania allowing for warm, moist air to push in from the south. With daytime heating, the atmosphere has become more unstable allowing for showers and thunderstorms to develop. Some storm cells will become severe with gusty winds, heavy rain and small hail.

As temperatures fall this evening, the storms will diminish. Overnight lows will fall into the 60s. Monday will be hot and a bit more humid with highs well into the 80s. Areas south of the D.C. metropolitan area may see highs in the upper 80s to near 90 degrees. Above average temperatures will remain in the forecast until Wednesday. A strong cold front arrives late Wednesday into early Thursday night bringing yet another round of potential severe weather.

Stay with ABC 7, TBD.com, News Channel 8 and Weather now for additional updates.

This Afternoon: Mostly Cloudy, Warm, PM Storms

Highs: 80-85 | Wind: S 5-10

What a magnificent day it has been. At midday, most everything  looks and feels like Easter should. Temperatures are in the comfortable 70s, dew points are up, the tulips are in bloom, and the azaleas are ablaze with color. The only threat to this pleasant holiday is a cold front that is stalling to the north of Washington.  Associated with that front is a series of impulses that have been dropping large amounts of rain to the west of the Appalachians. Just like yesterday, most of that activity is dissipating as it crosses the mountains.  However chances are that some of it could survive today and threaten us with storms later this afternoon and into the evening.  Some of the storms could be severe with high winds and hail.  While the possibility of those storms is at 40%, the chance of a warm day is not in doubt: look for highs today to reach the low to mid 80s.

Monday will feature even warmer readings than today with highs in the summer-like range of 83 to 87 degrees under mostly sunny skies.  A passing shower or thunderstorm is possible Monday night, but Tuesday should be rain-free and still quite warm around 80 degrees. Indeed, with a Bermuda High pumping in warm, moist air throughout much of the week, Washington will see its first sustained "heat" wave of the season.   By Thursday however, a strong cold front will drop temperatures back to seasonal norms with highs Thursday through Saturday in the upper 60s and lower 70s.  Enjoy your Easter, but keep and eye on the sky this afternoon.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Overnight: Partly to Mostly Cloudy

Lows: 58°-64° | Wind: SW 5-10

Overnight lows will be mild for this time of year as a frontal system stalls just to the north of the D.C. metropolitan area.  Patchy fog may develop during the early morning hours as temperatures fall into the upper 50s to lower to middle 60s. Satellite and radar shows most of the precipitation in Pennsylvania.

Easter Sunday brings highs in the upper 70s to lower 80s. The atmosphere will become more unstable during the afternoon and evening hours giving a better chance for showers and a few thunderstorm cells. While these storms are not expected to become severe, the best chance for formation will be west of D.C. The extended outlook may be found here.

Stay with ABC 7, Weather Now, TBD.com and News Channel 8 for additional details.

This Afternoon: Cloudy, Chance of Showers, Warmer

Highs: 65-70 | Wind: SW 10-15/G 25

After an extraordinarily chllly day on Friday with highs only in the 40s and even a few snowflake sightings, today will be much milder and a bit drier. Despite the cloud cover, the warm front moving toward the Washington area from the Carolinas should raise temperatures near 70 today.  As a consequence of this morning's rain, a Flash Flood Watch and a Flood Watch are in effect until 4 PM for areas west of the Blue Ridge. A Coastal Flood Advisory for the District of Columbia is in effect for the day as well.  The threat of showers for the remainder of the day is 20%

Showers and thunderstorms are possible overnight and again late in the day on Sunday. But Easter Sunday also promises to give us a modicum of sunshine and very mild temperatures. Look for partly sunny conditions and highs in the low 80s. In fact, that same combination of warm, humid air and southerly breezes will persist through much of next week: daytime highs near 80 and nighttime lows in the 60s will make it feel almost like summer.  Only at week's end is a cold front - with yet more rain - expected to usher in cooler air and thus return us to the seasonal norm of 68 degree highs. Enjoy your Easter weekend.

Overnight: Periods of Rain and Drizzle, Cool

Lows: 40s | Wind: E/SE 10-15

A slow moving warm front will keep clouds, chilly air and areas of rain in the forecast until midday Saturday. By afternoon, the front will move northward allowing for warmer temperatures with highs in the upper 60s to lower 70s. Easter Sunday will bring a few showers and a chance for isolated thunderstorms.  Highs will reach the lower 80s. For a look at the extended outlook, click here.

Stay with ABC 7, News Channel 8, Weather Now and TBD.com for additional updates.

With the sport-fishing season now open on the Potomac, many folks no doubt will be creeping away from family engagements on our very warm-looking Easter Sunday to drink some beer on the river, and perhaps even fish. (See what’s in season in this comprehensive PDF.)

In celebration of the hunt, please enjoy this wild video of leaping silver carp on Indiana’s Wabash River. The fish, one of the invasive “Asian carp” species multiplying in U.S. waters, take to the air when disturbed by boat motors. They can jump 10 feet vertically and 20 feet horizontally. The air gets so thick with flying fishmeat that people simply stick out nets to catch them on the downfall or, more sportingly, shoot them with arrows like scaly skeet disks. For anybody wondering about the safety implications of this violent fish storm – yes, these living missiles are sending people to E.R.s around the country. Here’s an impressive photo of a woman getting fishsmacked so hard it reportedly broke her jaw.

As the Columbia Missourian story notes, “The majority of carp injuries are in the facial area.” So perhaps the gentlemen in this video should be wearing helmets.

Warmer temperatures in the past few decades have already lengthened the ragweed pollen season in North America, according to a study published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers from more than a dozen allergy centers, universities and an agricultural laboratory determined that, because of milder winters and warmer seasonal temperatures, ragweed plants now spew pollen into the air 13 to 27 days longer than they did in 1995. Projecting forward, that means that allergy sufferers could be spewing snot into tissues for weeks longer in the future if temperatures continue to go up.

The study was based on two decades of climate and pollen records, the latter from the National Allergy Bureau in the U.S. and the Aerobiology Research Laboratories in Canada, and was confined to areas above the 44th parallel that are experiencing more days without frosts. The researchers found no change in ragweed levels at monitoring stations in Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma. The study complements the findings of a 2008 examination of CO2 levels and ragweed. Researchers involved in that study found that pollen production has shot up from 61 to 90 percent in some varieties of the weed.

So what? Well, for one thing, asthma rates in kids under age 5 have rocketed by more than 160 percent from 1980 to 1994, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the number of people suffering from asthma is expected to grow by more than 100 million by 2025. While the researchers in this study didn’t make the direct link from ragweed to asthma, pollen is one of the potential drivers behind all these gaspy people. Allergic disorders cost the U.S. about $21 billion each year, the CDCP says.

I would cut this tree down SO QUICK.

(Thanks to ABC7's Alan Auglis for the link. The D.C. tree pollen count was at "very high" levels yesterday. This lousy tree is located in Lewisburg, Tenn.)

Friday: Gray, Cool & Rainy

Highs: 50-55 | Wind: E 5-15

Our weather is turning unsettled with gray skies and areas of rain developing on this Good Friday. A warm front will approach the D.C. area from the southwest, and this will give our atmosphere enough lift to cause scattered showers especially this afternoon and into Saturday as well. Highs today will be cool in the low to mid 50s due to the easterly flow off the Atlantic, but temperatures will climb to more comfortable levels into the weekend.

Saturday will likely have some areas of brief, light rain, but it won't be a washout. Then again, it shouldn't be completely dry either. The wind will increase tomorrow with gusty southwesterlies bumping highs into the lower 70s. Temperatures climb to near 80 on Easter Sunday with partly cloudy skies, but an isolated storm is possible Sunday evening. Overall, Sunday looks like the better day this weekend. Then sunny and near 80 again on Monday.

Friday: Cooler With Rain Developing Mainly This PM

Highs: Low 50s | Wind: E 10-15

A cool and dry start to this Friday however by this afternoon, as a warm front lifts north through the region, rain is expected to develop. Easterly onshore winds will make for a chilly morning with temperatures starting off in the upper 30s to low 40s and only heading into the low 50s this afternoon for highs.

Periods of rain and drizzle will continue off and on during the overnight Friday into Saturday as the front slowly drifts northward. Locations from Frederick County Maryland and especially points west of the Blue Ridge may see higher rainfall totals and have been placed under a Flood Watch though Saturday AM.

The Holiday weekend will feature a noticeable warm up with temperatures back in the low to mid 70s Saturday and around the 80 degree mark for Easter Sunday. Shower activity may linger into Saturday but mainly in the morning hours and closest to the aforementioned frontal boundary. Sunday for the most part will be quiet and pleasant under partly sunny skies however later in the afternoon and evening hours we may have just enough instability to trigger a few isolated shower and storms.

Monday through Wednesday conditions look to stay warm around 80 degrees each day with a mixture of sunshine and clouds. Another stronger front will head our way later in the week providing our next best chance of rain perhaps by as early as Thursday.

The Lyrids reach their peak tonight into early Saturday; the best time to catch them is during the drowsy hours right before dawn. This spring shower, which has a short lifespan generally lasting from April 16 to the 26th, isn't the most eye-popping display. The meteors can be argent enough to cast shadows on the ground and often leave behind smoking trails, but their average rate crawls along at about 5 to 20 per hour. That's not exactly a strong motivation to set the Mr. Coffee auto-timer extra early on Saturday.

Yet the shower has a unique, mercurial streak that demands attention. Every so often, the Lyrids inexplicably blow up in an epic cannonade that illuminates the entire hemisphere. During these freak events 100 or more falling stars may shell the earth each hour. One of the most famous times this happened was in April 1803. In Richmond, townsfolk were called to the streets by a bell that was ringing for a conflagration in a nearby armory.

Instead of seeing smoke and flames, however, their eyeballs lit up with the alarming reflection of an incandescent sky swarming with meteors. According to a contemporary account in the Virginia Gazette:

From one until three, those starry meteors seemed to fall from every point in the heavens, in such numbers as to resemble a shower of sky rockets.... [S]everal of those shooting meteors were accompanied with a train of fire that illuminated the sky for a considerable distance.... During the continuance of this remarkable phenomenon a hissing noise in the air was plainly heard, and several reports resembling the discharge of a pistol.

So what exactly are the Lyrids?

They're grains of dust shooting from the tailpipe of Comet Thatcher. You can trace them as they emit from their radiant point near the blue-white star Vega in the Lyra constellation. (Here's a star chart showing where to look, and this is a great interactive site to find constellations based on your ZIP code.) The Lyrids are the oldest observed meteor shower – a Chinese witness described stars that "dropped down like rain” during a 687 B.C. outbreak – yet astronomers don't really know how to predict these paroxysms of Hulk-like rage, which occur whenever the earth passes through a particularly thick part of Thatcher's tail.

Could this be the year for another outburst? Unfortunately, a waning-gibbous moon will make it difficult to tell with lunar light pollution obscuring all but the brightest meteors. Clouds and showers in the forecast compound the less-than-optimal sighting conditions. Still, if this Arlington resident managed to see a fireball during Saturday's stormy weather, there's hope yet for D.C. skygazers.

Overnight: Mostly Clear and Chilly

Lows: 39-44 | Wind: Light

“Might” is probably overstating it. Right now, the National Hurricane Center is tracking a tropical system 450 miles northeast of Puerto Rico that is shooting off gale-force winds and showers and thunderstorms. (Satellite video.) It's crawling toward the U.S. at 10 m.p.h. and shows little chance of making it. The NHC gives the “poorly organized” storm only a 10 percent chance of developing into a tropical or subtropical cyclone in the next two days, the time frame in which its upper-level winds are still strong enough to sustain hurricane genesis.

If it did swell into something larger, the storm would be unusually early, giving credit to hurricane forecasters who have predicted a busy year for cyclone genesis. Tropical cyclones usually form in the Atlantic Basin from June 1 to Nov. 30. Subtropical cyclones are more likely to form outside that period, because they don't require as much warmth from the sea surface to grow.

Still, this wouldn't be the earliest cyclone to ever form in the Atlantic. On March 6, 1908, a Category 2 hurricane came rushing out of the Caribbean to shake up the residents of the Virgin Islands. An account in that year's Monthly Weather Review rated the cyclone as “so boisterous” that it recalled the powerful summer hurricane season. The account goes on:

By and by it became possible to say just where the cyclone center had past thru the Caribbean chain of islands, namely, between St. Christopher on the southeast and St. Eustatius on the northwest. This is manifest from the fact that at St. Christopher and at Nevis all the small craft lying, as is the case nearly everywhere in the Caribbean chain, on the westward or lee side of the islands were driven ashore, while at St. Eustatius the vessels (also on the lee side) were driven out to sea.

A schooner navigated by the mate and a couple of hands arrived at St. Thomas and reported having been driven off from St. Eustatius by the storm, the captain and the rest of the crew having been left ashore, as there was no possibility of communicating. On the 23d of March a telegram was received here in St. Crois from Porto Rico announcing that a 'Curacao sloop named the Sea Hawk was picked up off Arroyo on Friday (the 20th), abandoned and stripped of mast and sails.

The storm also damaged an Anglican Church near St. Bartholomew, ripped apart the tents of “peasants” and blew away the cotton crop.

Thursday: Mostly Sunny; Breezy & Cooler

Highs: Mid 60s | Wind: NW 15-20

High clouds will mix with sunshine today as high pressure briefly slides into place. Temperatures while noticeably cooler and about 20 degrees cooler than yesterday will be just below average in the mid-60s.

Clouds will increase during the overnight however with brisk northerly winds in place temperatures will drop into the upper 30s in the suburbs and into the low 40s closer to the Beltway.

On Friday a warm front will begin to lift north through the region; however, due to onshore winds our temperatures will struggle to make it into the low 50s with rain developing during the afternoon hours.

Easter weekend doesn’t look to be a washout however a few showers may linger into early Saturday. Daytime highs will jump back into the low to mid 70s as we get back into the warm part of the this next system. Easter Sunday looks warmer still with high climbing to near 80 degrees under partly sunny skies. There is a chance though that by the afternoon and evening hours we may have a few shower or even storms to track for you.

Pretty sure that alien-encounter videos are supposed to be creepy, not make you laugh. But this video showing a couple of Russians finding a teeny-weeny alien corpse in the snow is downright amusing – even the Russians seem to be chortling.

Here's the back story, according to Michael Cohen of All News Web (“The World's Only Inter-Galactic Daily News Service”). A couple weeks ago, villagers in Irkutsk, Siberia, were amazed to see a freaky object glowing blue and pink hurtle from the sky and crash into the woods. Government and military officials visited the impact site and hushed things up. A little later, a pair of merry Russians touring the countryside in nearby Republic of Buryatia stumble upon the thing you see in the video above, continuing a grand tradition of Russia-alien friendship.

The problem with this “alien” is that it looks like someone left it in the dryer for way too long. It's microscopic. The craft it supposedly took interstellar cruises in must have been the size of a Radio Flyer wagon. In fact, All News Web seems obsessed with itsy-bitsy alien sightings. Check out this video of a toadstool-sized E.T. toddling along like Alfred Hitchcock in the background, or this floating alien pyramid that any tow-headed troublemaker could shoot down with a BB gun. Nevertheless, the proportion issue hasn't stopped this dead alien video from getting more than 5 million YouTube views. The truth is out there... we're just looking too high.