WASHINGTON — After a windy Friday, we’ll settle nicely into the 50s for the weekend. We may have a few clouds and a sprinkle here or there Saturday evening into Sunday morning. But for the most part, we are looking at sunshine.
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Nice weather will continue into the beginning of next week as a weak area of high pressure moves into the region. Temperatures will climb back into the low 60s for a period of time before another cold front pushes through the region by mid-week. After that, big changes are on the way for our area.
Remember that Super Typhoon Nuri I harped about in my last blog? Well, it is barreling down on the western coast of Alaska and the Bering Sea, and has formed into a cold core low that’s a very powerful storm.
Most likely, this will be one of the most powerful storms we’ve seen this year, and one of the most powerful storms to hit Alaska in decades. It could break the record for lowest atmospheric pressure recorded in Alaska.
The old record was 925 millibars, taken October 1977 in the Dutch Harbor, off the southern coast of Alaska.
Alaska will take a brutal hit from this weekend’s storm, with hurricane force winds, very high seas and heavy precipitation. As it stalls toward the end of the weekend and early next week into the central Bering Sea, the storm will weaken significantly, knocking down the odds of a large coastal flood event off the mainland of Alaska.
However, this storm will have an effect on our weather around the continental United States.
Still, let’s all calm down about a polar vortex. I want to face palm myself every time I hear that term, which has been about 40 times on social media.
Here’s a simple reminder:
Yes, we’re going to get chilly towards the end of next week. Why? A cold front will cross through mid-week, and a strong arctic high will build across the region.
This little blast of chilly air is most likely due from the remnants of Super Typhoon Nuri. That storm will continue to pump warm air into the atmosphere in western North America, surging cold air down across the United States.
Cold air will filter out of the northern plains and trek into the Midwest at the beginning of next week. As we head into the end of the work week — when that frontal system moves through and high pressure slides eastward across the United States — we are looking at temperatures around the D.C. area below average for this time of year.
Cold air filters out of the Northern Plains on Tuesday afternoon.
Cold air slides to the east coast by Friday as an Arctic High travels eastward across the United States.
Our average temperature towards the end of next week will top out in the upper 50s; however, we will most likely fall into the 40s by the end of next week.
So we are not too chilly, but chilly enough to take notice. And just a note, we have generally already fallen into the 40s in the D.C. area by this time so we have some work to do to catch up.
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