DC: Warmth, Storms Through Labor Day

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

August 26,2013; 9:39PM,EDT

 

 

Very warm weather is in store for the District through Labor Day, but there will also be a few rounds of thunderstorms that may cause some disruptions.
The periodic storms will help to keep the worst of a large heat wave at bay over the Central States, where temperatures will surge to near 100 each day through the holiday weekend.
In the Washington, D.C., area, despite the risk of spotty strong storms, the weather pattern should be great most of the time for late-summer activities such as swimming, boating, evening ball games and outings. However, it may be a tad warm for folks without air conditioning and those site-seeing by foot.

Humidity levels will increase through the middle of this week, but will then ease back a bit during the last part of the week.
The pattern will be in contrast to much of the first three weeks of August, when temperatures averaged a couple of degrees below normal. Temperatures will average 3 to 6 degrees above normal over the next week or so. Average temperatures for the last week of August range from a low of 68 to a high of 85.
High temperatures most days through the last unofficial weekend of summer will be in the upper 80s to the lower 90s. Nighttime lows will generally be within a few degrees of 70.
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There can be a couple of days where downpours are persistent enough to cause minor flash and urban flooding problems, as well as travel delays at the airports and along Beltway, I-66, I-70 and I-95. A few communities can also be hit with strong, gusty winds that cause sporadic power outages.

A couple of rounds of storms can occur from Tuesday into Wednesday. Another episode or two is likely to occur at some point over the Labor Day weekend.