Democracy Dies in Darkness
Capital Weather Gang

D.C.-area forecast: Turning summerlike this week with little chance of rain

Today may be the last day in the 70s for a while. 80s and even 90s are about to take over.

By
May 17, 2021 at 5:00 a.m. EDT
A female wood duck is perched at the edge of Theodore Roosevelt Island on Sunday. (Gary House/Flickr)

Today’s daily digit

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

7/10: We may have a fair amount of cloud cover at times, but the temperatures are tough to top.

Express forecast

  • Today: Partly to mostly cloudy. Highs: 70-75.
  • Tonight: Partly cloudy. Lows: 50-55.
  • Tomorrow: Becoming mostly sunny. Highs: Near 80.

Forecast in detail

With another pleasant afternoon with highs in the 70s today, our streak of consecutive cooler-than-average days grows to 12. But tomorrow, a summer weather pattern settles in and temperatures are off to the races. We should hit 80 Tuesday, the mid- to upper 80s on Wednesday and 90 or so Thursday through the weekend. With little or no rain predicted this week, we face a growing rainfall deficit and, if the dry pattern persists, it may not be long before we start talking about drought.