Tropics Update: More Activity Next Week?

We had a rush of tropical activity leading up to the peak of hurricane season on Sept. 10th, but it has been pretty quiet ever since, with only the anemic Maria floundering in the western Atlantic. The medium range models continue to suggest we'll see a couple of systems try to develop next week, and given the proximity to the peak of the season and several disturbances coming off the west African coast, this seems reasonable. Below is a plot of tropical storm and hurricane frequency throughout the hurricane season, and you can see we're still very much in the meat of the peak time for tropical activity. Above is a plot of tropical cyclone origin during the September 11-20 ten-day time period which we are in right now, and over the years we've seen development in nearly all areas of the Atlantic Basin. Enjoy the lull while we have it! -Zach

Coolest Weather Since May

A major pattern change later this week will allow highs in the 60s and overnight lows in the lower 50s (40s in the outlying areas). We haven't seen weather this cool since early/mid May.

Lee Drops Highest Rain Totals on Virginia

The remnant moisture of Tropical Storm Lee dumped torrential rainfall over nearly two dozen states over the past week. While other regions have seen greater problems due to flooded rivers, no other state experienced greater rainfall totals than Virginia. It's still raining up in Pennsylvania at the time of this post, so the order of these might change, but as it stands now, Colonial Beach received more rainfall than any other community. We'll fortunately have much drier weather this weekend into the first half of next week. -Zach