Friday was partly cloudy, hot and humid but with building cumulus in the later afternoon that developed into quite a powerful thunderstorm with heavy rain (0.85″), high winds, vivid lightning and booming thunder from about 1445-1615. We reached right around the 90 mark for highs with dew points similarly high as yesterday ranging up to the upper 70s. We peaked with our hot max temperature (90.3) of the day in the earlier mid-afternoon, just a bit ahead of the thunderstorm action. The low temperature for the day (in the lower mid 70s) was reached in the early morning hours right around sunrise.

The peak wind gust for the day (63 MPH) was recorded during the height of the storm at 1509 from the W. This is my highest PWG of the year, surpassing the 59 MPH PWG recorded on April 30. My wind records were only established back in November 2019 and this 63 MPH PWG is the highest ever recorded since records were started at that time. Barometric pressures were highest in the late evening hours while the lowest were in the mid afternoon just prior to the storm activity.

Saturday and Sunday look to be cloudy but mostly dry, slightly cooler with highs in the upper 80s and lows in the low 70s. Partly cloudy skies should follow Monday through Wednesday, with highs cooling from the mid 80s on Monday to about 80 on Wednesday with increasing chances of showers and storms as the week progresses and the effects of Tropical system Ida get closer to the region. Lows each day should also cool down from the upper 60s to the mid 60s towards the end of the week.

Statistics for Friday:

High temp 90.3 at 1415

Low temp 72.9 at 0626

Max humidity 95% at 1743

Min humidity 62% at 1425

Max dew point 78 at 1205

Min dew point 70 at 1512

Max barometric pressure 30.14″ at 2324

Low barometric pressure 30.05″ at 1450

Peak Wind Gust (PWG) 63 MPH from the W at 1509

Friday’s average daily wind speed 3.0 (BWI) 3.5 (IAD)

Friday’s average sky cover 0.4 (BWI) 0.4 (IAD)

Daily total precipitation 0.85″ (BWI T IAD 0.62″)

August total precipitation 6.20″

Year-to-date total precipitation 25.22″

Sunrise 0634 (EDT)

Sunset 1947 (EDT)

Moon Waning Gibbous

Currently at 0203 AM EDT Saturday we have fair skies, a temperature of 74.3, barometer 30.13″ and steady, relative humidity 95%, dew point 73, winds E 0-5 MPH. No rain so far has fallen since midnight into the tipping bucket VP2 gauge at the USG site across the street from me.

The attached image for today shows the look out my screened bedroom window to the east on Friday (8/27) during the severe thunderstorm around 1500 with trees blowing around and rain pouring down.