On the third day of December, as many in Washington inevitably started musing on the approaching winter, our lot was as a substitute a day of three vital climate W’s — moist, heat and windy.
Washington
Not wintry, Saturday was warm, wet and windy in Washington
It was as in the event that they requested us what to make of such a December day.
Wetness got here from nearly a 3rd of an inch of rain, measured right here as of 5 p.m.
The official 0.31 inches got here as a part of a cafeteria menu of watery choices. In accordance with the Nationwide Climate Service, the dampness — primarily a soggy morning’s invoice of fare — included a thunderstorm, rain, mild rain and the lightest kind of rain, which is how we would describe fog.
By late afternoon, the winds reached a prime pace of 24 mph. In briefer bursts, they gusted even larger, to 33 mph.
And the heat got here within the type of a excessive temperature of 62 levels, making Saturday notably heat for December, 10 levels above the common excessive for the date.
Ten years in the past on Dec. 3, we set a file excessive for the date. However it was solely 9 levels hotter than our Saturday.
As for the skies, a couple of minutes after sundown, they appeared created from rough-edged blotches and patches of flat black. A little bit of grey added a woolly texture.
In opposition to a pale-blue after-sundown sky, the clouds appeared sober, austere and notably inky.