8/31 DC/MD/VA Weather Outlook

Severe weather is possible today, but not as high of a threat as yesterday. Warm and dry conditions will be the rule for a while after today. A brief cool down and then more summer like weather possible next week.

Summary:  First and foremost, Katrina will be the costliest hurricane for the United States ever. The tragedies unfolding in Louisiana and other Gulf Facing states is still just being realized and its true toll will take months to determine. Heartfelt condolences for anyone with family and friends down there. The systems did spawn some severe weather here in Northern Virginia and a tornado was reported in Faquier county which caused damage to homes. See http://www.midatlanticweather.com/cgi-bin/weather/hw3.cgi?forecast=stormreports&use;_state=md&maplinks;= for reported wind and weather damage. Today is a tough one to call. The criteria needed to produce more severe weather is very strong in the atmosphere but the trajectory of winds causes downsloping winds off the mountains and subsidence around the Tropical system should limit the overall convection That being said, a single thunderstorm cell would likely become a super cell (rotate) and could drop a tornado. With that RISK I will not drop my severe weather alert, but will emphasize ISOLATED. After the front moves through later today a drier period will ensue and temps will remain in the 80 to even as high as 90 through Saturday. A Brief cool down will follow but I see a chance of pretty warm summer like pattern developing again next week.

Tropics: There are a few systems in the Tropical Atlantic that could become tropical depressions and/or storms in the next day or so, but until next week when the Atlantic will have some changes to its upper level wind flow, the systems should be steered northward.  We are 2 weeks from the usual peak of the tropical season for the Atlantic so we will likely have more to come. Unfortunately, this year seems to point to continued threats to the Gulf Coast and Florida with the trajectory of upper level features. We can all hope Katrina is the last of any big storms for this year.

Thanks to all who continue to post to the Forum. Our community has grown to 22 members. Please join those who have so we can get good feedback and regional coverage. http://www.midatlanticweather.com/bb3/

Did you know? I send this update out semi regularly via email! To get it send and email to midatlanticweather-subscribe@yahoogroups.com I also send a Severe Weather Alert when we need it. To get it mid-atlanticweather-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Site News:  A lot of new and updated links are now on the web site. I have a lot of new Tropical links to add and I will likely re-organize pages in the next few weeks. Look forward to expanding on the design. Ther could be some slight menu changing, but I find the site effective in communicating what I want so it will be more to make the site cleaner than to have radical changes!

All for now!

Relief Agencies:

American Red Cross, http://www.redcross.org 800-HELP NOW (435-7669) English, 800-257-7575 Spanish.

Operation Blessing, http://www.ob.org 800-436-6348.

Salvation Army, http://www.salvationarmyusa.org 800-SAL-ARMY (725-2769).

America‘s Second Harvest, http://www.secondblessing.org 800-344-8070.

Adventist Community Services, http://www.adventist.communityservices.org 800-381-7171.

Christian Disaster Response, http://www.cdresponse.org 941-956-5183 or 941-551-9554.

Christian Reformed World Relief Committee, http://www.crwrc.org 800-848-5818.

Church World Service, http://www.churchworldservice.org 800-297-1516.

Convoy of Hope, http://www.convoyofhope.org 417-823-8998.

Lutheran Disaster Response, http://www.elca.org/disaster 800-638-3522.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, http://www.pcusa.org/pda/ 800-872-3283.

Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief, http://www.namb.net/site/c.9qKILUOzEpH/b.224451/k.7BDB/Disaster_Relief_Homepage.htm 800-462-8657, ext. 6440.

United Methodist Committee on Relief. http://gbgm-umc.org/umcor/ 800-554-8583

Forecast text and graphics from National Weather Service. Mid Atlantic Weather com is not responsible for accuracy of these forecasts and may not be held liable for any damages caused by using this web site. Data may not be current therefore the user agrees to always rely upon official forecast products for their area provided by the National Weather Service.