While the danger for extreme fire weather continues in the Lower Plains, flooding continues to rage in California, and snow falls in the intermountain west, we're left with nondescript weather along the East Coast (save the folks in the Northeast where over a foot of snow fell through Tuesday). I am not enthusiastic talking about this type of weather, and it's beginning to feel like I'm a broken record.

Today: Clouds will hang tough as low-level moisture remains stagnant over the Mid Atlantic. High temperatures will be only slightly higher than yesterday--in the mid 40s.

Tonight: A weak low pressure system approaches the region from the northwest. There is a very small chance (less than 20%) a few sprinkles/light showers make it into the region. Temperatures will dip into the lower to mid 30s.

Clouds will finally begin scattering out over the region on Thursday, after a large cold front sweeps through the region. Temperatures on Saturday look like they will remain in the mid-upper 30s under partly sunny conditions.

Tropical Storm ZETA giving forecasters a hard Time:
Zeta, the 27th named storm of this incredible Hurricane season, developed back on December 30, and continues to defy physical parameters set by numerical weather models. Forecasters at the Hurricane Center have been scratching their heads over this feature in the central Atlantic, as exhibited by Dr. Richard Pasch's discussion written yesterday afternoon:

ALTHOUGH A WEAKENING TREND SEEMED IMMINENT EARLIER TODAY...AS THE LOW-CLOUD CENTER STARTED TO BECOME EXPOSED...A NEW BURST OF DEEP CONVECTION SUBSEQUENTLY REFORMED NEAR THE CENTER. ZETA HAS THUSFAR REFUSED TO WEAKEN IN...WHAT APPEARS TO BE...A STRONGLY SHEARED ENVIRONMENT. CLEARLY WE NEED AN INCREASED UNDERSTANDING OF INTENSITY CHANGE FOR SYSTEMS IN THE SUBTROPICS SUCH AS ZETA...EPSILON...VINCE...ETC.

Zeta had moved into a zone of immensely high shear (change of wind speed with height) that almost always kills tropical cyclones like Zeta. But it appeared, yesterday, the storm had diverted much of the vertical wind shear away from its center, promoting slight strengthening. Zeta is, however, looking quite ragged this morning, and slow weakening is anticipated as Zeta progresses towards Bermuda.

WeatherBug turns to ABC7:
Those of you who check ABC7's weather page may have noticed a "weatherbug network" bar at the top of the page. The WeatherBug corporation dropped its partnership with NBC4, and has moved over to Channel 7. The WeatherBug Corp. is a Germantown, MD based Company, and provides "real time" streaming local weather information around the region.

WeatherBug Features:

Live Neighborhood Conditions & Local Forecasts
World's Largest Weather Camera Network
Real-time Storm Alerts
Top Weather News
Animated Radar and Satellite Images
Up-to-the-minute Temperature on your Task Bar

Doug Hill, and the entire WJLA news team seem to be allotting a significant amount of air time to promote their new friends at WeatherBug. You can download the free 6.1 WeatherBug version here.