WEATHER BLOG: The Weekend

Off to a superb start for much of the Eastern Seaboard from Maine down to northern Florida thanks to a large area of high pressure that will be centered near and just off of the Carolina coast during the day. With the position of the high just off of the coast, a light west to southwesterly flow will mean that temperatures are going to climb a good 5-10 degrees higher Saturday than Friday. Despite the warmer temperatures, dewpoints in the 30s and 40s will mean that Saturday will be a near perfect day to spend some time outdoors.

As high pressure continues to slide farther away from the East Coast, the door will be open for some mid and high level clouds to streak through parts of the Northeast later Saturday and Saturday night out ahead of a frontal boundary that will push into the St. Lawrence Valley. 700 mb moisture on most of the models show that these clouds will be from the near the PA/NY border points north...so much of the area should see clear to occasionally partly cloudy skies.

Mother's Day will likely feature a few more clouds across central and eastern Maryland as the frontal boundary sags closer to the area. In addition, an upper level system moving across the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys will begin to spread some high and mid level clouds up toward the area by Sunday afternoon. As the upper level system continues to push northeastward, moisture from this disturbance will start to interact with the frontal boundary and this will cause some showers and thunderstorms to expand northeastward along the front into parts of central Maryland, central PA and central New York.

I think the moisture will hold off long enough for areas around BWI points southeast to remain dry, however dewpoints will be rising into the middle 50s by day's end so there is still an outside chance something sneaks in close to the city by the end of Mother's Day. The best chances for a shower or storm will be northwest of the city later on Mother's Day afternoon.