Rain exits, dry and sunny stretch follows for Springfield
Scattered rain showers were likely after 7 a.m. Thursday, keeping skies mostly cloudy as the temperature climbed to a high near 63 degrees. Readings were expected to slip to around 57 in the afternoon as winds shifted out of the northwest. Forecasters put the chance of rain at 50%.
SPRINGFIELD, Va. — A brief round of rain showers will cross the Springfield area Thursday before a blustery cool-down ushers in a week of dry, mostly sunny weather, forecasters said.
The National Weather Service said scattered rain showers were likely after 7 a.m. Thursday, keeping skies mostly cloudy as the temperature climbed to a high near 63 degrees. Readings were expected to slip to around 57 in the afternoon as winds shifted out of the northwest. Forecasters put the chance of rain at 50%.
More showers were possible Thursday night, with a low around 43 degrees and northwest winds of 10 to 15 mph gusting to 23 mph.
Friday will be noticeably colder and breezier. A slight chance of morning showers gives way to partly sunny skies, with a high near 51 degrees and northwest winds around 16 mph, gusting as high as 25 mph. Friday night will turn sharply colder, with the mercury dropping to about 36.
Sunshine returns for the weekend and holds through most of next week. Forecast highs sit near 50 on Saturday, 52 on Sunday and Monday, 54 on Tuesday and 58 on Wednesday, with overnight lows falling into the low-to-mid 30s — cold enough for frost in the outlying Fairfax County suburbs.
No severe weather watches or warnings were in effect for the area early Thursday, and forecasters said no significant rainfall was expected beyond a few hundredths of an inch from Thursday's showers.
The quiet pattern comes with autumn in full swing: the normal high for Nov. 12 in the Springfield area is 59 degrees and the normal low is 43, according to climate records. The date's records — 77 degrees in 1912 and 24 degrees in 1926 — were in no danger, forecasters' numbers suggest.
Residents planning outdoor time will find shortening days. Sunrise Thursday is at 6:47 a.m. and sunset at 4:57 p.m., with the daylight total about two minutes shorter than Wednesday's.
The next meaningful chance of rain is not expected until at least Monday, Nov. 23, when an extended forecast from Weather Underground showed a 75% chance of rain showers for the area, ending the dry run.