Sunny, breezy Sunday caps mild stretch in Springfield before midweek cooldown

SPRINGFIELD, Va. (Nov. 8) Sunshine and a steady breeze greeted Springfield residents Sunday morning, with temperatures climbing from 47 degrees at dawn toward a high near 62 degrees.

Conditions were dry across the Fairfax County community early Sunday, with winds out of the west-northwest at 3 mph and gusts near 9 mph. Air quality was rated "fair," a level generally acceptable for most people, though sensitive groups may notice symptoms during prolonged outdoor exposure.

The mild, dry pattern is expected to hold through the first half of the week. Monday should be breezy and sunny with a high near 61, while Tuesday and Wednesday — Veterans Day — both forecast highs around 65 under partly to mostly sunny skies, per AccuWeather.

A change arrives late in the week. Forecasters say showers are possible Thursday, when highs fall to around 59, and again Friday as temperatures drop sharply to about 49. AccuWeather meteorologists are watching a potential late-week coastal storm that could bring rain and wind to the region. Daytime temperatures should recover to the mid-to-upper 50s by the start of next week.

Sunday marks the region's shortest stretch of daylight of any day this month so far — sunrise at 6:43 a.m. and sunset at 5:01 p.m., giving residents 10 hours and 18 minutes of daylight under a waning crescent moon.

While Sunday's weather is quiet, the Springfield area sits in one of the nation's more storm-prone corridors, where coastal nor'easters, tropical systems and summer heat collide.

The region's most infamous weather tragedy remains the Knickerbocker Storm of Jan. 28, 1922, when 28 inches of snow fell on Washington and the theater roof collapse it caused killed nearly 100 people, according to the National Weather Service's catalog of historic Washington winter storms.