Cooling off this weekend + rain chances return

The intense heat of the past few days will finally subside after Thursday, with highs topping out in the low 90s Friday, then mid 80s this upcoming weekend and into next week. We’ll also see scattered showers and storms return to Virginia and Maryland from Thursday and continuing through Sunday.

Beyond that, I’m watching Tropical Storm Lee, which will quickly become a category 4 hurricane in a matter of just a few days. At this point, I’m not expecting Lee to play a role in our weather beyond rough surf along the east coast. There’s fairly good model agreement that Lee will be turned away from the U.S. coast by a trough in the jet stream. That being said, things can change given that we’re still a ways out from Lee approaching the U.S. so it bears close watching.