April Closes As One Of Our Driest Months. A Nice Stretch of Weather On The Way!

Good Morning, Some of the wet weather we were anticipating yesterday did manage to bring relatively light rain tomuch of the area… Although total amounts since midnight on Monday were as high as 0.74" at ACY(located in Pomona, about 13 miles away from Atlantic City's boardwalk) and 1.17" in Salisbury, Maryland(located between the Chesapeake Bay and the ocean), most other places had less… Also, as expected,most of the New York City Metro Area had less than a tenth of an inch, while eastern Pennsylvania fared alittle better (with 0.18" in Allentown and 0.28" in Philadelphia)… Today, we have some interestingchallenges which we are confronted with… First and foremost, recent radar trends are indicating therewon't be a whole lot of rain around today, especially in those areas located north of the Mason-DixonLine… But even across Maryland, Virginia and in southern Delaware, there isn't really much compellingevidence that would support a 'thorough soaking'… Secondly, many modified soundings, or the modeloutput which suggests what the future vertical profile of the atmosphere will look like later today andtonight, are all hinting that some drier air will be making decent progress as it begins to press to the southand west… The sentiment early yesterday was one of reluctance to 'play up' any breaks in the clouds latertoday, and it was also still a concern that there would at least be another shower or some drizzle acrosseastern Pennsylvania, much of New Jersey and in southeastern New York… And, while we're still going toallow for a bit of rain this morning in and around Allentown, Philadelphia and across South Jersey -- wecan probably get away with maintaining a rather cloudy, but DRY morning forecast farther north andeast… This afternoon, as a ridge of high pressure continues to nose its way southward along the coastalplain, we're leaning towards keeping much of southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey, northeasternMaryland and Delaware dry, too… The farther south you go, the harder it may be for some 'brightening' totake place… But, it looks at this time, especially based on the model temperature guidance, that severalplaces will wind up in the lower or middle 60s this afternoon (except in the 50s along the immediate coast)We tried to give you the impression yesterday that the overall pattern would improve during midweek…And, while it appears that this will happen sooner than we had anticipated yesterday morning, the detailsfor the rest of the work week now look as if they'll revolve mostly around issues regarding sky cover andtemperatures… It does look like there will be several places away from the immediate coast that will beprime candidates for approaching 70 tomorrow (Wednesday)… The one relatively minor concern aboutthat is what component the wind will have, or which direction will be coming from… If it is a fairly light windaveraging less than 10 mph, then it really won't matter if it is out of the east or southeast -- but that is stillprobably going to limit the temperature to the upper 50s at most of the beaches… Thursday and Fridayare looking like nice days, although a fairly weak front dropping out of the north and west on Thursdaynight will probably lead to a somewhat cooler day on Friday… We're only talking about a difference of 3-6degrees here, but Friday should be no higher than the mid 60s in most places… Heading into early May,this isn't all that bad, and pleasant weather should persist as we head into the upcoming weekend… One note: In Central Park Monday, the 0.04" of rain that fell pushed the total for the month of April up to1.31"… Therefore, April of 2013 will NOT bring a cumulative rainfall total identical to what fell in April of1963… According to our research, April of '63 was the driest we could find during the last half-century… Have a good day!!!