Awesome shot of the Brooklyn Bridge and Lower Manhattan from clubsodaNY on Flickr
Though it may rain this afternoon today promises to be less gloomy than yesterday. Less than half an inch of rain was measured at Belvedere Castle, though it sure seemed like more fell. Today there should be plenty of sun in the morning. Clouds will begin to build around noon and there's a chance for showers and thundershowers through the evening hours. Today's high will be in the upper 60s.
It is back to the gloom tomorrow. Skies should be overcast and a drizzly, showery mix of rainfall may be a recurring event throughout the day. It will be cool too, with a high only in the lower 60s.
Our weather fortune appears to change in time for the long weekend. Expect sunny skies and a high around 68 on Friday. The sun and warming is expected to continue through the weekend. Look for a high in the low 70s on Saturday, mid to upper 70s on Sunday, and upper 70s again on Monday.
There hasn't been much in the way of severe weather here in New York lately. Across the country it is a different story. The Times is reporting this morning that 868 tornadoes had been reported through May 18th, a pace close to the record year of 2004. More than a hundred people have died in those storms, which is the greatest fatality rate in ten years. It is difficult to clearly pin the increase on a particular cause but it is believed that a lot of the increase, especially the abnormally high number of early season storms, is due to the presence of La Niña, which gave the southeastern U.S. a warmer than normal winter. The Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center has some neat graphics showing the distribution of the storms.
