No Surprises Here

Lately, the weather around here has been unusual for our area. 

Each morning has been cool and damp, and those conditions have lasted until mid-afternoon at which time the sun has gradually pushed through to provide a lovely late day. It has reminded me of the marine layers I experienced the few times I stayed on the coast in California, but I dismissed the notion since we live so far inland on the East Coast.

But, I was sitting by the fire I built late this morning because it was so cold and damp when I read that a marine layer forms when warm air moves over cooler water. And I remembered the chilly, gray weather we had circled the Tidal Basin in a few hours earlier as I continued reading that the result of that clash can be mist or fog, and temperatures within the layer are significantly lower than usual. It sure sounded marine layer-y to me.

Even so, I was surprised to confirm that our recent weather has indeed been the result of a large marine layer of clouds blown by stronger-than-usual onshore winds and expanding over the mid-Atlantic seaboard. The phenomenon was actually mentioned in passing by the Capital Weather Gang, like it's no big deal.

But I guess that's just how the weather is these days: we've all learned to expect the unexpected.