Skies over D.C. went back to gray on Sunday, as mercury sank - The Washington Post

Perhaps fickle, certainly changeable, the weather in the Washington area on Sunday returned to gray skies and cool temperatures in stark contrast to the sunlit glories of the day before.

It appeared that high afternoon temperatures did not reach the 60 degree mark on Sunday at any of the area’s three official measuring sites.

In fact, at Dulles International Airport, in Virginia, Sunday’s high was only 54, which was 20 degrees less than the 74 there on Saturday. It was also 15 degrees below the average high at Dulles for April 21.

Sunday’s uniformly cool readings may have signaled that nature has not yet signed or even prepared the terms of summer’s lease. The low temperatures may have warned against assuming that bright warm days must hereafter be our lot.

Perhaps Sunday was difficult to assess on its own, given the inevitable comparisons with Saturday. On that day it reached 75 in the District, under blue skies and in warm winds.

So in a sense, Sunday may have been a day of atmospheric consciousness raising. It demonstrated perhaps the dangers of unsuspecting reliance at this time of year on the likelihood of each day resembling the one before.

It showed the differences possible between consecutive April days. It asserted that even with only nine days until May, and the sun, visible or not, getting steadily stronger, nothing guaranteed that one day must inherit the thermal legacy of another.

On the other hand, by no means could Sunday be described as absolute in its gloominess. Even overcasts show variations. At times in the District in the morning, the blanket of cloud seemed to grow almost thin enough to transmit sunlight, and surroundings began to brighten.

The powers of the sun on Sunday became even more pronounced and noticeable toward sundown.

As the sun descended at day’s end in Washington, the sheet of cloud seemed to come unfastened from the western horizon. It left a gap. Through that space in the sky streamed fiery orange sunlight, largely hidden throughout the day, but now unleashed.

Its reflection burned in windows, with a brilliance that sent a message of power and radiance.

It also may have had a wistful quality, suggesting how bright, in other circumstances, Washington’s Sunday might have been.

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