Some Battleground States Rainy, Foggy

UPDATE (11 PM): Barack Obama will be our new president. We now return you to your regularly scheduled weather updates.

UPDATE (9 PM): Media outlets are beginning to agree that Obama is quickly approaching the needed number of electoral votes and that John McCain is "in a dire situation." Meanwhile, the popular vote is very close nationwide, and the candidates are neck and neck in Virginia and North Carolina; the polls had showed Obama ahead in both states, so the rain today may have in fact held down the Democrats in those states.

UPDATE (3 PM): Rain continues in eastern Virginia and North Carolina... it has been raining all day over a large portion of the counties in eastern NC that went democratic in 2004. With the race so close there, I would say that a low democratic turnout could tip the win to McCain... but the population in those counties is low compared to surrounding areas. If you haven't already, read Elliot's funny blog at the link below.

ORIGINAL POST (8 AM): In today's historical U.S. Presidential Election, there are some weather problems which could keep Democrats from going to the polls (as they historically have issues with bad weather, see yesterday's entry for more). The "toss-up" states (as defined by RCP) are shown in red on the weather map below.

Elliot's Funny Blog "No Veto of Rain, but It Is Not Unpresidented" (PREMIUM | PRO)

The letters indicate official weather observations from airports (which are more accurate than the weather radar picture, also shown below). Where you see "R" or "L" it's raining or drizzling this morning, which includes both eastern North Carolina and Virginia. There is also some fog ("F") in Pennsylvania, which, although not officially a "toss-up" state, it has been hotly contested.