Rain and, maybe, sleet Sunday
Well, whatever shot we had at some early-season snow on Sunday seems to have melted away. The snowy part of our weekend storm now looks like it will track well to our north and west. Even 
AccuWeather has now pushed its snow forecast map into upstate Pa., N.Y. and New England.
Just to our north, however - including the southern tier of Pa. counties along the Maryland border - they are under a winter storm watch. Up there. forecasters expect the storm to start Saturday night as snow, change to rain and then back to snow before it ends late Sunday. Highway icing is possible.
The National Weather Service forecast has us slated for rain, with no more than a "likely possibly" chance of some sleet mixed in as the thing gets cranked up Sunday. Then it's all rain - maybe a half- to three-quarters of an inch before it's all over.
And all of it will be credited to December's precipitation total. November ends today with barely an inch-and-a-half of rain, about half of the long-term average at BWI.
Abnormally dry conditions continue across almost 90 percent of the state of Maryland, and two-thirds of that remains in moderate drought - or worse. Twenty percent of the state - on the Lower Eastern Shore and extreme Southern Maryland - slipped back into "severe" drought over the past week. If we're going to recharge the water tables and reservoirs this winter in time for the next growing season, it will need to start soon.
But it won't begin next week. Once the storm has cleared out, the forecast looks sunny, with daytime highs a few degrees colder than the long-term averages. And we'll dip below freezing at night.
