Sure there are flake icons on the NWS forecast page for Baltimore. But I wouldn't let it worry you much. They're billing it as a "slight" chance for snow Wednesday evening through Thursday as a little "clipper" system moves our way out of central Canada. They put the chances at only 20 to 30 percent. Our really big snows come from coastal storms that sweep up from the south or southwest. 

Also, the cold, dry, high-pressure system that's rushing into the region with these high winds should leave us too dry for this weak system to generate much snow. Call it a dusting at best. (If we wake to 6 inches, I've never heard of this blog.)

Speaking of high winds, we clocked the peak gust at 28 mph here at Calvert & Centre streets around 10 a.m. The barometer bottomed out at 29.61 inches at 6 a.m., and has been climbing ever since as the low that brought us rain over the weekend (and snow to our north) heads off to the northeast and the high pressure system builds in.

Winds around the region have ranged from 10 mph to 30 mph, with gusts as high as 46 mph (at Martinsburg, W.V.). BWI reported sustained winds at 30 mph with gusts to 39 mph in the last hour. You can track the winds here. Just scroll down to the "Current Hourly Weather Observations" and look in the "Winds" column. Here's another rundown from the NWS.

And BTW, take a second a check out The Sun's new science blog, "Science Matters." It debuts today, with contributions by Sun reporters Chris Emery, Dennis O'Brien and yours truly. We hope to keep it lively and interesting and unpredictable. Let us know what you think.