Pack an umbrella Friday
No, we can't complain about it. Almost half the state remains in a moderate to severe drought. But we need to be aware that there's more rain ahead tomorrow and Saturday as another strong late-winter storm spins up the Appalachians and threatens heavy snow to our north and west, and significant rain for us.
Forecasters out at Sterling are calling for rain beginning after 3 p.m. Friday, continuing through the night and into Saturday morning. Total accumulations - rain - could exceed an inch and a half before it's all over. Forecasters are considering a flood watch for the I-95 corridor, but there may not be quite enough rain in the system to warrant that. Here's AccuWeather.com's take.
And once the cold front behind the bad weather passes, temperatures will drop from the 50s on Saturday, into the 20s Saturday night. Out on the ridges to our west, they may see a few flakes mixed into the precip before it's over.
If you're still looking for snow, this would have been a good snow-maker for us had the storm tracked farther south, or the temperatures been colder to begin with. But alas, you will have to travel to Ohio, Pennsylvania, upstate New York or Ontario to get in on the snow action.
From Sunday through Thursday at least, we can look forward to mostly sunny weather and seasonable temperatures. But never lose hope. My colleague Jacques Kelly still thinks we'll see a decent snowstorm before we're done. The Capital Weather Gang is recalling March of 1960, which capped a similarly snow-starved winter with a good, last blast in March. Here's more on that.



Comments
I realize winter isn't over yet (even if you already proclaimed the start of spring), but this winter seems to me to have had the smallest amount of snow that I can remember (luckily it has been wet).
How can I test this supposition? I have been doing some searching but cannot find any history of total yearly snowfall.
Posted by: Perry Cocke | March 8, 2008 5:38 PM
Perry: There have been plenty of winters here with less snow, most recently 2001-02, which saw just 2.3 inches at BWI. Here's the page you want: http://www.erh.noaa.gov/lwx/climate/bwi/bwisnow.txt
Cheers,
Frank
Posted by: frank roylance | March 8, 2008 10:01 PM