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Sunny skies behind approaching cold front

NOAA

Say what you want about today's gray skies and threat of rain. But at least it had the decency to hold off until after we enjoyed a perfect Memorial Day weekend. The satellite photo above shows the clouds that have moved down over us from the Great Lakes.

The high yesterday at BWI Marshall was 85 degrees, with strong sunshine. Hard to imagine a nicer day. That was 8 degrees warmer than the long-term average (77) for the date at BWI. The record is 94 degrees, set back in 1914.

Forecasters say we could go even higher this afternoon, reaching 88 degrees at the airport as warm air continues to move in from the south and west ahead of an approaching cold front.

The clash of warm air and cold air along that front brings with it a 60 percent chance for rain, with a risk of thunderstorms in the late afternoon and early evening. Some could be severe along the Chesapeake Bay and in the Baltimore and Annapolis region, forecasters say. If we get one, watch for damaging winds and large hail. Here's the Northeast radar loop.

Behind the front, we can expect sharply cooler temperatures, with strong north winds dropping temperatures into the low 50s tonight, and maybe the upper 40s in the normally cooler spots. Tomorrow will look much different than today, with clear, sunny skies returning, and a high around 70 degrees. That's cooler than last night's low of 74 degrees here at Calvert & Centre streets.

That's good news. It was starting to get uncomfortably warm and humid in the house late yesterday. I was tempted to turn on the AC. But I resisted. We've been enjoying the cool weather this month, and with no need to heat or cool the place, our BGE bill was the lowest of the year so far.  We've had just 12 cooling degree-days so far this month, well below the long-term average of 50 for this time of year at BWI. If only this could continue...

The sunshine should stick around for the rest of the work-week as high pressure builds back into the region. Daytime temperatures will gradually warm back into the 80s until the next frontal system brings showers and thunderstorms for the weekend, forecasters say.

Comments

Hi Frank,

I am holding off turning on my BGE money maker until Mid June at least.

It will be fans and open windows here as long as I can stand it.

Don't you just wish we could somehow bank that free Freezing Jan/Feb cold for summer indoor cooling somehow. ??

We can tap the winter's chill in summer. It's stored in the Earth and we can use it by installing geo-thermal heating and cooling systems. But it ain't cheap. Here's a link to a recent Sun story: http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/realestate/bal-re.geo18may18,0,1175297.story

Cheers.

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About the blogger
Frank Roylance is a reporter for The Baltimore Sun. He came to Baltimore from New Bedford, Mass. in 1980 to join the old Evening Sun. He moved to the morning Sun when the papers merged in 1993, and has spent most of his time since covering science, including astronomy and the weather. One of The Baltimore Sun's first online Web logs, the Weather Blog debuted in October 2004. In June 2006 Frank also began writing comments on local weather and stargazing for The Baltimore Sun's print Weather Page.
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