Forecasts don't come any better than this. A cold front slipping by us today will usher in nearly a week of delightful weather, taking us right through the Monday Columbus Day (for some of you, but not newspaper types) holiday.

Prognosticators out at Sterling say we can expect highs in the upper 70s today and again on Monday. The days in between will also be sunny, but a bit cooler - in the mid-70s. Overnight lows will slide into the 50s.

That's all just about 5 or 10 degrees above the long-term averages for this time of year at BWI. The extremes are, well, a lot more extreme. Record highs for this time of year are still in the upper 80s and low 90s. Record lows are in the 20s and 30s.

And today is the 105th anniversary of the earliest snowfall recorded for Baltimore since they began tracking snow here in 1883. The city recorded a trace of snow on this date in 1903. The earliest measurable snow fell on Oct. 10, 1979, when 0.3 inch was recorded at the airport.

Headed for the beach this weekend? The forecast there, too, is terrific.