Stiff northwest winds are chilling the region with arctic air this morning, even as they're blowing water out of the bay. Low tides have been running 1.5 to 2 feet below predicted levels. Those are the tide levels for Annapolis in red below. Predicted levels are in blue. 

The Patapsco Data Buoy has reported 17-knot winds this morning, with gusts as high as 25 knots.

Forecasters say the winds will die down this afternoon, but temperatures will stay pretty cold for the rest of the week. And if you're headed for western Maryland, dress for winter. They're calling for more snow before the weekend out there, with overnight lows in the teens. Here's the Grantsville forecast.

 For the Baltimore region, we're looking for highs in the 40s all week, and overnight lows below freezing. That's about 10 degrees below the long-term averages for this time of year at BWI. The cold spot will come on Friday, with a forecast high of 40 degrees at BWI, sinking to just 23 degrees overnight into Saturday.

I confess we've switched on the electric blanket this week. The back bedroom runs 10 degrees colder than the rest of the house. In the absence of a big dog, it helps to give those sheets a heat boost, and it sure beats having BGE heat the whole room all night. Anybody else finding toasty shortcuts for coping with the cold? Leave us a comment.

Speaking of winter, the National Weather Service will issue its US Winter Outlook tomorrow morning. We'll pass it along here. At the moment, the three-month forecast for December through February (issued a month ago) shows no strong trends in either direction for our region. But even a near-"normal" winter here would seem colder and snowier in the wake of two very mild, and relatively snow-free winters in the immediate past. 

Truth be told, we haven't seen a snowy winter here since 2002-03. Good thing or bad?