If the forecast holds up, that glimmer of sunshine you see outside this morning will be the last we'll enjoy for the week. A series of slow-moving frontal systems will bring unsettled weather, with clouds and rain beginning later today and continuing at least through Thursday. Friday may bring a brief peek at the sun, with plenty of clouds moving back in until Sunday.

It's not often we see the NWS's 7-day forecast jammed up with rain icons like this one. We've had 1.78 inches of rain so far this month at BWI, a bit more than the average for this point in December. But other portions of the state - especially the Eastern Shore - are way above average, having clocked 2 to 4 inches or more last week. 

The Drought Monitor maps were already looking better even before those rains arrived. This week's precipitation will be just what we need to help recharge reservoirs and ground water levels.

The really good news is that we have come up on the warm side of the sharply defined temperature differences across the nation. Frigid arctic air has tumbled out of Canada into the Plains, bringing bitterly cold and wintry precipitation from the Dakotas to Oklahoma and Tennessee.

The East Coast remains east of the jet stream and the cold frontal boundary, so we get to enjoy unseasonably warm temperatures with our rain, for now. Highs could reach 60 degrees here today before slipping back into the more seasonable 40s tomorrow and Wednesday as a cold front drifts by. Then we'll rise back toward 60 late in the week ahead of the next cold front.

Yearning for more snow than we're seeing? Start the car. Here is the snow cover map for Sunday.