Once more our snow-lovers' hopes are dashed. What could have been a shovel-worthy storm - and maybe our first snowfall to top 5 inches in three years - appears to have melted away in this morning's forecast. An inch and a half of accumulating snow is the most forecasters out at Sterling can offer for tomorrow.

The Gulf storm that late last week looked like it might drop up to 6 inches on the I-95 cities is now expected to pass too far off the coast to deliver a big, snowy punch here. Forecasters are calling it "a glancing blow." They're attaching the boiler-plate CYA tag: "Any deviation from the projected path of the low would cause the forecast to change." But that seems a long-shot at best.

You can compare the AccuWeather.com snow map at left with those we posted over the past 3 or 4 days and see where the snow went. Here's Henry "Madman" Margusity eating his hat.

Look for increasing clouds and rain late today, changing over to rain and snow tonight, followed by perhaps an inch of snow during the day Tuesday. After all the hype, a dusting. And with all the salt on the roads, it's hard to imagine much impact on transportation tomorrow. One to two inches are possible north and west of the city.

Temperatures will rise to a spring-like 50 degrees at BWI today (it's already 51 here at The Sun), until a weak cold front begins to press through. But even that won't chill things off very much. Tonight's low will sink to about 30 degrees, and tomorrow's high of 35 degrees will make it tough for any snow that falls to stick around long enough to be an issue.

Colder air is coming. Tuesday night's low is forecast to drop into the teens, and Wednesday's high probably won't get above freezing. Wednesday night and Thursday will be cold, too, in the teens. But once the high moves off, and more southerly breezes take over, we'll head toward the 60-degree mark by the weekend - maybe 15 degrees above the long-term averages.

Sorry about the snow. Maybe next time. Can't wait for snow here? Fly to London.