At 10:30 a.m. we've already reached 60 degrees in downtown Baltimore - topping the NWS forecast (59 degrees) for the afternoon's high. But before you put away your winter togs, you need to know that we're in for a - you guessed it - "wintry mix" this weekend as sharply colder air and a coastal storm move in.

Sorry. Here's the deal:

The warm air we're enjoying this morning is sweeping up from the South on a stiff breeze ahead of an approaching cold front. My weather vane - the giant U.S. flag at Bob Evans in Timonium - was rippling and streaming hard toward the north this morning.

The south winds are also bringing in rain showers, which you can see in the satellite photo above as they drift east and squeeze out the last of the clear skies over Maryland. (That will also blot out a beautiful close conjunction tonight of Venus and the crescent moon, in the western sky after sunset.)

The rain should reach our region around lunchtime today.  The precip ushers in a cold front that extends southward from a low moving into Eastern Canada today.

After the front passes by to our east, temperatures here will drop toward a forecast low of 37 degrees tonight, and a daytime high tomorrow of just 42 degrees - perhaps 20 degrees colder than today.

That's when the trouble begins. The western counties could see snow showers after midnight. After the cold front reaches the Carolina border, Saturday morning, low pressure will develop along the Gulf Coast and head north and east to emerge off the coast of North Carolina.

As that low spins up, it will start to throw plenty of moisture onshore. Winds will become north, then northeast here on Saturday, with afternoon rain that could amount to as much as a quarter inch.

The rain will continue into the evening Saturday. But as temperatures sink toward a low near freezing, we should expect an overnight mix of rain, snow and sleet into the early hours of Sunday morning. Melted totals could reach a half-inch, according to the forecast from Sterling. And before it ends Sunday night, we could see a bit of snow as temperatures drop back into the mid-20s.

UPDATE 5:30 p.m.: There is some chatter about accumulating snow and ice, with school delays Monday. But forecasters at Sterling are doubtful.

I know ... Ick. But in whatever form it arrives, we need the moisture. The cold? We're stuck with it for a while longer, it seems. Monday's forecast high is just 34 degrees, with a low of 22 before dawn on Tuesday. At least we should see some sunshine again.

Today's high is not headed for record territory. It was 76 degrees on this date in 1997. The record low is 20 degrees, in 1934.