If you had two wishes for the weather this week, what would they be? My vote would be for a few days of soaking rain (we're still in a drought, after all), clearing in time for a sunny, spring-y weekend (we deserve it).

Well, that's exactly what the National Weather Service forecasters out at Sterling are cooking up for the balance of the week. Today's sunshine will be the last for a while. There's a cold front approaching, and ahead of that we can expect increasing high clouds this afternoon, thickening up overnight, leading to rain sometime after noon Wednesday.

As the wind shifts around to the east and southeast today, communities along the Western Shore of the bay will feel chillier than the rest of us as they get that breeze off the still-cold (46 degrees) Chesapeake.

Wednesday's rain could deliver a quarter- to a half-inch in the afternoon, and another tenth- to a quarter-inch overn ight into Thursday. All of it is welcome on the WeatherDeck in Cockeysville, near which we will be planting a new cherry tree tomorrow.

There's a second storm system due to spin up off the southeast coast on Friday along with another cold front. All that will bring us more rain Friday until the front blows through. Sterling describes that event as a "soaking rain." We'll take it. Streamflow across Maryland is up compared with last week, but falling again.

Behind all this wet weather we can expect clearing skies late Friday, bringing us sunshine and highs in the mid- to upper-60s for the weekend. But don't put away the umbrella. Rain returns next week.