April heat sticks until Wednesday
Temperatures reached a high of 90 degrees at BWI yesterday afternoon, and it looks like we're in for more of the same straight through Tuesday as we remain under the influence of a Bermuda high sitting off the Carolina coast.
Yesterday's high at BWI did not challenge the 94-degree record for the date, set back in 1960. (Ninety-four is also the highest reading on record for April in Baltimore, matched on two days in April 1960, and once each in 1941 and 1896.)
We recorded a high of 86 degrees here at The Sun on Saturday. It's already 86 here as I write Sunday morning at 10 a.m. We had a high of 91 degrees out on the WeatherDeck in Cockeysville on Saturday.
Here are some other highs reported Saturday from across the region. (Easy to forget it was 29 degrees at BWI just 12 days ago, and that we recorded traces of snow there on April 7 and 8.)
Today's forecast out of the Sterling office calls for a high again near 90 degrees (that's the 5 p.m. temperature forecast map at left), but I'll be surprised if we don't exceed that number. The record for Baltimore on an April 26 is 92 degrees, set in 1990. I'll go out on a limb here and predict a record high at the airport this afternoon.
UPDATE: Nope. The high at BWI was 91 degrees, although we did reach 93 at the Inner Harbor. The forecasters had it right.
As air at the surface heats up, it will rise, drawing in cooler air from over the bay. That bay breeze should keep things cooler along the western shore. But it may also help to fuel pop-up thunderstorms west of I-95 like the one that boomed over Baltimore Saturday evening.
Sunny and hot weather will continue through Tuesday, if the forecast holds up, with Monday's forecast high at 90 again, and only slightly cooler - 89 degrees - on Tuesday.
That's when the next cold front will finally start to press into the mid-Atlantic states. High, cirrus clouds will start to show up on Tuesday ahead of the front. By Wednesday, we should be looking at a chance of showers and thunderstorms, with highs only in the 70s. Winds shifting to the east will bring in cool, moist air. More chances for showers will persist into the weekend.
