Today's radar loop shows very clearly the passage of the cold front this morning. The front, as promised, has swept away the premature summer heat that sent temperatures into the 90s this week. It has also introduced what will be a long stretch of damp but cool (or seasonable) weather for Central Maryland.

The forecast out of Sterling this morning shows showers, a chance for rain or thunderstorms right through the weekend. The coolest day will be today, with highs struggling to reach 60 degrees. The warmest is Friday, with a maximum at BWI near 78 degrees. Nights will be great for sleeping, with lows from 46 degrees (tonight) to the 50s for the rest of the period.

At least we'll be burning very little energy for either heat or cooling.

We end the week with a couple of remarkable numbers on the books. First, three straight April days in the 90s, something that has happened only three times before - in 1929, 1960, and 1976. It was 90, 91 and 91 again on April 25, 26 and 27, respectively. None of those highs tied or broke records, but they came close.

Second, Steve Zubrick, the science officer out at Sterling, points out that this week's spate of 90-degree highs came before BWI had seen any daily maxima in the 80s. That's happened just twice before, he says, on April 27, 1969 and April 20, 1927.

We finally topped out in the 80s on Tuesday, with a high at BWI of 87 degrees.

Amazing.