Hang in there, Maryland. This premature high-summer weather can't last. The 90-degree temperatures will expire after today. We'll have one more warm day, and then everything will return to normal. Here, below, is how we looked Sunday from orbit, as we basked in the sunshine.

By Wednesday we'll be back in the low 70s, and Thursday will stall out in the low 60s as the next cold front slips by and stalls to our south. That will be a 30-degree drop in daytime highs, and it will also bring us better chances for showers for the rest of the week.

In the meantime, however, we'll have to contend with the heat. After threatening a record high yesterday (we fell short at 91 degrees at BWI - a degree short of tying the record), we're headed for a high of 91 again today if the forecast holds up.

As wind gusts pick up this afternoon, meteorologists are warning that the effects of heat and drying humidities (37 percent relative humidity in Baltimore at last check)will elevate the dangers of wildfires. The "enhanced fire threat" will continue from late Monday morning until early Monday evening. "If you plan to burn, please check with your local authorities before doing so," the weather service advised.

Once again, this April heat wave comes to us courtesy of the big high-pressure system still spinning off the Carolina coast. Circulation around all highs is clockwise, so we are getting winds out of the southwest and west. Already dry, these breezes are dried further and heated as they sweep down the eastern slopes of the Appalachians. And we see 90-degree readings.

We reached 91 degrees yesterday out on the WeatherDeck in Cockeysville, and 94 degrees at The Sun's weather station at Calvert & Centre streets. We're at 87 degrees here now, at about 11:30 a.m. You can check the newspaper's readings anytime. It's updated every 10 miniutes, day and night. Click here and save the link to your desktop. 

Although many April dates (18 in all) have record highs in the 90s, multi-day stretches of 90-plus weather like this are pretty unusual, according to Steve Zubrick, science officer for the National Weather Service's Sterling forecast office. In fact, this is the first 90-degree April weather at BWI since 2004.

Steve tells me the longest sequence of consecutive 90-plus days in April at BWI is four days, set from April 23-26 in 1960. The highs were 94, 93, 94, 91 degrees.

Baltimore has recorded three-day spells in the 90s on two occasions, in 1976 and 1929.

Today we seem likely to add a third instance, with highs of 90 and 91 degrees on Satiurday and Sunday, plus a third mark in the low 90s today. Adding a fourth 90-degree day on Tuesday will be a bit harder. The official forecast is for a high of 88. But Steve thinks it's a real possibility.