Rain. Finally.
Awoke this morning to the sound of rain on the WeatherDeck in Cockeysville. After more than a week of rainy forecasts and dry skies, the storm that's been loitering off the Carolinas and bluffing about a drift inland finally made a move our way overnight.
There was heavy rain - about 5 inches since noon Thursday - in Ocean City, closer to the low's center off Delmarva overnight, and the rain finally headed our way early this morning. We've got more than 1.5 inches of new rain in the gauge on the WeatherDeck. Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport had something closer to three-quarters of an inch at 7 a.m. Ditto for The Baltimore Sun's weather station at Calvert and Centre streets downtown.
Washington's Reagan National and Dulles airports have received far less rain this morning. More rain seems to be moving onto the cities to our north, including Philadelphia, where they've seen more than an inch, and Wilmington, Del., with an inch.
Here are some of the highest 24-hour rain totals from across the region:
Berlin: 5.88 inches
Salisbury: 3.11 inches
Jacksonville: 2.3 inches
St. Michaels: 1.9 inches'
Cockeysville: 1.88 inches
Jarrettsville: 1.82 inches
Pasadena: 1.45 inches
Towson: 1.33 inches
Catonsville: 1.21 inches
Columbia: 0.87 inch
Crofton: 0.80 inch
Forecasters out at Sterling say the center of the low, now off the Delaware beaches, will be drifting out of the region over the next 24 hours, That will draw much drier air our way from the southwest. It's already sunny in Harrisonburg, Va.
The northeastern portion of the state will be the last to shake free of the lingering showers and cool temperatures, while the Shenandoah Valley enjoys sunshine and highs in the 80s. Our weather should look brighter by Sunday and Monday, with sunny skies and highs in the low 80s.
(SUN PHOTO by Frank Roylance)
Comments
Frank,
I thought this weather system proved how much of an inexact science weather can be sometimes. All week long they seemed to have a hard time getting a handle on this storm system with the forecast seeming to change several times a day. I'm pretty sure they were calling for this thing to be out of here by Friday and yet here we are today with the heaviest rain of all. Go figure.
FR: You're right. The computer models failed almost completely to predict what this slow-moving low was going to do. It is an inexact "science" because, even with supercomputers, there are just too many variables in the ocean and atmosphere to predict weather accurately more than a few days out. And sometimes they're wrong even on those times scales. A lesson in humility.
Posted by: steve ward | September 11, 2009 4:09 PM
Rehoboth
Just got back from Rehoboth, since Monday the wind had increased and the tide got higher, but on THURSDAY at high tide the surf covered the beach up to the dunes, quite impressive and of couse the waves since Monday had increased in height!!
Posted by: Fred Weiss | September 12, 2009 6:19 PM