Temperature records could fall today
The National Weather Service is predicting that high temperature records will fall Friday at all three regional airports. The record at BWI-Marshall for this date is 95 degrees. That's also the forecast high for the day, but Sterling's prognosticators frequently underestimate the "summer" highs for Baltimore. Stay tuned.
UPDATE, 3 p.m.: Instruments at BWI show 94 degrees so far this afternoon. That makes a record 57 days so far this year at 90-plus degrees. The Baltimore average is 29.4 days in one calendar year, so we've nearly doubled that. Still waiting to see if we break the record high for the date.
The other prediction of note in today's forecast discussion from Sterling is that the region is in for a pretty good dose of rain next week as moisture from the Gulf of Mexico surges north just west of the Appalachians. Here's how the morning discussion puts it:
"CLOUDS WILL INCREASE SUNDAY AS [WIND] FLOW BECOMES SOUTHERLY. UPPER SHORTWAVE TROUGH [LOW] WILL DIVE OUT OF THE MIDWEST US AND CLOSE OVER THE LOWER/MID MISSISSIPI
VALLEY...ALLOW[ING] DEEP LAYER MOISTURE FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO TO SURGE
INTO THE SOUTHEAST US TOWARD THE MID-ATLANTIC.
"LIGHT PRECIP MAY BEGIN SUNDAY TO SPREAD NORTHWARD INTO THE [FORECAST AREA] OVER COOLER AIR AT SURFACE...WITH BEST CHANCES ACROSS POTOMAC HIGHLANDS...CNTRL SHENANDOAH VALLEY... WITH CLOUDS AND NORTHERLY WINDS...MAXIMA SHOULD REMAIN IN LOW 70S. INCREASINGLY MOIST TREND CONTINUES INTO SUN NIGHT.
"SURFACE LOW PRESSURE FORECASTED TO DEVELOP OVER DEEP SOUTH MONDAY AND SLOWLY TREK NORTHWARD JUST WEST OF APPALACHIANS THRU TUE. LOW LEVEL FLOW BECOMES EASTERLY FOR MID-ATLANTIC...ALLOWING FOR MOIST MARINE AIR FROM THE ATLANTIC TO POOL AGAINST APPALACHIANS. STRONG SOUTHERLY FLOW AT MID AND UPPER LEVELS WILL CREATE SIGNIFICANT DEEP LAYER MOISTURE FROM THE GULF OF MEXICO.
"PRECIP CHANCES BEST WHEN SURFACE SYSTEM IS JUST WEST OF REGION MONDAY NIGHT... SIGNIFICANT
PRECIP COULD RESULT...AND HAVE RAISED PROBABILITIES DURING THIS PERIOD. NO PLANS AT THE MOMENT TO INCLUDE HEAVY RAIN POSSIBILITY IN GRIDS...BUT IF MODELS CONTINUE CURRENT TREND...THIS INTRODUCTION MAY BE WARRANTED."
Comments
Frank,
Following up from the 'Out like a lion' post's from Wednesday. I submitted my guess of 64 days of 90'+ days via a post comment back in July when it was the topic of conversation daily. I don't have a 'sent' e-mail, sorry. If that disqualifies me then that's ok, I'll look at it as simply a Gentlemens bet, for pride only. And since we almost always have a few days of Indian Summer in October I am still confident in that guess of 64 days.
Drew
FR: Hearing no objections, I'll add you to the roster.
Posted by: Drew Lenear | September 24, 2010 9:17 AM
Rain--ummm did I hear rain is coming, like real rain???? Looking at the ten day I see a string of showery days--amazing, real rain in Maryland, (I live in western Frederick County where its the Gobi desert.....).
John
Posted by: js | September 24, 2010 12:44 PM
This hot sticky weather is getting old. I agree with Drew; we could easily have over 60 days of 90 degree days in Baltimore. I had the feeling after our "snowmagedden" winter that we'd have a hot summer. I have the feeling October will be hot and sticky just like October of 2007. I also feel we will have a late starting Winter with above normal temperatures and slightly below average snow amounts. I remember one Sunday back in 1998 we had over 80 degrees recorded downtown. And we had a Raven's home game. Sure enough within 2 weeks we had our first accumulating snow. Maryland weather: we have four seasons: Winter, Summer, Draught and Humidity. Spring, Fall and seasonal temperatures are our weather anomolies!
Posted by: Simon B. | September 24, 2010 9:21 PM
Frank, on Thursday, you said that Wednesday's high was the 57th day at 90 or above. (Update to Summer goes out like a lion). So that would make Friday the 58th, and today's 91 degrees (Saturday) brings us to 59, right?
I'm starting to wonder if my guess of 62 is going to fall on the low side!
FR: You are correct. But there's a significant pattern shift in the works. The next few days will be in the 70s, with plenty of rain. I suppose anything can happen. But my money's on 59 being the top.
Posted by: Corine | September 25, 2010 4:06 PM
Apparently I'm in the minority because I'm loving this weather. I like when it's warm and frankly, it really isn't all that hot I don't think. I may be biased though because I moved here from Texas, near Dallas. In the late '90s we had several summers where we had 40+ days in a row with over 100 degree temperatures. And the lows at night seldom dropped below 80. Even the swimming pools felt like bathtubs so they weren't a lot of relief either. This is great weather!
Posted by: Perry | September 25, 2010 4:27 PM