Looking for some relief from the 90-ish temperatures and high humidity? Be here tomorrow (Friday). The NWS folks in Sterling are offering us a high of only 84 degrees at BWI-Marshall Airport. And that's about the only break we see in the forecast.

There's a frontal boundary draped across the mid-Atlantic states, with hot and humid to the south and cooler, drier air to the north. That's been responsible for the monotonous string of hot, tropically humid days and scattered showers. We've had just two high temperatures at BWI since July began - 89 degrees on the 1st, 4th and 6th, and 93 on the 2nd, 3rd and 5th. There's also another Code Orange Air Pollution Alert in effect today. Breathing outdoors will be unhealthy for sensitive groups. NOT breathing is also not recommended. Go indoors and breathe there.

The system is finally going to get booted off the coast in the next two days as a coastal low moves up the Atlantic seaboard. We'll see some stepped-up showers and storms in the process, especially along the Mason-Dixon line, forecasters said. It will also bring us some slightly cooler (mid- to upper-80s) temperatures Friday and Saturday.

Forecasters say we could see up to a quarter inch tonight, Friday and again Friday night before the system finally gets by us. Any rain would be welcome. Eighty-seven percent of Maryland is now rated abnormally dry, with the southern half of the Eastern Shore and extreme Southern Maryland now officially in drought. The three southernmost Shore counties are now in severe drought, according to the federal Drought Monitor. 

The arrival of dry high pressure behind the front will clear the skies, but it will also send afternoon highs back into the 90s for the first half of next week before another cold front arrives with renewed chances for some rain.