The quarter-inch of rain that fell overnight at BWI-Marshall (nearly a half-inch here at The Sun) is drawing to an end. But the cold front that triggered the precipitation has also dropped temperatures 30 degrees from their 72-degree high on Thursday.
North winds out of Canada, drawn south around the western side of the rain-making low-pressure system now moving off the Virginia coast, will keep temperatures low today. NWS forecasters out at Sterling say BWI-Marshall will get no higher than 46 degrees today. That's 10 degrees or so below the long-term average for the date.
And as skies clear overnight, radiational cooling will allow the readings to fall deep into the 20s, a hard freeze. The forecast low for BWI is 25 degrees. The record low for the date in Baltimore is 20 degrees, last reached in 2001. The average low is 37 degrees. Higher elevations in western Maryland could see lows in the teens.
The payoff will be in the form of sunny skies on Saturday, although temperatures will rise only into the 40s, if the forecast holds. There is a risk of more showers Sunday, lingering into Monday as another cold front passes by. But from there things begin to improve. Sunshine returns Tuesday, and daytimes highs begin to climb gradually back above the norms and into the 60s.
(SUN PHOTO/Frank D. Roylance)