The cold front that blew through Central Maryland Sunday left a dab of rain behind, but mostly it has dried out the atmosphere and dropped daytime highs by 15 or 20 degrees.
Jim Dawson, a reader on the Eastern Shore, captured the departing storm front with his camera:
"I took these shots [below] yesterday [Sunday] evening as the last of the showers moved off," he said. "Interesting atmospheric effects in the S.E. as the setting sun shone like a spotlight on the cumulous clouds, while the lower stratus stayed in the dark."
Drove to work with the windows open and the AC off this morning. We were in the upper 50s when I checked the instruments on the WeatherDeck in Cockeysville. Sweet. And the NWS is calling for highs at BWI this afternoon of only 77 degrees.
That's a few degrees above the average for this time of year in Baltimore. We've been averaging around 90 degrees for highs so far this month - 10 degrees above the long-term average.
And the relative humidity has dropped, too, as you can see from the widening spread between temperature and dew point at The Sun's weather station at Calvert and Centre streets.
We can thank a big high-pressure system over the eastern half of the nation for the cooler, drier weather. The air flow, clockwise around the high is drawing more pleasant conditions down from Canada. We'll be good through Tuesday under this regime. But as the high begins to move offshore, we'll see some showers and thunderstorms move through out of the northwest.
Highs on Wednesday will stall in the low 70s, with lots of clouds if the forecast holds up, with an increased risk of showers into the evening. The high pressure returns Thursday. Daytime highs will climb toward the 80s again by the weekend, with sunshine Friday and Saturday. Return flow from the south after the high moves offshore will bring hotter, more humid conditions, and a greater risk of showers and storms by Sunday.