Ho hum. Another sweltering day in the 90s in Baltimore.
The official instruments out at BWI touched 95 degrees this afternoon. That was plenty hot, but still shy of the record 100 degrees set for the date in 1988. The official high once again swamped the Weather Service's forecast high of 91 degrees, posted this morning. Monday's high of 94 at BWI also eclipsed the 91-degree forecast for that date.
Which leaves us wondering about how hot we should expect Wednesday and Thursday to be. The forecast from NWS Sterling calls for a high at BWI of 94 on Wednesday and 95 on Thursday. Build in another few degrees based on past performance and we'll threaten the 100 mark before those days are done.
The Baltimore record for a June 23 is 97 degrees, set in 1894. The record to beat on Thursday will be 98 degrees, last reached in 1966.
So far, since Saturday, we've seen BWI highs of 93, 94 and 95, with 95 and 96 forecast for the next two days.
In the meantime, we also reached 95 degrees here at Calvert and Centre streets this afternoon. And that's where the dial remains at 6 p.m. It was 96 degrees at 5 p.m. at Washington's Reagan National Airport. And it was 95 degrees at Hagerstown.
There's another Code Orange Air Quality Alert posted in the region for Wednesday. The air will be unhealthy (for the third straight day) for people in sensitive groups. Hopes that it would ease to "moderate," have been dashed.
The temperature will fall slowly this evening if we dont see a thunderstorm. That could set us up to eclipse another record: the record high minimum (the warmest overnight low) of 75 degrees, set on June 23, 1943. "There's definitely a chance," said meteorologist Jared Klein.
So I'm headed out to do an imitation of the guy in this photo. How are you staying cool in this steam bath?
(SUN PHOTO: Jed Kirschbaum, 2009)