BGE restores power to thousands; heat persists

The National Weather Service was predicting a high of 100 degrees again on Wednesday, which sounds like a break from Tuesday's record 105-degree reading at BWI-Marshall Airport. That is, until you recall that Tuesday's forecast high was also 100 degrees.

Just before 11 a.m. it was already 96 degrees at The Sun's weather station at Calvert and Centre streets. The airport reported 95 degrees.

Heat Advisories were posted once again across almost all of Maryland, with exceptions only for Garrett County and the Lower Eastern Shore. A Code Orange air quality alert was up for the entire state, noting that air pollution levels are unhealthy for sensitive groups, including the very young, the elderly and people whith respiratory or heart diseases.

And in Baltimore City, the Code Red Heat Alert was extended through Wednesday, with cooling centers opened across the city.

Relief remains just out of reach, with highs Thursday and Friday predicted to hold in the lower 90s. A cold front late Friday or Saturday should bring the mercury down another peg, with weekend highs in the upper 80s to near 90 degrees. There's also a better chance for some scattered showers and thunderstorms on Saturday as the front pushes through.

(SUN PHOTO: Algerina Perna, July 6, 2010)