The thunderstorms that moved across the region overnight dropped some considerable rain on some spots, and little to none in others. The lightning, at least, provided everyone with some entertainment.
The photo above was shot by Bill Stifler, our ace storm photog in Baltimore:
"It was taken from my home in Hampden where not a drop of rain fell as the storm slid just north. I had come from that direction and passed through a nice down pour on Lake Ave. It's amazing the difference a mile or so can make with some storms."
Sure is. Here's a report from John Moser, in Middletown, Frederick County:
"Amazing. I've been a weather buff for 38 years and have never seen anything like this. I live in Middletown, Md. and just look at the time lapse radar loop from 6 p.m. until now, 8:15 p.m. Huge areas of thunderstorms and embedded rain showers and a tiny sliver of precipitation-free area about 4 miles wide and 30 miles long hovers right over Middletown, we received not one drop of rain.
"Thurmont has received nearly 1 inch in the last hour. Hagerstown, 0.5, Braddock Heights, 0.5, to our west the same thing. It just astonishes me. Now at day 19 with no rain and I want to figure this out. It makes no sense how this tiny area of Frederick County is not receiving any rainfall, even with such a wide swath of rain around us, like right now."
We clocked 0.26 inch of rain on the WeatherDeck in Cockeysville. It was a hard rain - more than 3 inches an hour at one point - but it was brief. We have 0.2 on the gauge here at The Sun. BWI-Marshall recorded 0.59 inch.
Here are some more reports from CoCoRaHS. Thurmont and Westminster saw more than an inch. Today's Drought Monitor maps show little change from last week. Western, Southern Maryland and the Lower Eastern Shore remain the most deeply affected by drought this summer.
More storms are likely today, and some could be severe. There is a Heat Advisory posted for all of Central Maryland and the Eastern Shore until 8 p.m. The high at BWI is expected to reach 96 degrees, and Baltimore has declared a Code Red Heat Alert, opening its cooling stations.