We may see a few more flakes in the air in Central Maryland if the moisture blowing off the Great Lakes makes it this far. But otherwise we seem to have escaped the flakiness being visited on Western Maryland.
But we are in line for some cold and windy conditions as the week advances. Forecasters at the National Weather Service say low pressure spinning over the Northeast states will be dragging frigid air out of Canada (sound familiar?) this week. That's going to mean more persistent snow showers in the western counties as the Great Lakes moisture rides up the higher terrain.
A few of those "streamers" of lake-effect snow (see radar image below) sometimes make it beyond the mountains, at least as far as the Mason-Dixon Line. So watch for some flurries or showers in the northern parts of Carroll and Baltimore counties, they say.
Winds will be picking up later on Monday, especially overnight into Tuesday, and particularly across the mountain ridges. Gust could go to 40 or 50 mph, pushing wind chills into he mid-teens in the western Maryland mountains.
Tuesday will be more of the same - cold and windy. Our western cousins will see more Winter Storm Warnings , 6 to 12 inches of additional snow and possibly blizzard conditions as the snow really starts to blow around. Highs are expected to stall in the teens, with wind-chill numbers below zero.
The WISP resort in McHenry has already recorded 35 inches of snow this season.
Temperatures in the urban corridor may not get past the freezing mark Tuesday, forecasters said, with wind chill numbers in the low teens or single digits Tuesday night.
Temperatures are expected to moderate as we get toward the weekend, but it looks like they will remain in the 30s - 5 to 10 degrees below the averages for this time of year.
Forecasters are watching the computer models for the next snow-maker. They're showing a weak low-pressure system tracking across the Great Plains, bringing snow east into the Carolinas on Thursday. The NWS forecasters at Sterling say:
"The exact track of this system will determine how far north the light precipitation - most likely in the form of snow - will reach. At the moment, the heaviest axis of precipitation appears to track just south of the [forecast area]. The track could easily shift north or south, so will have to keep an eye on this system."
After some moderating of the temperatures over the weekend, the forecast models show a coastal storm developing, but it's too early to say what, if anything, that will mean for Central Maryland.
(PHOTO: WISP Resort web cam, Monday)