As more mild air pushes in from the southwest and warms the cold air trapped at the surface, the threat of more freezing rain and drizzle across Central Maryland eased Tuesday morning. But the second part of this event is still in the wings, and more precipitation and more ice accumulations are possible tonight, mostly after midnight, forecasters say.
Prof. Jeff Halverson, at UMBC, has been watching a time-lapse animation of the surface temperatures across the region:
"It's amazing to watch the cold-air dam steadily shrink and retreat northward as the E-SE flow begins to pick up in the warm sector of the storm. Does this mean the ice threat is diminishing for the metro areas? Well, it's certainly a trend in the right direction, and it appears that as long as we can maintain a warming trend, we've got about 10-12 hours before the heavy band of frontal rain arrives late tonight."
A Winter Storm Watch posted Monday morning for Central Maryland continued Tuesday to predict new ice in excess of a quarter-inch overnight into Wednesday as precipitation resumes and intensifies. A half- to three-quarters of an inch of precipitation is possible tonight.