Day before unseasonal heat expected in Carroll County, some residents take to local streams

The official first day of fall was over a week ago, on Sept. 23, but the temperatures that normally come with it have yet to take up residence in Central Maryland.

Parts of the Baltimore area could set record highs on Wednesday, with temperatures expected to hit the 90s.

The National Weather Service forecasted that Wednesday would be mostly sunny in Westminster, with a high near 91.

The weather service does not keep historical temperature records for Carroll County, but the record high for Oct. 2 recorded at Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport is 89 degrees, recorded in 1986, according to Ray Martin, a spokesman for the weather service.

The weather service forecasts the high at BWI on Wednesday will be 94. A normal temperature at BWI for Oct. 2 is 72 degrees, Martin said.

“We’re well above normal," he said. “It’ll feel like July, except not.”

Temperatures at BWI on Wednesday are expected to get close to 97 degrees, the all-time record recorded there in the month of October, Martin said. The weather service started keeping records in the 1870s.

The mercury reached into the low 90s at the Carroll County Regional Airport on Tuesday.

As good a time as any to grab some rods and go fishing.

That seemed to be the logic of some locals, anyway, with fishing lines out Tuesday afternoon at Double Pipe Creek in Detour, the South Branch Patapsco River in Sykesville and likely other spots throughout the county.

For anyone in danger of heat exposure, Carroll County offers cooling centers, listed online at https://cchd.maryland.gov/stay-safe-in-the-heat/. The cooling centers include county libraries and senior centers.