You didn't really think we'd make it through winter without a major snowstorm, did you?
Snow began falling throughout the Baltimore area about 8 p.m. yesterday. By 2 a.m., 3 to 4 inches were reported on the ground in the western suburbs.
"It looks like Mother Nature is trying to catch up -- and she probably will for the next few days. It's going to be really bad," said Jose O. Marrero, a meteorologist at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.
Heavy snow is expected through this morning before turning to flurries this afternoon, forecasters said. Winds of 25 to 35 mph will swirl the snow, and high temperatures will be in the low 20s.
Amid one of the mildest winters in years -- and one with the smallest snowfall -- forecasters are calling for 8 to 12 inches of snow in the Baltimore area and 4 to 8 inches south and east of the metropolitan area.
As the storm approached, Marylanders, who often are said to panic at the first sight of snow, scrambled to get ready:
* The Super Fresh store on 41st Street in North Baltimore ran out of bread before the first flake fell.
* An Owings Mills youngster was going door to door with his shovel, trying to find work minutes after the snow's first sighting.
* A Columbia woman was on her roof with a telescope, predicting "the big one" -- a ritual she follows every year, according to neighbors.
"If people would cool out, things would go a lot smoother for everyone. There's no need to panic at just the threat of snow," said Jason Winthersley, as he stood in line at the Super Fresh store. The lines at cash registers stretched 10 to 15 deep, and some customers pushed two shopping carts.
Mr. Winthersley, who lives alone and usually shops Monday mornings, had his cart filled to the brim.
"Hey, I'm not worried," he said. "It's just that you never know when the store's going to get some food in stock. But maybe I do have that Baltimore panic."
Clara Wilson, 61, who lives near Lafayette Market in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood, said she plans to wait until the snow is at its heaviest today before she walks to the market.
"It's the best time to go around because the young boys will be trying to knock on someone's door to shovel snow and not worry about trying to stick up old ladies like me," Ms. Wilson said. "I hope it would snow in July, August."
Barry Goldsmith, a weather service meteorologist in Sterling, Va., said today's snow has "possible blizzard conditions." Weather conditions are similar to those that caused the blizzard of 1993, when nearly 2 feet of snow fell on the area, he said.
Baltimore should "look for a good dose of snow," he said, adding that the worst of today's storm was expected to hit between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. and between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m.
"You will not want to be out and about Saturday afternoon," Mr. Goldsmith said.
The winter of 1994-1995 had appeared headed for the record books as the least snowy since meteorologists started keeping track in 1950.
Only 0.5 inches of snow has been measured at BWI -- 0.2 inches the night before Thanksgiving, and 0.3 inches last Saturday. No snow fell in December. The record for low snowfalls at BWI was set in the winter of 1972-1973, when 1.2 inches fell in February, with only traces recorded in the other months.
The average annual snowfall in Baltimore is 20.6 inches.
In preparation for the storm, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. increased the number of linemen on duty this weekend by 60, added 50 workers to handle tree problems, put chains on service vehicles and loaded equipment on trucks last night.
Road crews from the State Highway Administration, which used 234,000 tons of salt on state roads during last year's ice storms, have used less than 10 percent of that amount this year, said John Healy, an administration spokesman.