The temperature at Baltimore-Washington International Airport fell yesterday morning to 6 degrees, its lowest point in almost six years, thanks to the snow on the ground from Thursday's storm.
"The snow radiates the [sun's] energy back to the atmosphere," said Luis Rosa, a National Weather Service meteorologist. "If there was no snow, the ground would absorb it, and it would have been much warmer."
The National Weather Service station at the airport logged the 6-degree reading at 5:04 a.m., making it the coldest day there since Jan. 19, 1997.
It broke the daily record low of 15 degrees for Dec. 7 that had stood since 1885. Normally at this time of year, temperatures fluctuate between a high of 46 and a low of 29 degrees, Rosa said.
It was not so cold in Baltimore, where the low temperature recorded yesterday at the Maryland Science Center in the Inner Harbor was 19.9 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
Yesterday's high temperatures reached 38 degrees at BWI and 40 degrees at the science center.
The wintry weather, here early since fall does not officially end until Dec. 22, created some problems in the area.
Baltimore County rescue workers aided a number of people who slipped on ice yesterday, a Baltimore County fire dispatcher said.
"We have a lot of falls and injuries," he said. "It's the snow and ice, people getting in and out of their cars."
Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. reported no problems stemming from the cold. However, about 8,000 homes around Chesapeake Beach in Calvert County and Fairhaven in southern Anne Arundel County were temporarily without power as the result of a defective cable, said BGE spokesman Clay Perry.
Mid-Atlantic AAA expected to receive a number of calls yesterday through tomorrow from people whose car batteries had been sapped by the cold, said spokeswoman Myra Wieman. On Friday, AAA logged twice as many service calls in the area as normal, she said.
The forecast does not call for bitter cold again anytime soon.
Today's high is expected to be about 40 degrees. A cold front moving into the area tomorrow could bring the high temperature back down to about 34 degrees, Rosa said.
The forecast calls for rain late Tuesday or Wednesday with temperatures in the 40s, Rosa said. "It should melt the snow pretty quick," Rosa said.
Sun staff writer Stephanie Hanes contributed to this article.