Take record snow in December, add a long stretch of below-average temperatures and a weekend of howling north winds and you've got what's beginning to look like a real winter for Maryland this year.
High temperatures are expected to lag a full seven degrees or more below normal throughout the week, pushing energy bills higher and making it at least uncomfortable - and possibly dangerous - to spend much time outside.
Baltimore's emergency shelters are packed with homeless looking for a respite from the weather. And utility crews just have to bundle up against the cold and do what has to be done.
"You learn to deal with it. You start to build up an immunity to the cold," said Walter Overton, 50. He was the foreman of a four-man crew sent Monday to finish repairs on a six-inch main that broke Sunday night at Guilford Avenue and Lexington Street, one of 14 breaks caused by frigid weather that had to be fixed despite the difficult working conditions.
Winds will be diminishing this week, but forecasters say there is plenty more bitter cold weather ahead, putting more pressure on heating bills and on the city's cold-weather shelters.
"The real big story this week is going to be the cold," said Steve Zubrick, science and operations officer for the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va. "We really don't lose this cold air any time soon. I see it through a week from now. And I think in the 8- to 14-day forecast we're still below normal."
Karen Black, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said Monday that five more Marylanders have died since Dec. 10 under circumstances related to cold weather, bringing the season total to nine. The most recent death was reported in Baltimore on Saturday. No further information was available.
Meanwhile, Baltimore's 24-hour shelter for the homeless, in the 200 block of Guilford Ave., has regularly been filled to its capacity of 350 people.
"There are a lot of people who are extremely happy that it [the 24-hour shelter] is in place. It gives individuals an opportunity to get off the street and get warm during the day," said Linda Trotter, program director for Jobs, Housing and Recovery, a nonprofit that runs the shelters for the city.
On Dec. 1, because of both increased demand and colder winter weather, the city opened a nearby overflow facility with another 80 beds. Those are available overnight only, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. It, too, has been filling up every night, and will remain open through March.
The shelters work closely with Mercy Medical Center. But so far, Trotter said, people using the shelters have not needed any medical assistance.
BGE repair crews were out in the bitter weekend weather, restoring power to the 30,000-or-so customers whose electricity failed because of the high winds.
When winds exceed BGE's safety limits, it will keep linemen off the poles and bucket trucks, said BGE spokeswoman Linda Foy. "But winds were not in that range over the weekend."
"Most of the guys I talk to have told me they prefer extreme cold to extreme heat," she said. "At least they can warm up. In the heat, they can't cool off, and they have to wear certain protective equipment and gear."
City water crews also find ways to cope. When Overton joined the city water bureau almost six years ago, his first winter made him wonder about his decision. "I thought, I'll not be able to keep the job. But once I started to work with the guys, and saw the procedures, I got used to it," he said.
The "procedures" include dressing properly - long johns, work pants, thermal jumpers, "hoodie" sweaters, rubber boots, wool caps and heavy gloves - and taking breaks as needed in a truck to warm up or change out of wet clothes.
Zubrick, at the weather service, said a second surge of arctic air will drive freezing temperatures into southeastern Texas and Florida late this week, "and certainly agricultural interests are watching that pretty closely." The northern Plains states will see daytime highs below zero.
The Maryland forecast calls for only slightly warmer temperatures Wednesday and Thursday, with highs in the mid-30s at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, six or seven degrees below normal for this time of year. But colder air will reach us, too, by Friday, with weekend highs near freezing, and overnight lows in the teens to near 20 degrees.
Zubrick laid the blame on a persistent "polar vortex" - a low-pressure system swirling over eastern Canada and Greenland - and a high-pressure system over the West that are combining to sending arctic air plunging through the nation's midsection to the Gulf of Mexico.
"One of the things we're looking at as an analog to what's going on now is January 1977," Zubrick said. Average temperatures in Baltimore that month were nearly 9 degrees below normal. The 8 inches of snow recorded was about average for January.
December 2009 averaged almost two degrees below the long-term averages at BWI, with 20 days below average and a record 22 inches of snow. January's first three days have run almost 6 degrees below average.
Marylanders will pay for the cold weather when their next utility bill arrives. "Customers with electric heat pumps will likely experience a significant increase in usage as their auxiliary heating activates when temperatures are below freezing," Foy said. "Natural gas usage is probably also up."
Demand for electricity peaked Sunday evening at 5,645 megawatts, well below the daily peak of 6,047 the company has predicted for this winter, Foy said.
The cold air felt even more intense over the weekend because of strong north winds, which averaged more than 20 mph on both days. Gusts reached 35 mph.
If there's any good news in the forecast, it might be that fears of another big storm arriving with the cold over the weekend seem to be fading.
"One thing about this pattern is that it is typically a dry pattern for us," Zubrick said. "There have been some hints there could be a coastal area of low pressure [a storm] toward the end of the week. And there's a little bit of moisture that could move through here Friday ahead of the arctic front. It would be cold enough for snow."
In fact, the weather service was forecasting a 30 percent chance of snow late Thursday and Friday. But the moisture "is having a hard time getting up this way," Zubrick said. So, the chances for that storm are "not looking as good now."
Cold weather tips Indoor water pipes can freeze when temperatures drop. Here are some tips to help homeowners prevent costly damage from burst pipes.
•Protect pipes now by insulating them and outside walls and by providing a source of heat.
•Check the temperature near your pipes frequently during cold periods.(Remember, cold settles near the floor and along the walls, so place the thermometer close to the pipe for an accurate reading.)
•Remove water hoses from outside connections.
•Turn off the water to outdoor faucets and drain the pipes. Frozen water lines or pipes inside your home can begin with a frozen outside faucet.
•Allow water to trickle from a faucet at the lowest point in your basement to prevent pipes from freezing.
Source: Baltimore City Bureau of Water and Wastewater