On the four-year anniversary of the last time Baltimore temperatures hit the triple digits, it felt almost that hot around the region Monday.
The heat could fuel thunderstorms during the Monday evening rush hour. A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect across Central Maryland until 8 p.m.
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued across Baltimore County, in areas north of the Baltimore City line, from 3:45 p.m. until 4:30 p.m. The storms could bring wind gusts up to 60 mph, National Weather Service meteorologists warned.
Temperatures reached the lower 90s by midday at both Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and the Inner Harbor. Factoring in humidity, it felt like the mid- to upper-90s.
It was 94 degrees at BWI and 95 degrees at the harbor as of 1 p.m.
Temperatures were expected to peak in the mid-90s Monday afternoon, extending a streak without triple digit temperatures that is now four years long.
On July 18, 2012, BWI hit 104 degrees, breaking a record dating to 1887 by two degrees. It had been Baltimore's oldest high-temperature record in what is typically the hottest month of the year.
The Maryland Science Center hit 107 degrees that afternoon; long-term records for that weather station are not kept. It was the sixth time temperatures reached 100 degrees at BWI that summer and the second time that month BWI hit 104.
An end to the streak could be imminent. Forecasts suggest highs could reach the mid- to upper 90s Friday, Saturday and Sunday, possibly flirting with 100 degrees. But for the middle of the week, seasonable heat between 85 and 90 degrees is expected.