In for a ‘roller coaster’ of weather swings
Springtime weather giving way to cold, rain and snow, before changing again
After spring-like weather that shattered a record set more than half a century ago, the Baltimore area is set to see a snow shower that could snarl this morning’s commute.
The temperature hit 72 degrees at Baltimore/ Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on Wednesday, breaking the previous record of 70 set in 1965, according to Andrew Snyder, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Tuesday’s unseasonably warm weather also peaked at 72 degrees at BWI, breaking the previous record of 64 in 1904.
“We do have colder air that’s going to be moving in overnight,” Snyder said. “And probably sometime in between 3 and 6 a.m. we’ll get a changeover from rain to snow.”
The snow is expected to continue until around 9 a.m., Snyder said. Baltimore’s Emergency Operations Center will activate at 3 a.m. The State Highway Administration does not plan to pre-treat the roads because the rain would wash it away, spokeswoman Kellie Boulware said. Instead, she said, the agency will deploy an army of salt trucks starting after midnight.
Baltimore and surrounding areas are expected to get one to two inches of snow accumulation. Northern counties could get three to five inches of snow. Areas south of the city are forecast to receive a dusting overnight.
There might be some brief snow squalls that could bring another quarter-inch in isolated areas this afternoon, Snyder said.
“We are in for a kind of roller coaster in the next 24 hours,” said Matt Elliott, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Unseasonably warm temperatures are expected to return over the weekend, with a potential high reaching 60 degrees Sunday.