WEATHER BLOG: Rain Is Arriving
The weather pattern will be deteriorating gradually over the next 8-12 hours. There are some showers already showing up early this morning across central and southeastern Virginia, and both the coverage and the intensity of the rain should start to ramp up this afternoon -- as the leading edge of the rain shield starts to push to the north and northwest. So, there will be rain arriving in Baltimore and most of its adjacent suburbs by the end of the day.
The "steadiest and heaviest rain" is expected to fall Wednesday night, and a Flood Watch has been posted from this evening through Thursday morning. The rainfall amounts could exceed an inch, and may be locally as high as two inches as a body of low pressure begins to move parallel to the mid-Atlantic Coast late Wednesday night and early Thursday.
So, the temperature should reach the lower 70s Wednesday, simply because there will be a window of 6-8 hours of daylight before the rain settles in. Then Wednesday night, there will be rain and the winds should increase along the Eastern Shore. Some of the wind gusts could exceed 40 miles per hour in places like Ocean City, but should be generally in the 25-35 mph range near the Chesapeake Bay, including in Baltimore.
The low pressure system will begin to pull away from the coast slowly later Thursday, which will bring an end to all rain, and we're still anticipating some warmer conditions on Friday and especially during the upcoming weekend.