BLOG: What A Change
After record-breaking heat, what a change today. The strong cold front that is bringing these huge changes across the country has also been a very devastating one for many. This storm has produced a record 1,200+ severe weather reports as it moved across the country. The majority of storm reports were for damaging winds, but there were also deadly tornadoes and hail larger than baseballs. For us, a tornado watch was issued overnight as the line of strongest thunderstorms moved through but fortunately the storms weakened somewhat before arriving. We did see wind damage reports mainly in Charles County, while most people received gusty winds and brief downpours.
The front is now moving away, but the changes are only beginning. Strong and gusty winds are bringing in much cooler air. We topped out at 86 degrees yesterday. We did hit a high of 72 degrees today, but that was at midnight. Temperatures have been falling ever since. We are down in the 40s this afternoon, which is nearly a 40 degree swing from the same time yesterday. Now that is one strong cold front! The rain and drizzle are slowly leaving this afternoon and clearing will eventually follow this evening and tonight. Winds will weaken and temperatures will keep on falling - into the 30s overnight.
Even though this storm is going to be out of here, there are more storms lined up to come our way. The overall jetstream/storm track will feature a ridge building in the east. We will still have some swings in our temperatures, but this ridge will keep the milder air around instead of letting us drop back down into a stretch with highs in the 40s. However, this ridge is going to be centered far enough to the south of us here in Maryland that it will not protect us from the storms. Instead, we will be right on the path for many of them. The storm track will take storms out of the Plains up into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
The next storm will mainly pass north of us Wednesday into Thursday. Expect clouds to come in and just the chance for a shower, especially across western Maryland or the PA border. It will be nothing like this last storm. Then the following storm will move our way Friday into Saturday. There is the chance for some rain with that one. It will also knock down temperatures somewhat as it moves through. Then, another storm will move our way late Sunday into Monday. There could be a thunderstorm ahead of it Sunday but it looks like this will come through more on Monday. Of course, we will keep you updated on more specific timing of these storms as we move through the week.
