WEATHER BLOG: Cautious Optimism

Dry Wednesday, but still on the chilly side for this time of year with a good deal of sunshine.  It'll be breezy for a while, but we expect a high pressure system to settle into the Eastern Region late Wednesday, which will cause the wind to relax quite a bit.

The combination of a clear sky and little or no wind Wednesday night will make for a cold one: 20s in most outlying areas and the 30s in the bigger cities and towns. Thursday, sun should start to fade behind increasing clouds, but temperatures should still approach 60.

The rain that we expect on Friday is associated with a low pressure system that is gaining some momentum along the Gulf Coast early Wednesday. Actually, there was some torrential rain and strong/severe thunderstorms in the Houston area late Tuesday evening. The rain should start spreading out across the Southeast and particularly the Carolinas later Thursday before reaching Maryland very early Friday morning  (probably after 2 or 3 a.m.)

FOR THE ORIOLES HOME OPENER at 3:05 p.m. on Friday -- "Cautious optimism" prevails that the bulk of our wet weather will be occurring during the morning, since the global models are all in agreement that the rain should wrap up by around 2 p.m. EDT. Even though the clouds should linger, and afternoon temperatures should probably be no higher than the mid 50s, the weather should start to dry out in time for baseball.

As far as Friday is concerned, the 12Z NAM is farther east with the rain and completely misses Central Maryland. Of course this is the exact opposite of what the NAM did Tuesday at this time. So for now we are not changing anything for Friday, probably some rain, but most of it occurring before 2 or 3 p.m. Beyond that we have taken the high up for Sunday as it looks mild with some sun and a south to southwest flow.

Have a good day!!!