The Baltimore area has recently faced a volley of winter weather, exhausting some of their school systems on snowy days and leaving slippery roads.
With the total number of snow storms on Tuesday, the recent months have given more snow to the Baltimore area than it has been in the past two winters. However, the total number of this season is still comparable to the snowfall averages over the past decade.
Even so, this winter is a bit ordinary: it's extra cold.
Last month was the coldest January in the Baltimore area since 2014, according to the National Weather Service. In January, the average daytime high at BWI Marshall Airport was the first time in more than a decade. The freezing point for eight days is below freezing point, and the overnight temperature is as low as 6 degrees.
January is colder than the entire U.S. in a row, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But this is after two very warm winters – in 2023, Baltimore broke the February hot record.
This year's coldness continues. The average temperature in the Baltimore area this month to Tuesday was 37, the lowest since February 2021.
Meteorologists say the cold hits are due to the displacement of jets, a western air belt toward weather currents around the world.
The jet is located in the Earth's atmosphere and is the dividing line between cold northern air and warm tropical weather systems, said John Feerick, a senior meteorologist at Accuweather. He said it has been getting farther and farther south throughout most of the winter, causing unusually cold weather in areas that are not normally seen.
Meteorological service meteorologist Andrew Snyder said Tuesday's storm brought 3.8 inches on the BWI and pushed the total snowfall this season higher the final number of the last two winters.
The average snowfall in the past 10 winters is slightly higher than 13 inches, and this winter the Baltimore area has been around 12.7 inches. Snyder said there were a total of 11.3 inches of snow in the Baltimore area during the cold months last year, with only one-fifth of the snowfall in the “really mild winter” before that.
The 16-day period since late November, when the first game of the season came, and although Tuesday night was only the fourth time there was measurable snowfall, the Meteorological Services have recorded at least a small amount of fresh snow on the BWI.
There was more snow on the way Saturday, but Snyder said it was hard to say whether the Baltimore area would accumulate, with temperatures as high as 41, it would likely turn to rain.
There is some short warm-up in the coming days, with temperatures expected to reach 52 and nearly 52 on Thursday, compared to nearly 59 on Sunday. But there will be a lot of cold, Feerick said.
“It looks like it will always be these cold shots,” he said, noting that the snow still has more chances until the end of February as the freezing temperatures of the forecast and positive weather patterns are below the frozen temperature.
Is there any news tips? Please contact Dan Belson via xbaltsun.com, @DanBelson_ or by signaling @Danbels.62.
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