Jet Stream

I'm seeing reports on social media of snow and sleet showers in the suburbs, including northwestern Howard County and near Pikesville. Officially, the only wintry weather expected in the forecast is in Western Maryland, with up to an inch expected today near Deep Creek Lake, according to the National Weather Service. But with temperatures barely breaking 50 degrees and cold air coming in on the jet stream from Canada, any showers of precipitation today could be snow or ice. It's not totally unusual -- Baltimore has seen at least a trace of snow in April four out of the past 10 years.

The likelihood of El Nino strengthening this fall and winter fell from about 70 percent to 55 percent in a climate forecast released Thursday. While some indicators show the climate phenomenon has been developing in recent months, others favor more neutral conditions, or at least a weaker El Nino than was previously expected.NOAA's Climate Prediction Center  detailed the forecast in a monthly update  that extends an El Nino watch that has...

Northeast cities from Baltimore to New York could be in for a snowy winter, according to AccuWeather forecasters. The weather service's winter 2012-2013 forecast calls for cold weather and large systems of moisture to converge, dumping above-average snow totals along the East Coast. The timing is expected to be in January and February. El Nino, the global climate pattern expected to develop by the end of September, could contribute heavily, according to the forecast. It typically causes a strong southern branch of the jet stream across the country, which can often phase together with cold air and the northern branch of the jet stream around the mid-Atlantic, causing major winter storms.

Attention, warm weather whiners and wimps: This summer was every bit as bad as you thought.June, July and August were, on average, the hottest ever recorded at the Custom House in Baltimore and tied the record set in 1988 at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, the National Weather Service said yesterday.The average temperature at the Custom House for June, July and August was 81.5 degrees -- one-tenth of a degree warmer than the sweltering summer of 1988. The temperature averaged 77.3 degrees at the airport, matching the record set in 1988.

LAUREL -- Silano has been away from the races for nine weeks, but Phil and Dale Capuano hope their stable star is streamlined enough not to get Stream-lined today.Silano faces Jet Stream and Runaway Stream in the $75,000 Harrison E. Johnson Memorial Handicap at Laurel Race Course. Those three are the likely favorites in the 1 1/8 -mile race for older horses.Phil Capuano owns Silano, a winner of $673,577. His son, Dale, trains the 7-year-old gelding, who won a Nov. 17 allowance race at Laurel in his last start.

Ah, the winter of 1992-1993. Dry and mild most days, theseason served up an occasional spring-like afternoon to tantalize us.Then winter's evil twin barged in: lashing us with what seemed like unending rain, biting us with cold and, finally, burying the Baltimore area in shin-deep snow.It was a perverse season that delivered a bouquet with one hand and a sucker punch with the other. But it will be recorded as nearly normal, because the mild opening balanced out the wild finale.Fred Davis of the National Weather Service at Baltimore-Washington International Airport remembers getting calls in mid-February from anxious citizens wondering if global warming had push Baltimore into an expanding sun belt.

WASHINGTON -- For the third time in 10 years, a huge expanse of unusually warm water has developed in the equatorial Pacific, setting in motion a so-called El Nino system that could disrupt weather patterns worldwide, National Weather Service scientists said yesterday.Evidence of another of the periodic upsets had been accumulating for several months. After analyzing satellite data and other information collected in December, the Weather Service's Climate Analysis Center concluded yesterday that the system has formed and probably will reach its peak in the next six months.

It drizzled on Earth Day. It poured on the Preakness Parade. Memorial Day was memorable mostly for the cold and rain. And yesterday's high temperature was the coolest May 26 on record in Baltimore.But if you think May has been a lot chillier and wetter than normal, think again."Everybody probably thinks it's been 4 to 5 degrees below normal this month, but it really hasn't," said Ken Shaver, TC meteorologist with the National Weather Service at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.Instead, he predicted that May temperatures would wind up only 1 degree below average.

Weather watchers are atwitter over a chance for a brush with what could become Tropical Storm Sandy and could bring heavy winds and moisture ahead of Halloween along the East Coast. Some are even calling it a "perfect storm", with polar air potentially converging with Sandy. Of course, a major caveat is necessary: The forecast is more than a week out, meaning it could soon change dramatically. But meteorologists are still getting worked up by what models are showing. Tropical Depression 18 formed this morning and could become Tropical Storm Sandy by Tuesday.

Eastern Shore readers -- and anyone with a computer -- can watch five rockets being launched 65 miles into the atmosphere Wednesday night into Thursday morning. NASA is planning to hold a launch between midnight and 1:30 a.m. at the Wallops Island facility in Virginia, just south of the Maryland line. The visitors center there will open at 10 p.m. Wednesday for spectators. The rockets are being used to study the winds of the jet stream. Once the rockets reach the intended height, they will release milky white clouds that scientists will be able to see from space.