Temperature

The Baltimore City Health Department has issued a code blue cold weather alert for the rest of the week because of frigid temperatures with the potential to cause health problems, such as hypothermia. Under the alert, which runs through Sunday, city emergency shelters will extend hours and private shelters will be encouraged to do the same. Emergency workers will reach out to the homeless, elderly and other vulnerable residents to make sure they have shelter and heat. City health officials are also minding residents with a heart condition not to exert too much physical activity.

Havre de Grace Mayor Wayne Dougherty led the way. He raised the most money. And he was the best dressed. So at the appointed hour - 10 a.m. Saturday - the mayor and dozens of others, including Scotty Hurst, Chief of the Susquehanna Hose Co., ran, walked, waddled and squealed into the Chesapeake Bay for the second annual Havre de Grace Duck Dunk. It's a fundraiser for the Havre de Grace volunteer fire company similar to the Polar Bear Plunge, Maryland's huge winter fundraiser to benefit the Special Olympics.

The wind could be a factor in Sunday's AFC Championship game between the Ravens and New England Patriots, with gusts up to 30 mph possible at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. At game time, 6:30 p.m., the National Weather Service's Boston forecast office is calling for temperatures around freezing. A steady westerly breeze of about 15 mph, with stronger gusts, is expected to bring wind chills in the lower 20s, though. Given that the field is oriented more or less north-south, the wind could at least have equal effects on kickers at both ends of the field.

A cold, rainy day is in the forecast for the Baltimore area Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. A cold front stalled to our south is expected to keep temperatures in the lower 40s for most of the day and bring with it rain showers. The weather service forecasts about three-fourths of an inch of rain possible. Overnight lows are expected in the upper 40s downtown, but to the north and west, some of the precipitation could come down as sleet or freezing rain overnight.

The average global temperature for 2012 was 10th warmest since record-keeping began in 1880, according to U.S. climate researchers. The globe averaged about 58 degrees last year, 1.03 degrees above the 20th century average, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The announcement comes a week after NOAA scientists confirmed that 2012 was the warmest year on record for the U.S.  Meanwhile, a separate report released Tuesday highlights Maryland as being among the top 10 states for record-setting heat last year.

Like kids bursting out the schoolhouse doors for recess, when the Maryland Zoo's 11 chimpanzees were allowed outside Saturday for a rare bit of winter sunshine, they couldn't help, well, monkeying around. They climbed to the very top of the mesh enclosure surrounding Chimpanzee Forrest, hung by one arm and gawked at the goings-on in a nearby construction site. They banged thunderously on the glass window separating them from human visitors, tickled themselves with tufts of grass, and chased one another around the compound as the thermometer rose to a balmy 57 degrees.

Much of the eastern portion of the U.S. will have moderate temperatures throughout the week, including the Baltimore area, where Tuesday's forecast calls for sunny skies and a high of 51 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Tuesday night, temperatures will dip below freezing, with a low of 29, the weather service said. Today's winds will come from the southeast at 3 m.p.h. Warm weather will continue throughout the remainder of the week, culminating with a high of 57 degrees on Saturday.

A chill is coming to Denver in time for the Ravens' arrival to face the Broncos on Saturday, with temperatures likely in the teens at game time. Though the Mile High City is enjoying a warm-up this week much like we are in Baltimore, with highs in the 50s, colder weather is forecast to move in Friday, according to the National Weather Service's Denver/Boulder forecast office. Friday brings highs in the 30s with a 40 percent chance of snow. Saturday is expected to be even more brisk, with a daytime high around 20 and an overnight low around 4 degrees.

The wicked warm spell that bedeviled the region's ski areas last year has been broken. Snow guns, ably assisted by Wednesday's surprise storm, are turning the brownscape of late fall into the dazzling white of winter. "That storm gave us a big kick. We're opening Friday," said Katrina Gayman, marketing director at Pennsylvania's Whitetail Mountain Resort, 90 minutes northwest of Baltimore. "Now we're going to be sitting pretty. " That goes for Whitetail's sister resorts - Liberty and Roundtop - which expect to open some trails Saturday morning.