Temperature

Temperature gauges approached triple digits Wednesday on the first day of summer, packing county pools, opening cooling centers and setting the stage for the season of swelter. Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport saw a high of 98 degrees around 3 p.m., missing the record of 100 set in 1931. With high humidity, the heat index topped 100 across the Baltimore area. The normal high for this time of year is 85 degrees. Chances for a record remain Thursday.

As temperatures climbed into the 90s around Harford County Memorial Day weekend, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene activated its state heat emergency website http://dhmh.maryland.gov/extremeheat to provide information about preventing heat-related illnesses. The website includes links to the State Heat Plan, facts about heat-related illness and weekly heat reports that provide guidance and information about deaths and illnesses caused by extreme heat in the region.

While last week's forecasts of 90-degree temperatures didn't quite come to pass, it was plenty hot and muggy. This week will bring a return to seasonal highs and precipitation that could help bring things back to normal. Temperatures are predicted in the upper 60s and low- to mid-70s through the weekend. Normal highs this time of year are about 71 degrees. Lows will remain above normal, in the 50s and 60s, until Thursday and Friday, when lows close to the average 49 degrees this time of year are expected.

AccuWeather.com is predicting an active summer for severe storms in Maryland, but not any prolonged heat spells, according to its summer weather outlook released Thursday. Storms are expected to ride along the northeastern edge of hot-weather systems as they move from the Great Lakes toward the mid-Atlantic, a pattern meteorologists call "ring of fire" storms. In the early and middle parts of summer, in particular, the storms could bring damaging winds and perhaps tornadoes. But blocking patterns over Canada and Greenland are expected to push long-lasting heat toward the Ohio Valley.

Another spell of hotter-than-average weather arrives in Maryland today, and isn't expected to leave for a while. We have been mostly below normal for the past eight days, with Sunday's 70-degree high about normal for this time of year. The last stretch of heat had temperatures near or above 80 degrees from April 14-17, including a record 90-degree day April 16. Since then, three days have failed to break 60 degrees and most have been in the 60s. But temperatures are expected to push 80 degrees from today through the weekend, according to forecasts.

Temperatures surged past 80 degrees around lunchtime Monday and rose to 90 degrees, tying a record on the hottest day of the year so far. BWI Airport hit 90 at 3:51 p.m., according to the National Weather Service, tying a record set in 2002. Sunday's high of 86 degrees was previously the hottest of 2012 to date, while the highest temperature recorded in a March heat wave was 83 degrees. Normal highs for April 16 in Baltimore are about 65 degrees, and today started two degrees below that.

The Baltimore area hit 90 degrees for the first time since Aug. 10 on Monday, tying a heat record set in 2002. Temperatures briefly passed the milestone at BWI Marshall Airport at 3:51 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. It was the hottest day of a year that has already been marked with warmer-than-average temperatures. And the heat is not likely to linger — cooler weather was expected to move in behind a cold front overnight Monday. A high-pressure system settled over the Carolinas and sent warm southerly winds heating the region and keeping it dry, said Carrie Suffern, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va. A cold front was expected to move through the region Monday night, bringing temperatures down to the mid-70s Tuesday.

Temperatures had topped 80 degrees by about 12:30 p.m., and rose quickly, with 85 degrees recorded at BWI Airport and 86 degrees at the Sun weather station as of 4 p.m. That surpassed the forecasts of both the National Weather Service and AccuWeather.com. The National Weather Service had been predicting highs in the upper 70s, while AccuWeather called for a high of about 82. It was a few degrees shy of the hottest April 15 on record for Baltimore. The record is 88 degrees set in 1941.

It feels like there's a chill in the air, but this is really just a normal day for mid-March with temperatures struggling to break out of the 50s Friday. A cold front that slipped over the Baltimore area Thursday has stalled south of here and clouds have been stubborn to break, said Heather Sheffield, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va. That has kept temperatures from climbing much at all from the overnight low of 50 degrees at BWI Airport. It was 52 and foggy at BWI as of 11 a.m. and 55 at the Sun weather station downtown as of noon.

A "backdoor" front blowing cool winds from the northeast prevented Baltimore from setting a heat record Thursday, but not from enjoying a fourth-straight unseasonably warm day. Temperatures peaked at 73 degrees atBaltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, shy of the upper 70s forecast and the record of 82 degrees set in 1990. The cool front did not reach the Washington area, where records of 82 and 84 degrees were set at Reagan National and Dulles airports, respectively.