Severe thunderstorms are possible Wednesday afternoon and could bring damaging wind gusts across central Maryland, meteorologists warned.
Storms are likely by mid-afternoon, according to National Weather Service forecasters. A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect for the entire Baltimore metro area through 5 p.m.
A cold front is forecast to cross the region Wednesday night, stirring the storm activity ahead of it.
The weather service’s Storm Prediction Center estimates a 45 percent chance of damaging wind gusts, and slimmer 2-5 percent chances of large hail and isolated tornadoes.
Temperatures are forecast to rise to the mid-70s as the storms develop, about 25 degrees warmer than normal for the first day of meteorological spring. They are expected to plunge to the mid-40s by sunrise Thursday.
Seasonable temperatures in the 40s to around 50 degrees are forecast Thursday before falling below normal, with lows in the 20s and highs in the 40s, Friday and Saturday.
The storms are expected to bring between a quarter and a half inch of precipitation.
That is about the same as what fell around the region Tuesday night, bringing the February rain gauge at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to just shy of an inch and a half of precipitation, about half of normal.
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