Winter Weather in Maryland: A Winter Wonderland? Hah!

The word that can be used to describe the weather in central Maryland right now would definitely be unpleasant. Last night watching the local news (Baltimore's Fox 45), the best information I could get was "Well, we don't know what's going to happen, but you can check hourly on our website for updates." Frustrated, and not wanting to spend all night on the computer, no matter how fun it sounded with the promise of interactive maps, I went to bed. The last thing I heard was that it would "maybe" start snowing around sunrise.

I woke up this morning (Thursday) and there was not a flake to be found. I figured it was a wash, just like most weather forecasts lately. This was especially considering the haphazardness of Maryland weather. A common local saying is, "Don't like the weather in Maryland? Just wait till tomorrow." Added to this fact is that just last week, the high was in the 60s.

Well, the day did end up being a washout, but not in the way I had expected. Around 10 a.m. huge, beautiful white flakes started falling: a true winter wonderland. They started sticking to the road almost immediately. Of course, everyone across the state and the district went into a panic and rushed to the store to stock up on emergency supplies, (milk, bread and toilet paper, for those of you outside the area) and the streets were flooded with excited kids rolling snowballs, as most schools let out early. The roads were a bit slippery since the snow was falling heavy and fast, too fast for the plows to keep up with. I was already planning my evening of sledding with the nephews and then cuddling up with a mug of cocoa.

Alas, it was not to be. No beautiful winter day for us. No sooner had the area been blanketed in white, with about three inches on the ground, just enough to cover the litter and the dog poop, then it started to sleet and then turned into flat out rain. (There was a sight return to snow around 2, just enough to get my hopes up). For those who'd gotten a chance to build that snowman in the brief 3-hour "pretty period," it was now time for Frosty to breathe his last breath.

Basically all the snow is gone now, and the streets and yards are covered in a slushy muck, with water continuing to pool on top of it. If you squint, you can kind of see some snow underneath the "wintry mixture." Truth be told, we haven't gotten a decent lasting snowfall in the Baltimore/DC area in several years, so I really wasn't shocked that it was again ruined.

As of 11 p.m., it is still raining. Okay, not just raining, pouring buckets, the kind of rain where you can't even get the dog to go outside without an encouraging shove. And don't think because it's raining it is warm. It's a balmy 34 degrees. Maybe if I chuck some dry ice outside, we can cool down the 2 degrees and get back to the snow?

And we have great weather news for the upcoming few days: On Sunday the high will be in the 20s. After that we will get, wait for it: more rain!! Anyone have an extra rental in Florida?