Dangerously cold weather in Maryland Tuesday, ahead of possible weekend winter storm

Bitter cold weather will stick around Maryland through Tuesday before a slight warm-up later this week. Tuesday will be an Alert Day due to the freezing temperatures.  

Temperatures for the rest of Monday will feature a less harsh feel. If you're headed out on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, make sure you are dressed warmly, but also have your sunglasses as sunshine returns to our forecast.

On Monday night, there will be a slight chance to see the Northern Lights. A "severe" geomagnetic storm watch was issued by the Space Weather Prediction Center, but seeing the aurora here in Maryland tonight is not a guarantee. Be sure to bundle up if you plan to look up tonight!

This weekend, a potential winter storm could bring brutally cold temperatures back to the region. 

Bitter cold temperatures Tuesday

An arctic cold front will cross the area Monday evening, allowing for another round of painful cold and windy weather to enter the area. 

Winds will veer out of the west-northwest after 6 p.m. and gust 20 to 30 mph during the late evening and overnight hours. This means wind-chills of 30° around 4 p.m. will quickly plummet into the mid-teens by midnight.

Tuesday will be brutally cold all day with morning wake-up wind-chills around 0° to 5°. 

Please make sure you and the kids dress warmly with plenty of layers throughout the day Tuesday. 

Even during the afternoon hours, feels like temperatures will reach no higher than the mid-teens. For this rest, the WJZ First Alert Weather Team has issued a First Alert Weather Day for extreme cold Tuesday. 

Weather warm-up Wednesday

After a bitterly cold start to the morning on Wednesday with wind-chills in the single digits, high temperatures on Wednesday afternoon will rebound with sunshine and gusty southerly winds. These winds out of the south at 10 to 20 mph will help high temperatures top out around 40°.

Thursday should turn out to be the nicest day of the week as we briefly squeeze milder temperatures back into the forecast. Expect sunshine along with a westerly wind, which will help high temperatures approach 50°. Enjoy this short-lived break while it lasts, as another powerful hit of arctic air is on the way for the weekend.

Friday turns colder through the day with high temperatures reaching around 40°. Temperatures will fall late Friday as another arctic front crosses the area. Winds will shift out of the north, allowing very cold air to drain into Maryland. By Friday night, most areas in central and northern Maryland will experience temperatures falling into the middle to upper teens. 

Winter weather possible this weekend in Baltimore

The WJZ First Alert Weather Team is tracking the potential for a weekend winter storm along with some bitterly cold temperatures. This one-two punch of potential winter weather has the potential to be quite disruptive if the storm tracks just south of our area.

Our long-range computer models have been hinting for over a week at the potential of a winter storm somewhere along the East Coast for this upcoming weekend. The exact track of this winter storm will determine how impactful it is for the state of Maryland. At this time, it appears we will have plenty of cold air in place, so any precipitation that does fall will likely fall in the form of snow. There is the potential for a significant amount of snow Saturday into Sunday, depending on the exact track of the storm.

At this moment, there is a great deal of uncertainty regarding the exact track of this winter storm. Some computer models bring significant snow to Maryland Saturday into Sunday morning, but some other models indicate the brunt of the storm may pass a bit farther south, sparing the state from the biggest snowfall totals. The First Alert Weather Team will continue to fine-tune the forecast as information becomes clearer as we approach the weekend.

Either way, extreme cold will be an issue for the weekend, even if we don't take a direct hit from the aforementioned winter storm. Highs will only top out in the upper teens to around 20 degrees, with wind-chills dipping as low as 0° or maybe even below zero. For this reason, the WJZ First Alert Weather Team has tagged Saturday and Sunday as potential First Alert Weather Days for extreme cold and the potential of a winter storm.

The entire WJZ First Alert Weather Team will be updating the weekend forecast around the clock this week, so keep checking back for updates as this cold and winter storm has the potential to be quite disruptive.