Another quick hitting wintry system is set to move into Central Maryland early Saturday morning and looks to continue at least through midday.This storm system will bring ice to start mainly for those west of Carroll County with a quick change to steady rain midday.
Winter Weather Advisories are in place for Carroll, Frederick, northeastern Howard, northern Montgomery, Allegany, Garrett, and Washington counties until early Saturday afternoon for the potential of slick travel due to ice.
A light glaze of ice is expected in many of these areas creating travel concerns. The immediate Baltimore metro is not in the advisory right now but is still subject to see a few slick spots especially on those bridges and overpasses thanks to our recent cold snap.
By lunchtime, warm air aloft will start to transition the ice over to mainly rain. Icing concerns though will remain across Washington, Allegany, Frederick, Carroll, & northern Howard counties through the early afternoon (after 1pm) as temperatures float around 32 degrees even with the warm air takeover.
A glaze of ice is likely in these counties mentioned above while the rest of the area sees wet roads during the afternoon hours.
The mountains of Western Maryland along I-68 from Cumberland to Oakland will keep the ice around the longest. Dangerous travel concerns are likely through the afternoon even with a transition to rain.
By Saturday evening, we anticipate most of the precipitation exiting the area as the storm takes off up the coast and a drying northwesterly wind kicks in.
POTENTIAL ICE TOTALS/IMPACTS
Our best guess suggest that much of the area will see rain with limited ice accumulation across northern and western suburbs along I-70. Our northern counties such as Frederick, Carroll, northern Baltimore, Washington, and northern Howard could receive a light glaze of ice before the changeover. Roads could be slick to start as the ground temperatures sit just below freezing after our recent cold spell. Ground temperatures though turn in our favor by the afternoon as the warmer air wins out.
In the Baltimore metro area and Eastern Shore this is a rain event with a few patchy ice spots on bridges and overpasses at the onset of the precip even if it is falling as rain. The reason for this is that these surfaces are elevated and remain colder longer especially after our recent blast of polar air.
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