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Where are the April showers?

Downright dry...

wmar

By: Stevie Daniels

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Rain is a good thing, and we desperately need it. The drought monitor map that was released on April 17th by the National Drought Mitigation Center, showed moderate-severe drought conditions across the majority of central Maryland and the Eastern shore.

Here is the updated drought monitor map that was released this morning. There is little to no change in drought conditions across the area over the past week. Areas to the northwest of the bay are still suffering from a severe drought.

Where are the April showers? The normal value for April is 3.39". There have only been seven days with measurable rain in the Baltimore area since April 1st. A little less than 2" of rainfall has been measured at the BWI airport since the beginning of the month. We should have seen about 2.50" of rain by now. Since the start of Meteorological spring, 5" of rain has been recorded at the airport, which is about 1.50" below average. It was more of a rainy setup last year, with a totals of 8.72" of rain between March 1st through April 24th.

There is a healthy dose of rain on the way! Pre-frontal showers arrive Friday night with the bulk of the rain moving in Saturday morning through the afternoon hours. The added humidity and warmth may lead to the development of some gusty thunderstorms as the cold front swings through. On average, up to 1" of rain is expected. Hopefully this will help with the ongoing drought. Keep an eye on radar if you have any Saturday plans. Conditions dry out Saturday evening.