Maryland Memorial Day weekend stays cool, rainy with more showers ahead

Maryland moved through Memorial Day weekend under a stubborn rain pattern that was already holding temperatures about 20 degrees below normal and threatening to complicate highway travel, airport schedules and outdoor holiday plans.

The National Weather Service Baltimore/Washington office said showers and thunderstorms were expected from Texas to the Northeast through Tuesday. CBS Baltimore said a stationary front was keeping Maryland cloudy with rain showers, and that no day of the holiday weekend was expected to be a complete washout. Rain was forecast to continue Monday through Wednesday, with a chance of showers Thursday, and total rainfall over the next week could surpass one inch in many Maryland areas.

The cool spell stood out at BWI-Marshall Airport, where the normal late-May high is around 77 degrees. WBAL meteorologist Dalencia Jenkins said some Maryland areas had already received up to five inches of rain since storms rolled through last week. BWI Marshall had just over three inches of rain since Wednesday, leaving the airport about one inch above normal for the month but still roughly three to four inches below normal for the year.

That setup left the highest risk of disruption across the stretches of the weekend and early week when rain lingered over the same corridors. Drivers heading home from beach trips or moving between holiday gatherings faced the greatest chance of slowed traffic in repeated showers, while airport operations at BWI Marshall could deal with intermittent delays if the wetter bands strengthened. Backyard cookouts and outdoor reunions were less likely to be erased outright than repeatedly interrupted by a damp, cool forecast that favored plan changes over clear skies.

The rain also mattered beyond the holiday itself. Jenkins said rainfall through Tuesday morning would count toward the next drought monitor update, while rain after 8 a.m. Tuesday would be included in the first drought monitor of June. Maryland’s drought status page says the state evaluates drought using precipitation, streamflow, groundwater levels and reservoir storage, and the U.S. Drought Monitor map released May 21 was based on data valid through May 19 at 8 a.m. EDT.

Baltimore City Department of Public Works issued voluntary regional water restrictions on May 14 for customers across the Baltimore regional water system. The agency said its three reservoirs supply drinking water to 1.8 million people in Baltimore City and surrounding counties, and that it could draw from the Susquehanna River if conditions worsen. With much of Maryland under drought warning and southern Maryland under drought watch, the holiday rain carried meaning for reservoirs and water use as much as for cookouts and travel.