A powerful cold front crossed Maryland early Monday morning allowing gusty and cool northwest winds to usher in cooler fall air. Blustery winds will be a common theme to the forecast this week. 

The other big weather story across Maryland is the worsening drought. Unfortunately no significant improvements are in the forecast. This does mean the state will enjoy an extended stretch of dry, crisp, and pleasant outdoor weather now through the early part of the weekend. 

Winds of change across Maryland Monday

Early morning clouds and showers are exiting the state of Maryland on this Monday morning. The decrease in cloud cover will continue through the midday hours. In place of the clouds, gusty winds are increasing out of the northwest at 15 to 20 mph. Wind gusts are increasing into the 25 to 35 mph range. 

Temperatures Monday morning are in the lower to middle 50s. With the blustery breeze out of the northwest most of the day, high temperatures won’t reach past the lower to middle 60s. Skies will remain mostly sunny to sunny.

Wind will step back this evening and that will allow temperatures to quickly fall into the middle to upper 30s outside of the Beltway in some of the colder neighborhoods to the lower to middle 40s in Baltimore City. 

Maryland Terrific Tuesday followed by showers at night

After a chilly start to the morning Tuesday with early morning temperatures in the 30s and 40s, the air will warm quickly with an increasing south to southwest wind during the afternoon hours.

With a partly to mostly sunny skies combined with the warmer wind direction, high temperatures will climb into the lower to middle 70s. 

A strong cold front will cross the area Tuesday evening with clouds and a few scattered showers. Unfortunately the rainfall totals will be underwhelming with most locations receiving less than 0.10″. The timeline for showers appears to be 8 p.m. until midnight. 

Much chillier weather returns to Maryland by mid to late week

Plenty of sunshine returns to our forecast Wednesday through Friday. Winds will be gusty Wednesday and Thursday out of the west at 15 to 25 mph. Morning lows will be quite nippy in the 30s and 40s with afternoon highs in the lower 60s. Winds Wednesday and Thursday morning should prevent any frost or freeze conditions.

As winds relax Thursday night, frost has a better chance of forming, especially outside of the Beltway by Friday morning. Friday will see a nice rebound during the afternoon with highs in the lower 60s. 

An early look at the weekend shows decent weather, especially for Saturday. Sunshine will give way to increasing clouds with highs in the lower 60s. A disturbance may bring some light sprinkles or showers Sunday for the Ravens game, but right now confidence of this scenario isn’t very high. 

Please keep checking back for updates. 

A woman was killed and 13 others injured when a car drove into a birthday party tent filled with children Saturday in Bladensburg, Maryland.

Criminal charges are pending against a 66-year-old Washington, DC, man who initially fled the scene on foot but later turned himself in, the Bladensburg Police Department said Sunday in a news release.

The woman who died has been identified as Ashley Hernandez Gutierrez, 31, of Washington.

Jocelyn Route, a former Prince George’s County school board member and Bladensburg council member who lives down the street, told CNN affiliate WUSA she heard the crash from her bedroom.

“I was awakened by big booms … There were ambulances all around, there was a car that was actually in the yard, there was screaming,” Route told WUSA. “By the time I got down here, the emergency personnel were trying to resuscitate a woman who was pinned underneath a car.”

Route said she saw five children who appeared to be badly injured and another three who were able to walk to ambulances. She added neighbors told her a car had been driving erratically through the neighborhood before the crash.

A video posted on X shows police and firefighters at the scene early Sunday morning, where a tent believed to have been used for the birthday celebration was torn open and partially collapsed.

The victims, including six adults and eight children ranging from 1-17 years old, were taken to hospitals, Bladensburg police said. One of the children remains in the hospital in stable condition.

Three of the adult victims remain hospitalized in stable condition, one is awaiting treatment and another has been released, police said.

CNN’s Karina Tsui contributed to this report.