Wednesday should bring a sunnier and milder outlook, with highs near 58 and a steady southwest breeze gusting up to 28 mph. The night will likely be mostly clear, with a low projected around 41.

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Cool, sunny conditions could continue into Thursday, with a high near 56 before dipping to about 39 overnight.

Friday should be mostly sunny, reaching close to 57 degrees, followed by a mostly clear night with a low around 38.

The weekend could see a chance of showers, with partly sunny skies and a high near 57 during the daytime, followed by a rainy night with a low around 49 degrees.

By Sunday, there should be a mix of clouds, showers and sun, along with temperatures climbing into the mid-60s before dipping into the low 40s amid clear skies overnight.

A winter weather advisory is in effect through Tuesday morning for parts of Western Maryland. The National Weather Service predicts between 3 and 6 inches of snowfall early this week and wind gusts as high as 40 mph in western Garrett County. Travelers should plan for slippery, hard-to-see roads.

Meanwhile, Baltimore temperatures are forecast to peak in the mid-50s this week, followed by lows that dip below the freezing point.

Sunny skies are expected to start off the workweek Monday in the Baltimore area, accompanied by wind speeds ranging from 11 to 15 mph with gusts up to 26 mph. The high of the day is predicted to be around 47.

Wind speeds are expected to remain about the same into the evening, with gusts up to 30 mph. The low is forecast to reach 26, shaping up to be the coldest night of the week.

Wind speeds are likely to pick up on Veterans Day on Tuesday, with speeds ranging from 15 to 22 mph. Sunny skies are projected throughout the day with a high of 56.

Wednesday is predicted to be a break from the high wind speeds and freezing temperatures, as sunny skies and a high near 56 are in the forecast. Partly cloudy conditions are expected to set in Wednesday night and the low is expected to reach around 37.

Thursday is forecast to be sunny with a high near 53. Conditions should remain mostly clear into Thursday night, and the low is expected to reach 33.

Friday is likely to be sunny with a high of 55 and a low of 35. Saturday should be the same, with a high of 53 and a low of 34 at night.

Saturday is forecast to be mostly sunny, with a daytime high near 69 degrees and a low around 52 at night.

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Rain is likely to return Sunday, with mostly cloudy skies and a high near 67 before temperatures drop into the low 40s overnight.

Monday will be mostly sunny, with a high near 51 and northwest winds of 8 to 11 mph, with gusts up to 20 mph.

Monday night brings a slight chance of rain and snow showers before 10 p.m., then a chance of snow showers through about 1 a.m. Skies will be partly cloudy, with a low around 33. The chance of precipitation is about 20%.

Veterans Day is expected to be sunny, with a high near 48, followed by partly cloudy skies Tuesday night and a low around 38.

Both directions of Maryland Route 2 at Annapolis Harbor Center Drive were shut down around 2 a.m. as crews responded to the fire, which also brought down power lines and caused outages in the area. Drivers were forced to find alternate routes until the scene was cleared.

All lanes reopened by about 5 a.m., ahead of the morning rush hour.

As of 7 a.m., Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.’s map showed just over 200 outages in the region.

The incident followed a day of strong winds across the region Wednesday as a cold front moved through. Annapolis saw gusty conditions through the afternoon and evening, and a gale warning was in effect for nearby waterways for much of the day.

Thursday’s weather is expected to be calmer and more pleasant, with sunshine and a high near 57 degrees. Winds could still gust up to 21 mph. Skies will remain mostly clear Thursday night, with a low around 42 and light, southerly winds after midnight.

Have a news tip? Contact Todd Karpovich at tkarpovich@baltsun.com or on X as @ToddKarpovich.

Sunday is expected to be mostly sunny, with highs in the low 60s and lows in the mid-40s, with cloudy skies and a potential for rain late.

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The workweek will kick off with a chance of Monday showers and a high near 62 and an evening low around 44.

The mostly pleasant stretch of weather comes after one of the region’s wettest Octobers in recent years, according to NWS data, and offers a much-needed break for residents recovering from Thursday’s coastal flooding.

The city was to remain under a coastal flood warning through 8 a.m. Friday.

There was a high tide around noon Thursday that rose to 4.27 feet above the average lowest daily tide, according to unofficial numbers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The high tide Thursday appears to have approached a recent high for water levels in Annapolis. The 10th-highest water level in city history was 4.28 feet above the average lowest daily tide, putting Thursday as the possible 11th-highest water level. The flooding Thursday might be the fourth-highest water level in Annapolis in the past 10 years, according to NOAA historical data.

This was considered moderate flooding in Annapolis, whereas 5.0 feet and above would be considered a major flood. Flooding occurs whenever the waters rise to 2.6 feet above the average lowest daily tide.

The next high tide was predicted at 1 a.m. Friday.

At midday Thursday, businesses on Dock Street were closed, and at 1 p.m., an employee was seen deploying a business’s own pump system to get water out. Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley kayaked through what is normally a parking lot on Dock Street through to Ego Alley, telling the Capital Gazette he was going out to assess the damage at the downtown businesses.

At least three cars were still in the flooded parking lot, with water covering most of one truck’s tires.

The Annapolis Office of Emergency Management announced Thursday morning that Dock Street, Compromise Street between the Memorial Circle and St. Mary’s Street, the inbound direction of 6th Street to Compromise Street, and Chester Avenue at Fourth Street were closed due to the floods.

The office stressed that drivers should not go around barricades or through floodwaters because they could get stuck. As of 4 p.m. Thursday, there had not been any water rescues, according to David Mandell, the deputy director of the city Office of Emergency Management.

The Thursday flooding was caused by a combination of strong wind coming from the east and south, tide and rain, Mandell said. He said the department distributed 50 sandbags Wednesday to prepare for the flooding.

In 2024, Annapolis had 120 flooding events, the most in city history, and two state of emergency declarations due to flooding, Mandell said. There have been fewer flooding events this year, he said, but any flooding can affect businesses, vehicles and downtown generally.

The city is expected to hold a groundbreaking within the next few days for the City Dock Resiliency Project, which aims to better protect City Dock and the other side of Ego Alley from rising sea levels. The two-year project is set to put in taller bulkheads, add deployable flood barriers, raise the sidewalk and install a raised park. The project is also slated to add a new Maritime Welcome Center to City Dock.

Have a news tip? Contact Katharine Wilson at kwilson@baltsun.com. 

Richard Pettigrew, the Oregon archaeologist leading the latest venture to solve the mystery of the legendary aviator’s demise, said in a news update that the expedition — originally scheduled to begin Nov. 4 — had to be delayed due to problems in securing the permits required for his team of 14 people to travel from Majuro, the capital of the Marshall Islands, to Nikumaruru, a remote island in the Republic of Kiribati.

The goal of the mission is to investigate a white, airplane-shaped object researchers have spotted in a satellite photograph taken of Nikumaroro in 2020. The Taraia Object, as it’s being called, appears to be submerged below the surface of the lagoon at the center of the coral atoll.

Pettigrew and his team believe Earhart and her flight navigator, Fred Noonan, could not find their intended destination, tiny Howland Island, on the morning of July 2, 1937, and traveled 400 miles to the southeast, where they made an emergency landing on Nikumaroro. They believe the pair survived for several days before succumbing to the elements.

It’s one of countless theories about what might have happened to the aviators. Most experts believe they ran out of fuel near Howland and crashed into the ocean nearby.

Purdue University, which helped Earhart purchase the 10-seat plane 88 years ago, is helping Pettigrew, the founding director of the nonprofit Archaeological Legacy Institute in Eugene, Oregon, carry out the mission, whose cost has been estimated at $900,000. Pettigrew said the nonprofit continues to raise funds for the venture.

Team leaders said that even if the Republic of Kiribati, an island country dispersed over more than 1.3 million square miles situated roughly halfway between Hawaii and Australia, gave its full permission in the next few days, it would still not be in time for the team to avoid the annual cyclone season in that part of the South Pacific, which generally occurs in winter.

The team will return to the expedition no earlier than April 2026, said Pettigrew, who sounded undaunted by the setback.

“Because of the compelling evidence we have in front of us, we have to go to Nikumaroro and get a close look at the Taraia Object,” he said. “Rest assured that we will do just that, so stay tuned! We will have a revised project schedule worked out soon.”

Have a news tip? Contact Jonathan M. Pitts at jonpitts@baltsun.com.

“The catastrophic storm and the fact that this is the worst in the nation’s history is just extremely concerning,” Wilkins, a Kingston-born Democrat who represents Montgomery County, told The Baltimore Sun. “I feel very worried for the entire island and also for my family.”

Hurricane Melissa slammed into Jamaica’s southwestern coast as a Category 5 storm — one of the most powerful in Atlantic history. The storm flattened homes, uprooted trees and left hundreds of thousands without power, according to media reports. Its slow movement has brought hours of torrential rain and flash flooding, with officials warning that recovery will take weeks.

By Wednesday, Melissa had left dozens dead and widespread destruction across Jamaica, Cuba and Haiti. Haiti’s Civil Protection Agency said at least 23 people are dead and 13 others are missing. In Cuba, officials reported that about 735,000 people remained in shelters, with the worst damage concentrated in the island’s southwest and northwest. The storm is now moving toward the central Bahamas, and forecasters say it has already begun affecting the southeastern islands.

For Jamaicans in Maryland, the destruction has felt both distant and deeply personal. The state is home to more than 82,000 Caribbeans — one of the largest Caribbean populations in the mid-Atlantic, according to the latest reports from the Migration Policy Institute.

“It’s scary, and for me as a legislator, at the same time, we have so much going on in the community here with the shutdown, our furloughed workers,” Wilkins said. “Both at home and abroad, several crises are going on, and trying to make sure that everyone is taken care of.”

Organizing from afar

As Wilkins checked in with her father and siblings in Kingston and Montego Bay, others in Maryland’s Jamaican community were busy mobilizing.

BJ Dawkins, a leader in the Maryland Black Chamber of Commerce and a community advocate in Montgomery County, said she spent the night on WhatsApp with friends and family in Jamaica, including her 86-year-old mother in Montego Bay — many of whom were struggling with intermittent power and spotty internet connections.

On Monday night, Dawkins helped coordinate a Zoom meeting hosted by Jamaica’s ambassador to the United States, Antony Anderson. More than 500 people, including Wilkins and Howard University professor Goulda Downer, logged on to hear updates, identify immediate needs and plan relief efforts.

Downer, who has trained with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and worked with Jamaica’s disaster preparedness agency, said the storm highlights the region’s growing vulnerability to climate change.

“Latin America and the Caribbean region is considered the second most disaster-prone area in the world … one in six natural disasters occur in the Caribbean — that’s about 16 percent,” she said, adding that the region’s ability to withstand storms has decreased significantly since she was a child living in Jamaica as the nature of the storms themselves have changed due to climate change.

Downer emphasized that disaster response is about more than rebuilding roads and houses — it’s about long-term planning, communication and mental health.

She added that diaspora communities play a crucial role in relief and recovery. “When it comes to boots on the ground, that’s what we do. We get together. It doesn’t matter what our political affiliation is. The bottom line is Jamaica is Jamaica. That’s home,” she said.

Wilkins said she hopes the United States provides robust support as Jamaica begins rebuilding.

“Recent actions around the international support have not been strong in recent months,” she said. “But I am hopeful, and I will be urging that help from the United States …. and the many Jamaicans living here in the United States, I know, will want to see that support take place.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story. Have a news tip? Contact Mennatalla Ibrahim at mibrahim@baltsun.com.

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Heavy floodwaters swept across southwestern Jamaica, winds tore roofs off buildings and boulders tumbled onto roads Tuesday as Hurricane Melissa pummeled the Caribbean island as a catastrophic Category 5 storm, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes on record.

Landslides, fallen trees and numerous power outages were reported as Melissa hit with 185 mph (295 kph) winds near New Hope, with officials cautioning that the cleanup and damage assessment could be slow.

“There is no infrastructure in the region that can withstand a Category 5,” Prime Minister Andrew Holness said. “The question now is the speed of recovery. That’s the challenge.”

Floodwaters trapped at least three families in their homes in the community of Black River in western Jamaica, and crews were unable to help them because of dangerous conditions, said Desmond McKenzie, deputy chairman of Jamaica’s Disaster Risk Management Council.

“Roofs were flying off,” he said. “We are hoping and praying that the situation will ease so that some attempt can be made to get to those persons.”

He noted that extensive damage was reported in the southwestern parish of St. Elizabeth, which he said “is underwater.”

McKenzie stressed that it was too early to talk about the extent of the damage because the hurricane — the strongest to hit the island since recordkeeping began 174 years ago — was still pummeling the country.

Rohan Brown, with Jamaica’s Meteorological Service, warned that as Melissa moves off the coast, its counterclockwise rotation would bring a heavy storm surge to northern Jamaica through the night. The storm was maintaining Category 4 strength as it moved toward Cuba, where it was expected to cross the eastern part of the island overnight.

Nearly 15,000 people were in shelters in Jamaica and some 540,000 customers, or 77%, were without power, officials said.

Jamaican officials had warned against going outside during Hurricane Melissa, but curiosity got the better of a few Jamaican teens who had never experienced the wrath of a Category 5 system.

“When the wind howls, it feels as if the world is falling apart,” 15-year-old Gavin Fuller said with a grin. “I wanted to know what it feels like to stand in the eye of something so powerful.”

Colin Bogle, a Mercy Corps adviser, said most families were sheltering in place despite the government ordering evacuations in flood-prone communities. He was sheltering with his grandmother in Portmore, where everything went dark after a loud explosion.

“The noise is relentless,” he said. “People are anxious and just trying to hold on until the storm passes.”

Jamaica prepares for the aftermath of a record storm

On Tuesday night, Melissa had top sustained winds of 130 mph (215 kph) and was moving northeast at 9 mph (15 kph) according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami. The hurricane was centered about 110 miles (175 kilometers) southwest of Guantánamo, Cuba.

Its 185 mph (295 kph) winds and 892 millibars of central pressure tied two records for the strongest Atlantic storm at landfall. The pressure — the key measurement meteorologists use — tied 1935’s Labor Day hurricane in Florida. The wind speed tied the 1935 hurricane and 2019’s Hurricane Dorian, said hurricane scientists Phil Klotzbach of Colorado State University and Brian McNoldy of the University of Miami.

“It’s been a remarkable, just a beast of a storm,” Klotzbach told The Associated Press.

With a life-threatening storm surge of up to 13 feet (4 meters) forecast, officials were concerned about hospitals along the coast. McKenzie said four main hospitals were damaged and one of those lost power, forcing officials to evacuate 75 patients.

One man called a radio station seeking urgent help for a woman in labor in western Jamaica as the hurricane neared landfall. The show’s host pleaded with listeners to let him know the safest hospital before an obstetrician called in to provide detailed directions on how to deliver a baby, if necessary.

In Kingston, officials warned people to watch out for crocodiles that might be displaced from their habitats by flooding.

McKenzie said the government was prepared for rescues immediately after the storm passes through: “We have boats, helicopters, you name it.”

The storm already was blamed for seven deaths in the Caribbean, including three in Jamaica, three in Haiti and one in the Dominican Republic, where another person remains missing.

Tuesday evening, officials huddled in meetings to determine how best to clear the debris after the storm and distribute emergency relief supplies to avoid bottlenecks at Jamaica’s ports, said Richard Thompson, acting general director for Jamaica’s emergency management office.

Officials hope to reopen the island’s airports by Thursday.

U.N. agencies and dozens of nonprofits had food, medicine and other essential supplies positioned as they awaited a distribution rush after the storm.

Melissa takes aim at Cuba

Melissa was expected to make landfall in eastern Cuba early Wednesday. Up to 20 inches (51 centimeters) of rain was forecast in areas, along with a significant storm surge along the coast.

In a televised address to the nation Tuesday, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel urged the population to not underestimate the power of the storm, “the strongest ever to hit national territory.”

In the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba, people streamed into the home of 83-year-old Eduviges Figueroa at the foot of the Sierra Maestra mountains to seek shelter after fleeing their homes by bus, truck and even horse-drawn carts.

“We’re helping as best we can,” she said. “Now I’m cooking for everyone.”

People in Santiago de Cuba, the island’s second-largest city with more than 1 million people, spent Tuesday frantically preparing. Few people were on the streets, while state television showed Cubans in rural areas rounding up animals and protecting crops.

Diamon Mendoza, 36, did not hide her concern about the unavoidable storm.

“May God have mercy on us, because it’s coming with a lot of strength,” Mendoza said. “Anything can happen.”

Authorities in eastern Holguín province prepared to evacuate more than 200,000 people Tuesday and evacuated a similar number of people earlier from the town of Banes.

Reports on social media and state television showed blue and white buses ferrying evacuees to shelter early Tuesday. Families clutched babies and belongings and elderly people steadied themselves with canes as they disembarked.

___

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Associated Press journalists Geir Moulson in Berlin, Andrea Rodríguez in Havana, Seth Borenstein in Washington and Ariel Fernández in Santiago de Cuba contributed to this report.