November 4, 2010 – Baltimore Sun weblog
Hardy Allegany County residents just seem to deal with wintry weather without paying much attention to the stuff, much less caring about how the weather forecasters choose to define it.
But the National Weather Service is acknowledging the frequency of bad winter weather in Western Maryland’s mountain stronghold by requiring slightly more dire forecasts before they’ll issue winter weather watches and warnings. The change puts the county into the same class as Garrett County just to the west.
Until now, the forecast for Allegany County – and for the rest of Maryland east of there – had to call for 2 inches of snow in 12 hours before the folks in Sterling would issue a Winter Weather Advisory. As of 10 a.m. Thursday, the criterion for Allegany (also Grant, Mineral and Pendleton counties in W. Va., and Highland County in Va.) will be 3 inches in 12 hours.
