Well, perhaps Punxsutawney Phil was right.

There is potential for “heavy snow” in the mid-Atlantic region between Feb. 19-20, according to the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center.

Almost all of Maryland — including Frederick and everything east of it — is within the area where the NWS says heavy snow is possible.

Cody Ledbetter, a meteorologist at the Baltimore/Washington Field Office of the National Weather Service, said it was too soon to say with confidence how much snow accumulation was possible in the area next week.

There’s a lot of uncertainty and movement in the atmosphere, he said, but if the right systems come together, the snowfall in the region would be “significant,” he said.

Maryland is just outside a large swath of the country that is forecast to see hazardous cold next week, according to the NWS. The “coldest burst of Arctic air this season” is on its way toward the U.S., according to the Associated Press. It’s the tenth time this season the polar vortex has stretched south, bringing frigid Arctic air with it.

Cold weather can be dangerous and lead to frostbite, hypothermia and death. So far this winter season, 35 Marylanders have died from hypothermia, according to the latest available data from the Maryland Department of Health. Fourteen of the deaths have been in Baltimore City, the most of any jurisdiction.

Baltimore County has seen four cold weather deaths, and Carroll and Prince George’s counties have seen three.

Parts of the state, including near the D.C. suburbs, could also see flooding between Feb. 17-19.

This weekend, Baltimore is almost guaranteed to see slushy weather, according to the National Weather Service.

There’s a chance of less than half an inch of new snow and sleet accumulation Saturday, with it turning to rain by Saturday night, according to the NWS forecast just before 5 p.m Friday.

Between Saturday and Sunday night, the area could see about an inch and a quarter of rainfall.

Though it’s been a cold winter season for the U.S. so far, the world as a whole is continuing to break heat records.

As of Jan. 22 this year, 2025 has had the hottest first 20 days of a year on record, according to Europe’s Copernicus climate service, breaking last year’s record, according to data going back to 1940.

So far this year, U.S. weather has set or tied 697 daily records for coldest temperature, not much more than the 629 daily records reported so far this year for warmest temperatures for the date. In the past 365 days, U.S. weather stations have recorded five times as many heat records than cold, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Scientists say they seem to be seeing more frequent cold air outbreaks — but not cooler weather in general — and theorize that a warming Arctic is altering the jet stream and polar vortex to allow cold air to escape and plunge further south.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.