Well, it finally happened. Wednesday marked the end of Maryland’s snow drought with its first measurable snowfall of the season, totaling at a whopping 0.2 inches. No, that’s not a typo.

While it wasn’t the heavy, wet, fluffy stuff that causes weekslong school delays and closures across the state, it was still an exciting sight for the Maryland snow and ice fans to wake up to.

But we’re wondering — how exactly is 0.2 inches of snow considered a “snowfall”? Turns out anything over 0.1 inches is considered a measurable snowfall, according to meteorologist Erik Taylor with the National Weather Service.

Taylor said the snow is measured by trained observers on white, flat snowboards, with measuring sticks, stationed at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and two other the airports in Washington, D.C., which serve as the NWS’ official measuring locations.

“And then you take the measurement in there and then once the snow is finished, after cleaning the board off, you know every six hours you take and add estimation of those numbers to get the final measurement,” Taylor said.

Before Wednesday, Maryland did not record any snow accumulation over an inch or more since January 2022. In fact, we’ve seen more than 7 inches of rainfall since November, thanks to the weather patterns.

“We really didn’t have any snow just because the weather pattern that we have been in really hasn’t lined up for that. We’ve been getting a lot of storm systems that have been cutting in across portions of the Ohio River Valley, Tennessee River Valley, and then going up into western portions of Pennsylvania, so that puts us on the warmer side of things, hence more in the way of rain compared to snow,” Taylor said.

Meanwhile, areas farther west of Maryland — such as Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana — are seeing more snow and ice. Taylor said Maryland is below average for where we should be for this time of year.

But don’t pack away the winter gear just yet.

“Anything goes in February and March. The potential is still there for snow as we’re still in the wintertime months. But we’ll see if we can add to it and I know it’s been a lackluster season so far but but we’ll have to wait and see,” Taylor said.

And while there is still a possibility for snow, Taylor said the Baltimore metro area should expect the same weather pattern during this season due to the above-average temperatures.

“The current pattern suggests right now things will get colder this weekend briefly and then we’ll warm up again, which is kind of been the typical theme of things throughout much of the season in the Baltimore metro area and the surrounding suburbs,” he said.

So, for the snow and ice fans crossing their fingers and making those wishes for more than 0.2 inches of accumulation, there’s some hope for you. And if you don’t believe us, ask good ol’ Punxsutawney Phil, who predicted six more weeks of winter on Groundhog Day Thursday.

tramon.lucas@thebaltimorebanner.com