The powerful nor’easter developing in the Atlantic Ocean will likely miss the Baltimore area, but the city could still see near record-breaking cold while parts of the state could face coastal flooding as the storm turns into a bomb cyclone, according to forecasts.

Nor’easter

Jeremy Geiger, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Baltimore/Washington office, said on Thursday that, “as of right now, [it] looks like the trend has been in favor of no snow for Maryland.”

If the state gets any snow, it will likely be in Southern Maryland along the coast, he said.

The biggest concern is coastal flooding on the open ocean side of the peninsula. Ocean City could catch the back end of the system as it pulls off to the northeast, Geiger said, and strong winds could pull the water out of the bay.

Freezing temperatures

But Baltimore won’t escape from the cold weather.

The weather service issued a fourth cold weather advisory for Thursday evening through Friday morning, as temperatures could fall to 6 degrees this evening, which would match the city’s record low.

If the weather stays below freezing through Monday, as forecast, it would mark one of Baltimore’s longest stretches of frigid cold.

The city’s longest stretch of freezing temperatures was 14 days in 1966, according to Kyle Palazzi, a meteorologist at the weather service. The other lengthy stretches were 12 days in 1936 and 11 days in 1893, and there were two 10-day periods of frigid weather in 1989 and 1892.

A freezing Monday would place us on fifth place as we make it to the 10th consecutive day of frigid weather.

In Montgomery County, Thursday evening will see a low of 3 degrees, and temperatures will hover in the teens to the low 20s through the weekend.

Warming centers

The Baltimore City Health Department declared a Code Blue through Sunday. Locations across Baltimore will operate as warming centers amid the prolonged cold.

Here are some warming centers in Baltimore that are open from Monday to Friday:

• Beans & Bread: 400 S. Bond St., 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
• Franciscan Center: 101 W. 23rd St., 10 a.m. -2 p.m.
• Manna House: 435 E. 25th St., 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
• My Sister’s Place Women’s Center: 17 W. Franklin St., 9 a.m.-5 p.m., including weekends.
• Weinberg Housing & Resource Center: 620 Fallsway, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.