Severe weather forced cancellations and a rescheduling of several Maryland Fourth of July events on Saturday, even as the Baltimore fireworks stayed planned for 9 p.m. The National Weather Service warned just before 7 p.m. that the Baltimore area, Southern Maryland and areas just above the city faced hail, lightning and damaging winds.
Brian LaSorsa, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said winds could get up to 70 mph. He also described “a lot of energy in the atmosphere” as temperatures and the heat index broke triple digits for the third day in a row.
Takoma Park and Laurel
Fourth of July events in Takoma Park and Laurel were canceled Saturday. Severna Park moved its event to July 11, giving organizers a new date after weather made the original plan untenable.
The weather service said the risk of severe storms would remain through 8 p.m., leaving a narrow gap between the warning window and the Baltimore fireworks start time. The city’s display was still scheduled for 9 p.m. despite the same evening’s storm threat.
Andrew Laird and heat calls
On Friday, Battalion Chief Andrew Laird of the Baltimore County Fire Department said the department handled over 40 heat-related calls and transported 31 people to the hospital. Four people were in serious condition after those calls, a separate reminder that the holiday weekend was already straining emergency response before the storms arrived.
The Baltimore area was under a code orange air quality alert, while the suburbs of Washington were under code red alerts. The National Weather Service also expected a high of 102 in the Baltimore area, where it would feel like 111 degrees.
That same weather pattern had already affected travel. Some Amtrak trains in the Northeast were canceled Saturday, and a Metrorail train derailed near College Park because of a heat-related track issue, injuring one man and prompting 11 passengers to evacuate. Northbound lanes on Interstate 97 in Anne Arundel County reopened Saturday morning after emergency repairs.
For people heading to holiday events, the practical cutoff was the storm window through 8 p.m. and the 9 p.m. fireworks start. Anyone still planning to go had to account for late-evening wind, lightning and hail warnings on top of dangerous heat that had already sent people to hospitals.
The unanswered piece was the simplest one: whether the Baltimore fireworks actually went off at 9 p.m. Saturday. The weather service had left the display on the clock while warnings still covered the evening.
