High Winds, Hail Expected With Wednesday Storms

UPDATED (Wednesday, 4 p.m.)—Harford County is under a severe thunderstorm watch and a heat advisory until 9 p.m. Wednesday, the National Weather Service announced.

The watch covers 13 counties in Maryland, including Harford.

There is a chance of storms throughout the day.

Harford County Emergency Manager Rick Ayers sent out an alert by automated message Wednesday afternoon saying that severe storms will impact Harford County between 4 and 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

"Please plan accordingly and seek shelter if required," Ayers said.

A special weather statement for Harford County said 40-to-50-mph winds and small hail might accompany the storms.

Temperatures soared above 100 degrees Wednesday. Harford County announced that Harford County Public Libraries would double as cooling centers to combat the temperatures.

"As the region continues to experience high temperatures, exceeding 100 degrees, BGE is also preparing for potential weather-related outages from the severe thunderstorms and high wind forecasted for this afternoon," said Jeannette M. Mills, vice president and chief customer officer for BGE in a press release.

BGE officials said in a statement they might activate the company’s voluntary energy demand response program, called PeakRewards, "which helps lower the cost of electricity."

The company activated PeakRewards for about two hours Tuesday, officials said.

"This program is critical to helping the company and the electric grid operator for the region reduce peak demand and keep the electric system balanced, particularly during periods of high demand," officials said in a statement.

Also, Harford County Emergency Operations Center recently requested that residents  in order to better serve the community during weather-related emergencies.

Make sure you're equipped to know when severe weather is coming.

See all of Patch's emergency communication tools here:

Aberdeen Patch:  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Newsletters
Bel Air Patch:  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Newsletters
Havre de Grace Patch:  Facebook  |  Twitter |  Newsletters

Patch editor  contributed to this report.