More than 20 Marylanders have died this winter season as a result of cold weather, state health officials say, but the number of deaths from the current Artic blast isn?t known.
John Hammond, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said 26 people ? nine of them homeless ? died from hypothermia in the state from Sept. 29 through Jan. 29.
The Baltimore region has been in the grip of frigid winter weather since this past weekend, with daily highs remaining below freezing and lows plunging into the single digits. Westward winds continue to send the “feels-like” temperature below zero throughout much of the area.
Snow is expected to move into much of the region tonight, but accumulation is questionable, weather sources reported this morning.
Officials with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, which reports the numbers to the state Health Department, could not say whether any weather-related deaths have occurred in the state since Jan. 29. That information will be coming in the coming days, officials said.
Last winter through Feb. 7, 2006, 40 weather-related deaths were reported in the state.
