By Scott Dance, The Baltimore Sun Baltimore Sun

10:51 a.m. AKDT, October 8, 2012

Frostburg and the mountains of western Allegany County are under a freeze warning Monday night into Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.

It is one of Maryland's first freezes of the season, as the coming winter cold marches east and into gradually lower elevations. The timing is just about right on schedule.

Temperatures are expected to reach 30-32 degrees overnight along a slice of Allegany County and the West Virginia panhandle.

They won't be the first freezing temperatures seen in Maryland so far this season. Garrett County Airport hit 32 degrees early Monday morning and has barely risen warmer than that, at 36 degrees as of 2 p.m.

According to a Utah State University database of frost and freeze dates, the cold temperatures are arriving more or less on time. In the Bittinger area of Garrett County, the median first freeze is Oct. 3. In Frostburg, the median first frost arrives somewhere between Oct. 7-9.

The Baltimore area has a few weeks to go before such temperatures are likely. Downtown, the first freeze is normally around Nov. 15; at BWI Marshall Airport, it's Oct. 30. In Towson, it's slightly earlier, around Oct. 25, while out in Westminster, it's about Oct. 17.

Have a weather question? E-mail me at sdance@baltsun.com or tweet to @MdWeather.