With up to 2 feet of snow in the forecast, the Baltimore region was bustling Thursday with pre-storm preparations.
People, as they always do, bought shovels and snowblowers and raided supermarkets. At least one entrepreneurial-minded man got himself a plow-mounted four-wheeler to earn extra money.
Some businesses went ahead and announced they would be closed today, while the federal government urged its agencies to let employees work from home.
Across Maryland, crews coated major roads with ice-melting goop, including a sugar beet molasses mixture in some spots. BGE got ready for power outages, and MARC prepared for an unusual lunchtime rush by adding train capacity.
For Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake, her first day in office featured an update on snow response plans: More than 150 trucks will plow the city's streets and scatter thousands of tons of salt.
As the storm blew toward the region, Gov. Martin O'Malley might have had the best advice of all: "Stay at home if you don't have to go out."
By the time most readers are picking up their newspapers, Ed Wildesen will have been up for hours, scouring his computer for weather forecasts.
Wildesen, director of transportation in the Garrett County school system, is one of the key members of a team that makes the call that 5,000 schoolchildren and their parents are waiting to hear.
So, on a day like today, Wildesen is up by 3 a.m. But this isn't a job that he can do in his pajamas. "I get into the car and go. I will drive probably 30 or 40 miles," he said.
After his road trip, he'll phone colleagues around the county and a forecaster in Pennsylvania who has access to weather radar maps. He will touch base with 10 people before a final decision is made with the superintendent about whether to roll the buses. But he's hoping the snow holds off until evening.
Anne Arundel and St. Mary's counties already have asked the Maryland State Department of Education for a waiver to the requirement that students be in school for 180 days every year. Whether they will get it is unclear. "We really take seriously the 180-day requirement," said Bill Reinhard, a state schools spokesman.
In the meantime, the primary worry for the city schools' chief operating officer, Keith Scroggins, is this: "With a storm of this magnitude, we want to make sure people aren't struggling to get home."
-- Liz Bowie
Transportation chief Al Foxx stood up in the crowded Cabinet meeting -- Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake's first as mayor.
"There's a 20 percent chance of 20 inches or more," he said in a low, rumbling voice. The agency heads erupted into a chorus of gasps and moans.
"Say that again!" said Rawlings-Blake, who had been sworn in as mayor just hours before.
Asnowstorm always seems to throw Baltimoreans in a panic. No one feels the burden as acutely as the mayor, who is ultimately responsible for everything from clearing the streets to keeping residents safe.
The snow will be Rawlings-Blake's first challenge in office, just as it was for Clarence Du Burns in 1986 when he was sworn in as mayor after William Donald Schaefer became governor.
The city's emergency operation center is set to open at 11 a.m. today, director Bob Maloney said at the meeting. More than 150 vehicles will plow the city's streets and scatter salt. The city has 5,800 tons of salt on hand and is expecting a shipment of more than 7,000 additional tons. Employees who have city-owned SUVs are being asked to return them so they will be available for firefighters and police officers, Maloney said.
-- Julie Scharper
Snow or no snow, Len Sipes is planning to make his usual train journey this morning from Martin State Airport to Washington and be at his desk by 8:30 a.m. "The federal government is open. I report," said Sipes, press spokesman for a federal agency.
Sipes said he's prepared to stay as long as his agency needs him, but he's hoping it won't need him too long. He'd like to catch the 12:20 p.m. Penn Line train out of Union Station, though he's expecting a madhouse as federal workers make an early exodus.
"Images of trains in India come to mind," he said. "I'm not sure if MARC allows you to sit atop the trains." MARC is preparing for a rush by adding seating capacity to its 12:20 p.m. train and switching a late Camden Line train to an earlier starting time.
The federal government urged agencies Thursday to let employees who can work from home do so. It put into effect policies allowing workers to take leave who had not previously scheduled it.
