Bad Weather

A mong the stranger sights at the height of our snowstorm's second act might have been the couple - dressed in shorts and T-shirts - walking blissfully along Pratt Street. Love, or an abundance of spirits, apparently conquers all, including the elements. "They were hand in hand," recalled a smiling, almost disbelieving Reggie Coates, who watched the snow waltz that was captured on a surveillance camera and shown live on the big screen to delighted workers hunkered down in Baltimore's Emergency Operations Center.

Linden-Linthicum United Methodist Church youth mission teams are hosting a carnival and yard sale April 20, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Vendor and crafter parking lot spaces are available for $10. Bring your own table or rent one for an additional $10. In case of bad weather, the sale will move indoors to the fellowship hall. Contact beth@l-lumc.org . Maybe you don't have enough items to need your own space. You can donate household items and toys April 7-18 only to the Mission Team table, but no clothing, books or large furniture.

HAGERSTOWN -- High winds and torrential downpours forced the postponement of last night's scheduled Class 2A state boys soccer semifinal between Patapsco and Bethesda-Chevy Chase at South Hagerstown High School.Officials said the game will be made up tomorrow at a site and time to be determined.The Patriots are in the semifinals for the first time since 1984 and last won a state title in 1977.* Bad weather also forced the postponement of two other state soccer semifinals.In boys Class 3A, the Bel Air vs. Churchill game will be played tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Catonsville Community College.

Jill Sorensen's basement flooded after a winter storm knocked out her power, then again in 2011 during Hurricane Irene. What stopped another encore performance during last year's derecho? She'd installed a sump pump that uses her home's water pressure to kick in when the power conks out. Knock on wood, she hasn't had a flood since. That purchase — about $800 — is one of several moves she's made to prepare her home for bad weather. "We've taken the inevitability of storms more seriously," said Sorensen, who lives in North Baltimore.

So little snow fell this year that Baltimore County public schools are shortening the school year by four days. Instead of ending on June 14, the last school day in the county will be June 8. The school system builds in extra days each year for snow and bad weather and then reduces the number of days if they are not used. This school year, the system only closed for two days at the beginning of the year when a hurricane knocked power out. liz.bowie@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Though it didn't look a lot like Christmas with the weekend thunderstorms and mud, holiday revelers still forged into the great outdoors to cut down their own trees. Rain all but turned Martin's Tree Farm in Hampstead into a "big lake" forcing it to close early on Saturday. The Carroll County farm opened late yesterday morning, but sales have not dropped overall, owner Janet Martin said. "It really hasn't hurt us," Martin said. "We've had excellent turnout this year." At Green Hill Tree Farm in Baldwin in northern Baltimore County, owner Charlotte Purdum said yesterday she was astonished that so many people showed up. "You can't believe that people would come out in the rain to cut a tree," she said.

White's Ferry is the only vehicle to ferry vehicles across the Potomac River. The 24-car vessel, operating about six miles west of Poolesville in Montgomery County, is the sole survivor of about 100 ferries that crossed the river in the 19th century. The business began about 1828 at a site known as Conrad's Ferry. According to a history of the ferry on Poolesville's Web site, Earnest Conrad charged 6 1/4 cents per man, horse or mule; 3 cents per head of cattle; and 6 1/4 cents a wheel for riding carriages on a one-way trip across the narrow passage.

Jill Sorensen's basement flooded after a winter storm knocked out her power, then again in 2011 during Hurricane Irene. What stopped another encore performance during last year's derecho? She'd installed a sump pump that uses her home's water pressure to kick in when the power conks out. Knock on wood, she hasn't had a flood since. That purchase — about $800 — is one of several moves she's made to prepare her home for bad weather. "We've taken the inevitability of storms more seriously," said Sorensen, who lives in North Baltimore.

Months of damp weather are being blamed for lousy attendance at the Baltimore Zoo that could send the popular attraction into the red this year. The zoo typically attracts a half-million visitors a year, two-thirds of whom visit between May and September, making the summer months what the Christmas holidays are to retailers -- critical revenue time. "We are very, very weather-affected because most of our exhibits are outside," said zoo President Elizabeth Grieb. "It seems as if we've had a lot of rainy weekends since the spring."

As of midday Friday, forecasters at the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va., were uncertain that the Baltimore area would see any thunderstorms at all later in the evening. Without a cold front or a low-pressure system in place, they lacked the markers that would guarantee violent weather. If a disturbance did occur, however, all the heat and humidity in the lower atmosphere would serve as fuel. "We knew that any thunderstorm that did develop could become severe," said Stephen Konarik, a meteorologist with the weather service.

When it comes to the relationship between Southern Californians and massive storms like Sandy, the conventional wisdom is that such weather (“such” meaning the kind not commonly found in Southern California) can give rise to just a tiny bit of gloating. Think of it as stormenfreude. Were it a real word, “stormenfreude” might be defined as this: “Pleasure taken by those in temperate climates at the suffering of those in less temperate climates, especially in the wake of a storm that causes said temperate climate inhabitants to justify all the other miserable things about their region by asking, 'Why would anyone live there?

As much of the Baltimore region shut down, some businesses made sure they could stay open - come hurricane and high water. The Renaissance Baltimore Harborplace Hotel brought in sandbags, ordered $30,000 in extra food and arranged for employees to stay overnight for the duration of the storm. The owner of Kooper's Tavern and two other Fells Point bars prepared to put his workers up Monday and Tuesday nights in his bed-and-breakfast, conveniently emptied by cancellations. Safeway rearranged shifts as it trucked in ice and extra bottled water to its grocery stores.

Every once in a while, we get a sharp reminder that mankind is not "in charge" on this planet ("Post-storm swelter," July 2). After the storms of the last few days, a quarter-million people are without power in Maryland alone, with a total of about 3 million along the East Coast. Somehow, every single one of the people think they should be first in line to have their electricity turned back on. Most of the damage was caused by winds of near-hurricane force knocking down and uprooting trees.

As of midday Friday, forecasters at the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va., were uncertain that the Baltimore area would see any thunderstorms at all later in the evening. Without a cold front or a low-pressure system in place, they lacked the markers that would guarantee violent weather. If a disturbance did occur, however, all the heat and humidity in the lower atmosphere would serve as fuel. "We knew that any thunderstorm that did develop could become severe," said Stephen Konarik, a meteorologist with the weather service.

So little snow fell this year that Baltimore County public schools are shortening the school year by four days. Instead of ending on June 14, the last school day in the county will be June 8. The school system builds in extra days each year for snow and bad weather and then reduces the number of days if they are not used. This school year, the system only closed for two days at the beginning of the year when a hurricane knocked power out. liz.bowie@baltsun.com Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

Winter certainly isn't over, and these parts have seen some pretty impressive winter storms in March, and on occasion in April, even as the National Weather Service forecast indicates it'll be at least March before low temperatures are solidly below freezing — if a cold snap ever materializes. At the risk of tempting fate, it looks like the money set aside for snow removal by Harford County and its three municipalities will not all be needed. Even if there is a big snow storm before the end of the season, the cost of dealing with the effects of winter weather on local roadways isn't likely to be comparable to what has been the case in the previous few winters Such is the weather in these parts.

Two things happened to Harry C. Bowie III this week. He celebrated his 60th birthday Sunday and brought his more than three-decade career as a locomotive engineer with an unblemished record officially to a close yesterday in a late-morning ceremony at Penn Station attended by fellow railroaders, family and friends. On Thursday evening, the amiable and soft-spoken Bowie was about to begin his last run at the throttle of electric locomotive No. 4915 on the MARC Penn Line train No. 538. During its 75-mile run, it delivered weary homeward-bound commuters to New Carrollton, Seabrook, Bowie State, Odenton, BWI Rail Station, West Baltimore, Penn Station, Martin Airport, Edgewood, Aberdeen and Perryville, its final stop.

The Cheesecake Factory Inc. Shares lost $1.80, closing at $19.07. Soft traffic and bad weather in parts of the United States caused the casual restaurant dining operator to post a 35 percent lower fourth-quarter profit.

People are angry over the slow pace of restoring power following Hurricane Irene and the snow storms last winter. But BGE employees worked 130-hour weeks, and I'm sure the phone company was just as busy. People were brought in from 12 other states to restore power to folks who obviously didn't know bad weather was on the way, and had not stocked up on pet food, prescriptions, lamp oil and other essentials. Some have since suggested that power lines be buried underground to avoid future problems.

Joie Chitwood is a weather guy this time of year, constantly checking for updates online. Will it rain? Will there be lightning? Will bad weather steal the thunder from his nighttime spectacle Saturday night? "Those are the elements that you have to deal with," Chitwood, president of Daytona International Speedway, said Tuesday. "You can come up with every plan you want to, but the weather is the wild card. It's very frustrating. As I start looking at weather updates 10 days out, all it does is create more concern, but hopefully we'll get lucky.