High Winds

Sandy is no ordinary hurricane. A remarkable configuration of weather systems are tugging on the storm system as it slogs up the eastern seaboard, slowing and widening the cyclone. A full moon will drag tides up the shore just as the storm whips the sea. And an area of low pressure is expected to pump in cold air from the west that could lead to several inches of snow in Western Maryland. "It's a very, very rare storm, and the way it is going to interact, the confluence of things coming together late in the season, is something we'll be taking a look at for years to come," said Steve Zubrick, science and operations officer at the National Weather Service's Sterling, Va., office.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- NASA will try again today to launch its New Horizons spacecraft on a nine-year journey to Pluto, with a planned 1:16 p.m. liftoff from Cape Canaveral. A launch attempt was canceled yesterday because of high winds, and forecasters are calling for a 70 percent chance of good conditions today. Isolated thunderstorms and high winds are the main concerns. The $700 million mission has until Feb. 14 to launch. If all goes well, the spacecraft will fly near Pluto in 2015 and gather the first close-up images and data on the icy world.

GRANTVILLE, Pa. -- Extreme cold and high winds, which created unsafe riding conditions, forced the cancellation of last night's thoroughbred program at Penn National Race Course.Racing will resume today, with first-race post time set for 1:30 p.m.

Expectations of a storm to bring the heaviest snow in at least two years for the region have been dialed back as the National Weather Service has canceled its winter storm warning. High winds and wet roads remain a concern. Check here for live blog updates on conditions and forecasts. 4:36 p.m.:  Weather service meteorologists are no longer expecting any meaningful wintry precipitation Wednesday night, lifting the winter weather advisory for much of Central Maryland. Concerns remain over high winds in the Baltimore area and dangerous conditions along the coast, however, with rough surf and some rescues needed.

Millions of gallons of raw sewage were overflowing into the Little Patuxent River in Howard County late Monday and early Tuesday morning after two separate electrical feeds were cut off at the Little Patuxent Water Reclamation Plant, according to county officials. Officials were not sure when the overflow would be stopped. The plant, about a half-mile east of the intersection of Route 1 and Route 32 at 8900 Greenwood Place in Savage, serves the central part of Howard County. Power was knocked out to the first 32,000-volt electrical feeder amid high winds and rain in the region because of superstorm Sandy about 8:30 or 9 p.m., and to the second at 11 p.m., said Stephen Gerwin, the county's utilities bureau chief.

I take severe umbrage at the sentence, "After Hurricane Katrina, we learned that the kind of chaos that ensues after a natural disaster in a Third World country can happen here" ("For many, a decade to forget," Dec. 27). This was NOT a natural disaster! Katrina wasn't the entity that put New Orleans in a toxic, fetid soup, left her citizens in calamitous conditions and caused damage in the billions of dollars. The storm passed by; New Orleans survived. High winds and much rain weren't catastrophic.

100 years agoA colored company of infantry, with 75 members, is being organized in Annapolis by George Lowry. Tuesday, they will meet and make plans to enlist to fight Spain. -- The Sun, May 3, 1898.Today marked heavy rain and high winds in Annapolis. Trees RTC were blown down, including a large shade tree on Francis Street, which stopped all traffic until removed. -- The Sun, May 8, 1898.Pub Date: 5/10/98

Hurricane Andrew has sustained winds of 140 mph. Here is the impact of high winds on the human body, according to Professor Hans Hornung of the California Institute of Technology:* A hand held outside a car window at 70 mph is subjected to one-quarter the force of 140 mph winds.* A person could lean at a 45-degree angle into a 70 mph wind without falling.* It is impossible to walk into an 80 mph wind without support from a hand railing or some other structure.* At 120 mph, a flying object such as a tree limb or lawn chair becomes lethal.

Can't help feeling this week like we're getting away with something. The 2006 Atlantic hurricane season ends Thursday, and it's been nearly two months since we've even had a storm (Isaac) to talk about. The season tallied just nine named storms, and only the last five reached hurricane strength; most remained at sea. Only the remnants of Hurricane Ernesto triggered headaches here. The Sept. 1-2 tempest brought flooding and high winds that downed trees and power lines. Ernie's 3.63 inches of rain ended a drought.

Maryland Thousand lose power to winds High winds led to power outages for more than 63,000 BGE customers yesterday. The blustery weather started about 2 a.m., when the first customers began to lose power, said Linda Foy, a spokeswoman for BGE. She said there could be more outages today because of high winds. The weather forecast called for gusts up to 50 mph. Between 2 a.m. and 9 p.m. yesterday, 26,615 customers in the greater Baltimore region lost power but had it restored. Another 37,170 were still waiting for their lights to come back on, according to the BGE Web site.