Rain

Among the concerns for jockeys at the Preakness today is the weather. Shortly before rain began to fall minutes ago, jockeys were watching the skies. Some know all too well that their horses don't respond to sloppy tracks, and they were holding out hope that the rain stayed away from Pimlico Race Cource. “I hope it stays like this [without rain] and I hope he likes the track.” said John Velazquez, who is riding Itsmyluckyday. “[Itsmyluckyday] is another horse that didn't run very good in the slop at Churchill Downs.” Itsmyluckyday finished 15th at The Kentucky Derby with Elvis Trujilloaboard.

Increasing humidity and highs around 80 degrees are forecast in the Baltimore area Monday, with a chance of showers or thunderstorms in the afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. A warm front moved over the area overnight, with lows in the mid- to upper 60s. Some drizzle and fog was expected to be possible in the early morning hours. Temperatures were expected to rise into the 70s by mid-morning and near 80 degrees by midday. Relative humidity was forecast to be 50-60 percent during the day with dew points in the lower 60s, a level at which humidity starts to become perceptible for most people.

Bob Baffert strode into the Preakness stakes barn Friday morning, shouting toward Orb's trainer Shug McGaughey loud enough so all could hear. "OK, Shug, I'm here to take away that media spotlight for you," he said. Baffert, indeed, is one of the few people in the sport who could have swiped some of the attention from McGaughey and his heavily favored colt this week . Baffert has won the Preakness five times, and on three occasions he's moved on to Belmont with a chance at the Triple Crown.

The National Weather Service says clouds and patches of drizzle will be the order of the day in Baltimore on Sunday, though heavy rain is not expected.  The NWS says showers will be likely this afternoon, with a 70 percent chance for precipitation and temperatures around 70. Winds will be mild, 5 to 10 mph. Patchy fog will be present in the city and surroundind areas this evening and overnight. Mondy will be mostly cloudy, with fog in teh morning, acciording to the NWS forecast.

A snowball stand's success depends on two key things: hot weather and lots of hard work, say Baltimore-area purveyors of the summer treat. Add those ingredients to the crushed ice and syrup concoction that has long been a regional favorite, and summertime entrepreneurs say they can make a decent living during the season's warmest weeks. "A lot of people think it's easy to start it," said Margo Torsell, who along with family members runs a three-year-old stand on Liberty Road in Randallstown.

Advertisements praising Maryland's new gun control law will appear on Baltimore-area televisions soon after the measure is signed Thursday - the first volley in a two-pronged effort to defend the legislation and the politicians who voted for it. The gun control advocates behind the ads want to bolster support among Maryland voters in case there's a referendum next year. But they also want to counter a campaign to oust lawmakers who backed the bill in the General Assembly. "We know that the other side will be attacking the legislators who voted for it, and we want people to know those legislators were doing the right thing to save lives in Maryland," said Vincent DeMarco, president of Marylanders to Prevent Gun Violence.

RIO GRANDE, PUERTO RICO / / Manuel Maldonado showed us hummingbirds, walking sticks, giant albino snails and other rain forest residents, but couldn't find a single coqui -- although they were singing all around us. Our visit to El Yunque, the Caribbean National Forest, had been delayed that morning. The rain forest was closed because of rain. Actually, a storm that ebbed as we arrived had scattered tree limbs, and U.S. Forest Service rangers had to make sure the roads were clear. "The Taino Indians called the land sacred, so the rain up here is holy water," said Manuel, our guide and driver.

Horse racing has always had its seamier side - desperate bets, old-time bookies - but the Preakness infield has lowered the bar. While the well-heeled mingled with martinis in box seats yesterday or in the new Turfside Terrace (where the seats went for $250 a person), thousands of raucous revelers set up mini-pubs in the center of the Pimlico Race Course track and preferred to get down and dirty. This year's Mardi Gras-like fete was one of the dirtiest. Blame it on the rain: Early morning storms turned the typically grassy field into sludge soup.

Steady rains Thursday morning and busy radar to our west had hopes high that precipitation might cut the year's rainfall data, but expectations were again missed. The highest totals in the state were seen in Harford County, at just shy of half an inch, according to rain gauges reported to precipitation collaborative CoCoRaHS . Most of the Baltimore region saw a tenth to a third of an inch. The official tally at BWI Marshall Airport was 0.29 inches, including 0.23 inches that fell between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. and another six hundredths in the 10 p.m. hour.

I was quite amused by The Sun's efforts to set the record straight concerning the rain tax ("The 'rain tax' sham," April 17). After reading your editorial, one can only conclude that any sensible individual interested in curbing pollution must be for the rain tax and anybody against the tax must favor pollution. Really? The vast majority of your readers, if not all, favor reducing pollution. My hunch, however, is that the majority of readers do not support the rain tax and for good and just concerns.

Among the concerns for jockeys at the Preakness today is the weather. Shortly before rain began to fall minutes ago, jockeys were watching the skies. Some know all too well that their horses don't respond to sloppy tracks, and they were holding out hope that the rain stayed away from Pimlico Race Cource. “I hope it stays like this [without rain] and I hope he likes the track.” said John Velazquez, who is riding Itsmyluckyday. “[Itsmyluckyday] is another horse that didn't run very good in the slop at Churchill Downs.” Itsmyluckyday finished 15th at The Kentucky Derby with Elvis Trujilloaboard.

Rain sprinkling the infield at Pimlico mid-afternoon Saturday didn't stop the revelry . But some jockeys are hopeful the rain won't make the track too sloppy for the Preakness Stakes, which are set to begin around 6:18 p.m. The National Weather Service predicts that scattered showers could continue into the evening. The chance of precipitation is 30 percent. If the rain continues, the total amount isn't expected to be significant. The Weather Service is predicting new rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch are possible.

No Triple Crown winner this year, no first-female-jockey-to-win, no sunshine? No problem, said those who flocked to Pimlico Race Course on Saturday and waited out a midafternoon downpour to watch Oxbow leave behind Kentucky Derby winner Orb to capture the 138th Preakness Stakes. "This is always an exciting race," said Tom Meek, 59, of Phoenixville, Pa., smoking a postrace cigar. "As much as I love Orb and as much as I want a Triple Crown, this is great for Oxbow. That horse rocked.

Warm air has moved over the Baltimore region, expected to bring highs to around 80 degrees and possible showers or storms Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. Overnight lows were expected in the mid- to upper-60s. Cloud cover is expected for most of the day, with about a 30 percent chance of showers during the day and thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening. Some clearing is expected Friday, with partly cloudy skies and highs again around 80 degrees. Temperatures are forecast to be slightly cooler for the Preakness on Saturday, though precipitation that meteorologists were expecting is predicted to stay south of the area in Virginia.

The debate over Anne Arundel County's new stormwater fees - criticized by many as the "rain tax" - will continue through this month, and possibly beyond, as the County Council weighs several options for revising the controversial levy. Council members have before them five bills to tweak the rate structure, and more could come before July 1, when the fees must be in place. Councilman Jamie Benoit, a Crownsville Democrat who is sponsoring four of the bills, said his goal is to "make this fee equitable and align the obligation to pay with the ability to pay. " The council initially approved a set of stormwater fees in April, only to have the bill vetoed by County Executive Laura Neuman, who expressed concern that too few people knew about them.

Does it not rain in every part of the state of Maryland? Of course, it does ("Craig signs scaled down Harford 'rain tax' bill into law," May 3). That fact makes me wonder why only the 10 most populous jurisdictions are required to pay the so-called "rain tax. " The runoff in the western-most counties eventually flows into the Potomac River, which then empties into the Chesapeake Bay. The counties on the Eastern Shore are currently exempt from this...

Beryl, the second named storm of the 2012 hurricane season, is unlikely to bring any of the rain it has dumped on Florida and Georgia to Maryland. The storm, now a tropical depression, is predicted to move across the Carolinas today, moving out to sea by Thursday morning. Forecasters say it could regain tropical storm strength once it reaches warm waters again. But the National Hurricane Center's forecast cone shows the storm unlikely to come further north than the North Carolina/Virginia border.

A freezing rain advisory, predicting slick roads and icy conditions, has been issued for regions throughout Maryland, including Baltimore City and its surrounding counties, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Sunday. "Light icing on roadways and elevated surfaces will make traveling hazardous," according to NOAA, which estimates less than a tenth of an inch in accumulation. The alert, issued at about 1:30 p.m. Sunday, is expected to remain in effect through Monday morning.

Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has proposed to use a substantial portion of stormwater fee revenues - the "rain tax" - to lower the city's overwhelmingly high property tax ("Faceoff over city water fee plan," May 6). The mayor's relentless assaults on city residents in an attempt to generate ever more tax revenue to cover the major cause of its financial problems - namely its expenditure of 20 percent of revenues on retirees - are not even thinly veiled anymore. The city's large tax and fee increases, including speed cameras, trash fees and now the rain tax, have been enacted in an attempt to lower the property tax without a corresponding reduction in city expenditures and are nothing more than a shell game.

As reported by Rusty Weiss on January 10, 2013, "…. a federal judge struck down the attempt to regulate stormwater runoff as a breach of authority. The judge, U.S. District Judge Liam O'Grady, ruled that the EPA had exceeded their authority in trying to regulate stormwater runoff into a Fairfax County creek because it was a pollutant. " By not appealing its own EPA demand, Maryland's Tax and Spend government has not acted in the interests of taxpaying citizens. Instead, our elected officials add this new "rain tax" to: recent "sin" tax increases, recent sales tax increases, recent road and bridge toll increases, recent increases in licensing and other fees, recent state income tax increases - the list goes on. Furthermore, the "rain tax" is the result of demands made by a Federal Agency, which is responding to a President's executive order (May 2009)