Rain

Sorry, kids. Summer is half over this weekend - at least the meteorological summer (June, July and August). How are we doing weatherwise? BWI has reported 11 days in the 90s (June 1 through July 13). It's been warm, about 1.7 degrees above average. That's boosted cooling degree-days (demand for cooling energy) about 6 percent above average. Ouch! Heavy rain at BWI July 10 left official rainfall near average, but most of Maryland remains dry. The good news? No tropical storms since Barry expired June 2. Knock on wood.

Sporadic bursts of rain caused the Orioles to keep the tarp on their infield until less than an hour before last night's first pitch. It took a lot longer to unwrap the offense. Royals@Orioles Tonight, 7:05, MASN, 105.7 FM Starters: Brandon Duckworth (0-0, 0.00) vs. Erik Bedard (1-1, 6.94)

Donald Gansauer of Baltimore wonders: "Has Eurasia experienced the same warm winter as we have so far?" Heck, Colorado hasn't had the mild winter we've had. But there has been mild weather from balmy London (50s) across snowless Europe to Siberia. The Sun's Moscow correspondent, Erika Niedowski, reports rain - in January! "This morning, I went running in the park, where there is green grass. Everyone hates it. Russians LOVE the winter ... and Moscow is much prettier when there is snow, until it turns black," she said.

Rain has been falling on our area since early last week, and that's a good thing. God be praised. We certainly needed rain. My basement floor has been bone-dry for months. Last week, while waiting for a flight at BWI, I got pulled into a quarrel. Not mine, somebody else's. There was a young woman sitting in the next row of seats, gabbing on a cell phone and her part of the conversation - delivered loudly and clearly - went something like this: "What do you mean? What? How could you take it that way?

Teddy P. Brains doesn't wear baggy jeans that droop below his waistline. Nor does he sass his elders, make trouble for his teachers or speak in slang-laced broken English. However, the 6-year-old African-American animated cartoon character does talk of being a marine biologist when he grows up. He's the valedictorian of his elementary school, where his favorite subject is math, and he enjoys traveling to exotic lands. Your child could learn much from him. Or at least that's the hope of Philadelphia-area video producers Eugene Haynes and Joseph L. Lewis III, creators of the DVD The Adventures of Teddy P. Brains, which was released in April.

Howard Baughman of Catonsville says he has lived nearly 83 years and sees occasional references to "traces of rain and traces of snow." "I have never seen `traces' quantified, however. Would you please clear this up for me?" Sure. Forecasters generally record a "trace" of rain or snow when it is evident, but too slight to measure. According to the Northeast Regional Climate Center's weather glossary, a "trace" of snow is less than a half-inch in depth. A trace of rain amounts to less than .005 inch.

WIMBLEDON, England -- Trapped by the incessant rains and its own intransigence, Wimbledon stumbled on yesterday with one of its worst-organized two weeks in recent years. It took four days for Andy Roddick, the lone American man remaining in the singles tournament, to get back on court, only to be rained off again when he was within a service hold of taking a two-set lead in his fourth-round match against Paul-Henri Mathieu. It has been even more aggravating for No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal, who began playing Robin Soderling on Saturday.

As the floats, fancy cars and marching bands streamed down Bosley Avenue yesterday during the Towson Fourth of July parade, Norma Solomon, with her 3-year-old grandson at her side, let loose an impassioned speech directed at anyone within earshot on why she considers an event like this important. "The community comes together," said Solomon, 61, of Towson. "Children. People of all ethnic groups. We're at peace. If we're not at peace no other day, we're at peace today when we see a parade.

ISSUE: A city employee has filed the first applications for a "green roof" and a front-yard rain barrel in Annapolis' historic district. Chuck Weikel wants to grow a garden of drought-resistant grass on his roof, figuring it would cool his house more than the black rubber covering. The rain barrel would allow him to use captured rainwater for plants in his garden. Weikel was expected to attend last night's city Historic Preservation Commission meeting as it took up the question of whether green construction can coexist with the mission of protecting the city's Colonial heritage.

T.J. Hamilton, 75, of Baltimore asks, "When was the worst ice storm in Baltimore's history. ... I would like to know this before I die." I'll hurry, but there's no objective way to compare. My nomination goes to a relentless series of storms in January and February 1994. The worst was Feb. 10-11. Freezing rain and sleet left 1 to 3 inches of ice. North Central Maryland added 4 to 7 inches of sleet. Trees, power lines, gutters and pedestrians fell. Damage was put at $100 million. Readers?

We closed the books on September Wednesday night. The month ended just a shade drier and cooler than the long-term averages for Baltimore. The high was 85 degrees on Sept. 5. The low was 47 on the 20th and 29th. We averaged more than a half-degree cooler than the norm. BWI measured about 3.5 inches of rain, a bit below the average. Half the month's rain - 1.71 inches - fell on a single day, the 11th.

ATLANTA - -The state of Georgia faced continuing headaches and heartache Tuesday from a pernicious series of rainstorms that had claimed the lives of at least seven people and flooded more than 1,000 homes - although weather forecasters said the worst of the deluge likely had passed. On Tuesday morning, Gov. Sonny Perdue formally asked President Barack Obama for an emergency declaration that would make the hardest-hit areas eligible for federal disaster relief funds. A day earlier, Perdue had declared a state of emergency in 17 counties in the Atlanta area and North Georgia.

Has anyone noticed what an incredible gardening season this has been for Baltimore? By mid-September, my backyard normally looks dried up and ready for plowing under. The brown grass requires a deep raking, handfuls of new seed and prayers. Not this year. Urban growing conditions are usually so bad, I throw in my trowel and buy hothouse-grown pots of mums and asters to overcome the damage created by the August mini-droughts we normally get. This year, I've had to find every stake in my cellar to prop up plants that have grown to Jack-and the-Beanstalk proportions because of the overly generous rain.

The night had already been shaping up as a trying one when Chris Ray's full-count slider hung right over the plate, just where Andy Marte wanted it. After a rain - or perhaps more appropriately - a drain delay of one hour, 37 minutes, the Orioles' misery was extended and their one-run lead was gone in less than an inning. Ray, who had given up a run in just one of his past 15 outings, served up a three-run homer to Marte in the Cleveland Indians' 5-3 victory over the Orioles in front of an announced 24,358 at wet Camden Yards.

It's number-crunching time: July 2009 was so cool it took 12 days to hit 90 degrees, the longest wait in 30 years. We tied a record low of 58 degrees on the 14th and broke one with a low of 57 on the 19th. BWI saw just one day of measurable rain through the 16th, tying the record for the fewest rainy days in the first half of July. It was the first month since March with below-normal rainfall.

High sustained winds and rain damaged homes in Finksburg and knocked out power Friday afternoon to more than 40,000 Baltimore Gas & Electric customers in Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties. Sinai Hospital in the city was one of the customers affected. Three homes in the 2900 block of Constellation Way of the Star View Estates community near Gamber were condemned after significant damage to roofs and structures, and several nearby homes were also damaged, said Brian Horton, spokesman for the Carroll County Sheriff's Office.

Bill Edwards in Trappe saw a TV program about the use of chemicals "to divert or stop rain. ... I have noticed on many weekends that rain is predicted [but] it does not rain in this area. Curious." Forecasters can be wrong, and summertime showers can be hit-or-miss. The National Academy of Sciences found that, except for dissipating rare "cold fog," cloud seeding for weather control is "an act of faith," not science.

J eff Brauner of Baltimore likes the name Hortense but hasn't heard of a Hurricane Hortense in a while. He wonders what became of the name. Alas, it was retired after flooding from a Hurricane Hortense in 1996 caused 39 deaths and $217 million in damage in the Caribbean. Puerto Rico saw 24 inches of rain; 20 inches fell in the Dominican Republic. Hortense was replaced by the name Hanna.

BETHESDA - -There were, it would seem, two appropriate and intriguing names that could sit atop the AT&T National leader board at the end of yesterday's first round. With no disrespect intended, that short list did not include D.A. Points or Bryce Molder or Daniel Chopra - fine players all, but something of a who's who of "Who?" So by noon, when one of those names popped up, Bethesda was buzzing because Anthony Kim, who won this tournament a year ago, shot an 8-under-par 62 to set the course record at Congressional Country Club's immaculate Blue Course.

The first week of Wimbledon was played under sunny skies, much to the disappointment of workers at W.L. Gore & Associates, but they finally got what they were wishing for this week when the skies opened up and it started sprinkling. That's when a new retractable roof - made of fabric created by Gore workers in Cecil County - was closed over Centre Court at All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club, making for indoor play for the first time since the tournament began in the 1870s. "We were praying for rain and it finally came," said Tom Kelmartin, a product specialist for the company.