Storm

WJZ meteorologist Bernadette Woods is leaving the CBS-owned station to join a non-profit firm in New Jersey focused on climate change, she said Wednesday night. Woods, who has been with WJZ for seven years, said she will remain at the station helping with the transition for the next month. After that, she, her husband and their two children will be moving to Princeton, N.J., where she will join Climate Central as staff meteorologist. "I'm very excited about the opportunity in Princeton," she said.

Scattered storms are expected throughout the day Thursday in the Baltimore area, with highs around 80 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. The storms are part of the same system that brought tornadoes across the central U.S. earlier this week, including an EF-5 tornado in Moore, Okla., but they are not expected to be nearly as dangerous here. Storms are most likely from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., according to a weather service hazardous weather outlook.  Winds of 15-20 mph are expected, with stronger gusts possible if storms intensify.

Nothing makes a generator look more tempting than a days-long power outage in a 100-degree heat wave. Arnold Friedlander's Winn Electric Contracting in Timonium was so flooded with calls that staffers are still working their way through the backlog of requests for estimates and installations. Selling and setting up home-standby generators — the non-portable kind — is a regular but usually small slice of the company's work, which ranges from lighting to computer wiring. Then the damaging derechoblew through the region June 29, leaving about 675,000 in the Baltimore area without power, some for nine days.

OCEAN CITY - Merchants and others in Maryland's premier resort are hopeful that that an improving economy, stable gas prices, stepped-up marketing - and the lingering effects of superstorm Sandy - will combine to produce a strong summer season. Shops and restaurants are being built, and the town is poised to reopen the fishing pier that was damaged in last fall's storm. As the season kicks off with the start of the Memorial Day weekend, hotel bookings and rentals appear strong, and some in town believe Sandy has something to do with it. "First of all, there's everything that's happened in New Jersey.

Editor: I would like to publicly thank the Bel Air Barnes & Noble bookstore for their role in recovering from hurricane Irene. I am writing this message on my mobile device from inside their store Sunday afternoon. I am using their free Wi-Fi service and one of their electrical outlets. And, for over an hour there were six others near me doing the same thing. Nearly every outlet in the store had somebody plugged in with a notebook, tablet, or a phone. So, thank you Barnes & Noble for supporting the wireless users of Bel Air during the power outage.

A bout 75 people were at Federal Hill Park on Saturday afternoon, either for sledding or a snowball fight that was organized via Facebook and Twitter on Friday. A handful of people brought coffee, cans of beer or bottles of cheap wine. Someone brought a boom box, wrapped in a garbage bag, that provided music. One man was buried in the snow as if he were being covered by sand at a beach. Snow-goers used snow tubes, saucers and tops of garbage cans to sled down the hill; three inventive types even used blow-up air mattresses in lieu of sleds.

When Katrina hit, President George W. Bush was excoriated for not violating Federal Emergency Management Agency mandates and asking Louisiana for permission to enter the disaster zone. When Louisiana's Democratic governor, senators and New Orleans mayor would not respond, President Bush went in anyway with the relief columns. He got nothing but lies, exaggerations and name-calling for his efforts and accusations he wasn't around. Now let us shift to 2012. President Barack Obama is mostly anywhere else but near the disaster area and not a word of criticism is leveled.

Surviving the storm Here are some tips for coping with the impact and aftermath of a snowstorm like the one that slammed Baltimore and the surrounding area this weekend. If you must travel •Let someone know your timetable and your routes. •Stay on main roads. Avoid back-road shortcuts. •Carry a winter storm survival kit, including mobile phone, blankets, flashlight with extra batteries, food, water and a shovel. •If you get stranded, don't leave your vehicle.

The climate pattern that has sent two storms up the East Coast in the past month could re-emerge around Thanksgiving, making for a possibly wet holiday. Blocking over the Atlantic is expected next week, though where it settles and how it interacts with weather systems isn't clear yet. But one important indicator, the North Atlantic Oscillation, is showing stormy weather is likely, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Henry Margusity. The National Weather Service expects the highest rain potential for the coastal Carolinas and the Delmarva peninsula, according to the latest models . But it's not clear yet how closely the storm will track to the coast, forecasters say. AccuWeather's Elliot Abrams is leaning toward a mild and dry Thanksgiving, but a large storm is lurking off the coast in models, which could change as the time nears.

The full force of Sandy hasn't even hit Maryland yet, but regulators here are warning consumers against the scam artists who inevitably will pop up. The Maryland Attorney General said that once the storm leaves the area, homeowners with damaged houses and cars will likely be further hurt by repair scams. “Be careful with door-to-door salesmen using high pressure tactics to get your hard-earned money. That money may vanish while the repair goes undone,” says AG Doug Gansler.

Isolated thunderstorms are possible Wednesday afternoon and evening as humidity and warmth surge during the day, according to forecasts. Temperatures are expected to reach into the mid- to upper 80s, potentially surpassing 90 degrees, with a slight southwesterly wind, according to the National Weather Service. BWI Marshall Airport reached 76 degrees by about 9:30 a.m., while the Maryland Science Center reached 79 degrees. Dew points were in the lower 70s around the region about 10:45 a.m., making the air feel thick and moist across the region.

Forecasters no longer expect to issue a severe thunderstorm watch, but strong storms are possible late Wednesday for an area along and west of Interstate 95, according to the Storm Prediction Center. Damaging winds and large hail are possible in an area stretching from Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains to Central Pennsylvania, including Carroll County and parts of Howard and Baltimore counties. The center had expected about a 40 percent likelihood of a severe storm watch, which would mean conditions could be ripe for such storms, but has since removed that area of concern from its forecast maps.

Increasingly muggy weather is forecast Tuesday, with highs in the mid-80s and chances for thunderstorms in the Baltimore area, according to the National Weather Service. Overnight lows were expected not to drop below 70 degrees in the city, with foggy conditions possible in the morning. Temperatures could top 80 degrees by midday, reaching about 85 degrees in the afternoon. About a 30 percent chance of storms is expected in the afternoon and evening hours, with mostly cloudy skies throughout the day. Dew points are expected in the mid- to upper 60s, a humidity level that starts to be uncomfortable for most people.

The storms that have ravaged Oklahoma and other Plains states the past few days could reach Maryland and the mid-Atlantic by Wednesday and Thursday, albeit weakened, according to the National Weather Service. The region faces slight risks of severe weather Wednesday and Thursday as a cold front moves toward the hot, humid air that has been settled over the region this week. The weather is still going to get more muggy before the cold front arrives, with highs possible in the lower 90s Wednesday and dew points nearing 70 degrees in Baltimore.

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.

Forecasters are watching for development of potentially severe thunderstorms across Maryland late Thursday, though the strongest chances for severe weather were expected in Southern Maryland. Warming temperatures are expected to fuel the atmospheric instability, according to the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center. Temperatures reached 84 degrees at Naval Air Station Patuxent River in St. Mary's County by 1:30 p.m., while it was 77 degrees at BWI Marshall Airport. An area of Southern Maryland and the lower Eastern Shore, along with parts of Central Virginia, is expected to have a 15 percent chance of severe damaging wind gusts.

In his letter ridiculing the "Bible thumpers" who believe hurricanes and other natural disasters are punishments from God, Luther Starnes appears to promote a common but dangerous misconception when he writes that "attributing destruction and vengeance to an all-loving God could border on blasphemy" ("Angry deity or intense low-pressure system?" Sept. 4). Yes, God is love, and His grace and mercy are unfathomable.  But if you read the New Testament carefully, to say nothing of the Old Testament, it is abundantly clear that God's love is balanced by His justice, which leads at times to much "destruction and vengeance" on those who do evil.  In fact, God declares emphatically that His followers are not to take revenge on others but to "leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge; I will repay' say the Lord.

I'm not keen on anthropomorphizing nature, a tendency best left to nineteenth-century poets: Shelley, Wordsworth, that element.  So I grit my teeth and endure the National Weather Service's practice of naming tropical storms and hurricanes. It's a well-established tradition, and at least the weather service has started using male as well as female names, and the Associated Press Stylebook  has long since frowned on calling storms and ships "she. "* But the Weather Channel's whim to name winter storms, including the one buffeting the Northeast today, strikes me as a crass and inept attempt to gin up publicity for itself while whipping up public excitement over the weather.

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.

A significant warm-up is forecast Wednesday in the Baltimore area, with highs in the mid- to upper-80s and possible storms late in the afternoon or evening, according to the National Weather Service. That is more than 20 degrees warmer than the past few days' highs, which have remained in the lower 60s. It is a swing of 50 degrees from Tuesday morning's low of 34 degrees at BWI Marshall Airport, which tied a record set in 1996. Lows Wednesday morning are forecast to be close to those high temperatures from recent days, bottoming out around 60 degrees in the city and in the 50s further out. Temperatures are forecast to rise quickly, to 70 degrees by mid-morning and 80 degrees by midday, according to the weather service.