Thunderstorms

The National Weather Service was calling for Wednesday to be mostly sunny in the Baltimore area with scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 3 p.m. The high temperature was expected to be 94, with northwest winds between 5 and 9 miles per hour. Thursday was expected to be sunny, with a high near 87 and north winds between 8 and 10 miles per hour.

During the evening of July 3, the quick thunderstorm that blew through Ellicott City knocked down one of the public right-of-way street trees in front of our house. It was not blocking traffic, nor threatening any power lines, but it was a mess and I was dreading having to spend a good portion of my 4th doing a cleanup of my front yard and sidewalk. At about 9:30 p.m. a crew from the Department of Public Works for Howard County showed up with a chipper, truck and assorted flood-lighting and had the tree and debris removed by 10:30 that evening.

After a one day delay due to the weather, and another brief delay Wednesday night, the ORS-1 satellite was launched into orbit from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Virginia's Wallops Island. The Air Force launched the battlefield imaging satellite atop a four-stage, solid-fuel 70-foot-tall Minotaur 1 rocket, the largest ever launched from the Delmarva peninsula. The launch, which happened shortly after 11 p.m., was expected to be visible across the Mid-Atlantic region, with past launches seen as far away as New York, South Carolina and West Virginia.

The crash of thunderstorms greeted morning commuters Monday morning, prompting coastal flood warnings, according to the National Weather Service. Showers and thunderstorms will continue this morning, with a chance of afternoon showers and thunderstorms, said meteorologist Andy Woodcock in the weather service's Sterling, Va., office. Highs will be in the mid-60s, he said. There is a coastal flood advisory, he said, with minor flooding possible. "In terms of freak out factor, this is low," he said.

More than 10,500 customers lost electricity and roads were closed due to high water Sunday evening as two thunderstorms swept through the region. Baltimore City police reported shortly after 9 p.m. that parts of I-83 were flooded. The ramp from I-83 southbound onto West Northern Parkway was flooded. Northern Parkway to Coldspring Lane was closed. In Baltimore County, scattered outages left intersections dark. Police precinct 3, the Franklin precinct, may have been struck by lightning that caused a power outage, police said.

More than 10,500 customers lost electricity and roads were closed due to high water Sunday evening as two thunderstorms swept through the region. Baltimore City police reported shortly after 9 p.m. that parts of I-83 were flooded. The ramp from I-83 southbound onto West Northern Parkway was flooded. Northern Parkway to Coldspring Lane was closed. In Baltimore County, scattered outages left intersections dark. Police precinct 3, the Franklin precinct, may have been struck by lightning that caused a power outage, police said.

Donald Gansauer in Canton hears "a lot of static on WBJC on occasional evenings. What is it about the atmosphere that causes AM/FM radio reception to go bad?" AM signals are vulnerable to electrical discharge (lightning) in thunderstorms. On FM, temperature inversions (warm air trapped above cold) can bend radio waves, causing interference. It's more common in cities, or near large bodies of water.

As Marylanders slosh through their third straight month of rainy weather, the state's mosquito control chief says we have more to worry about than gloomy skies and spoiled picnics. Mosquito populations have exploded, and they're looking for blood. "This could very well be the worst year we have had in a couple of decades if this rainfall pattern keeps up," said Mike Cantwell, chief of the Maryland Department of Agriculture's mosquito control division. His crews measure mosquito populations by counting how many land on their arms in a minute.

As if near-record rains in May were not enough, Maryland received a fresh June soaking overnight that threatened to continue today. "I'd say there's a ... good chance of seeing another inch or so, and by [tonight], another half-inch is possible," said meteorologist Andrew Ansorge at Penn State Weather Communications. Some spots could see as much as 2 more inches of rain before it ends. With soils saturated and streams high as a result of more than 7 inches of surplus rain in recent weeks, forecasters said it would not take much to flood low-lying roadways and send rivers and creeks over their banks.