Weather

The whole bunny-Easter connection is finally starting to make sense, thanks to the weather: If you wore an Easter bonnet made of rabbit's fur, you might just be able to keep warm today. Chaucer wrote about April's sweet showers, and Walt Whitman about lilacs blooming in the dooryard, but this year our money goes to T. S. Eliot, who managed to see the gloom behind the cheer every time and reminded us that April is the cruelest month. But the cruelty has more to do with expectations than with meteorology.

Looking for a handy, one-stop online shop for temperature and precipitation readings across Maryland or northern Virginia? Try the National Weather Service's Cooperative Observer Page at www.erh.noaa.gov/er/lwx/coop/ It provides the latest 24-hour readings for high and low temperatures, rain and snow accumulations. They're taken by trained volunteers - 11,000 of them nationwide -- and filed with the weather service to post online. Looks like they could use more help in metro Baltimore.

You think it's cold today? Well, it is ... more than 10 degrees below normal for this time of year in Baltimore. The average high at BWI is about 42 degrees, the low around 24. But there's much colder weather ahead this week. Temperatures are expected to drop another 10 degrees, with highs only in the low- to mid-20s, and lows in the single digits by midweek. The last time that happened was Jan. 24, 2005, when the mercury dipped to 9 degrees. Protect your pipes!

NORMALLY, WHEN you worry that weather will keep people away from your fundraiser, it's bad weather you're concerned about. For this year's Rotary Club of Baltimore Oyster Roast, however, the sun was out and the temperatures were downright balmy. That had some of the Rotary folks a bit on edge. "You never know whether the good weather is a good thing or a bad thing," said Rotary officer Howard Weisberg. "The best attendance we ever had was when we had a bad snowstorm the night before." Worries rapidly dissipated as hundreds of folks poured into the Fifth Regiment Armory.

So far, so good.With December and January past, Baltimore's winter weather has performed as predicted -- mild, with fewer snowstorms than normal.January ended with an average temperature of 35.1 degrees -- 3.3 degrees above normal at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.December was milder, averaging 4.3 degrees warmer than normal. National Weather Service statisticians regard December, January and February as the official winter months.January's temperatures ranged from a low of 7 degrees to a high of 68 degrees, but no records were set; December's from 9 degrees to 77 degrees.

Quote: "It's only the third day. I don't know if the same thing is going to happen like last year. I'm like the weather -- when it's hot, I'm hot. I've got to continue to be patient."Sammy Sosa of the Cubs, who homered for the second consecutive game yesterday and hit a major-league record 20 home runs last June.It's a fact: The Cardinals are 1-16 when they score fewer than four runs.Who's hot: The Cubs' Kevin Tapani is 4-1 with a 2.09 ERA in his last seven starts.Who's not: The Astros' Shane Reynolds lost yesterday for the third time in four starts.

Crabbing in May can be very unpredictable, but with the warming weather and a forecast on the 17th calling for sunny skies and calm winds, I knew the day on the bay would be beautiful.I headed for my hot spot and crabbed for four hours, moving the equipment often, since in the spring you can easily deplete the supply of crabs in any given area, and the payoff of 41 crabs was well worth the work.A half bushel of beautiful males is a good catch for May.The following Monday, my friend and I were skeptical as, at 4 a.m., we watched the weather channel forecasting 15- to 25-mph winds and severe thunderstorms with stronger gusts.

We're not having a heat wave. We're not setting any records for scorching temperatures. And if you think it's been hot these past few days, weather forecasters warn: just wait until August.But with three weeks until the official start of summer, Maryland's fourth straight day of temperatures in the high 80s and low 90s -- about 10 degrees hotter than normal -- has caused its share of problems.Measurable rainfall hasn't fallen in the Baltimore area for eight days -- and the lack of rain may last another week and a half.

Look out your window.If there is snow, the weather forecasters were right. If not, well.A large storm was expected to move northeast from Alabama last night and dump as much as 6 inches of snow in the Baltimore area beginning in the early morning. A foot of snow was predicted to hit Western Maryland, and about 2 inches were expected in southern parts of the state.State and city highway crews are on standby, ready to plow and salt the streets when -- and if -- the snow hits."We'll bring in some folks early, and then we will bring in more people" if the weather worsens, said Valerie Burnette Edgar, a spokeswoman for the State Highway Administration.

If you think July was hot, the players on the Dundalk VFW and Parkville senior citizens' softball teams have a name for you: wimp.Although temperatures at Baltimore-Washington International Airport climbed to 90 or higher on 21 days this month, the players, ranging in age from 64 to 78, were out fielding balls and taking swings three times a week."

Corine Schramke isn't complaining. The Baltimore area has not experienced much extreme summer weather thus far, so the Ellicott City resident has enjoyed more time on her deck. Her utility bills are lower, too. "In the late afternoon and evening, I throw open all the windows and get the fresh air in, and it's been wonderful," said Schramke, who works from home. "This is an enormously pleasant surprise this year." Temperatures at the weather station at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport didn't climb above 90 degrees at all in May or June, according to National Weather Service data, defying the area's reputation for sweltering summer heat and humidity.

The 2009 Atlantic hurricane season begins in 10 days. Forecasts call for an average to slightly busier-than-average season. Colorado State forecasters Klotzbach and Gray concede in a May 13 paper that their December and April forecasts "have shown little forecast skill." May and August predictions do only a little better than those that merely extrapolate past averages. They say their revised models promise "increased skill in future years." Up-to-the-minute local weather data and radar at MARYLAND WEATHER.

Gary Snyder up in Fawn Grove, Pa., says local TV stations sometimes differ in their reports of daily high and low temperatures. If it all comes from the National Weather Service, he asks, "why is there such a variation?" Station forecasters may venture their own high/low predictions. Reports of yesterday's high and low may differ by where they were measured: BWI? Downtown? At the station?

Two weeks ago this afternoon, an inch and a half of snow fell in Western Maryland. It should have been no big deal. Snow has been falling in that location, near Myersville in Frederick County, since long before there was a Maryland. What was different this time was that some of that snow fell on Interstate 70. Sometime after the snow began falling, there occurred a chain-reaction crash involving 47 vehicles, including six tractor-trailers. Two women died in the pileup. At least a dozen people were seriously injured.

Blustery winds and bitter cold are chilling reminders that the hope and excitement of Inauguration Day can sometimes run headlong into brutal winter realities. The inaugurations of past American presidents have been held in blizzards, washouts and arctic cold snaps. The festivities have been shoveled out, drenched and driven indoors. Tomorrow's forecast looks mild by comparison. After a few snowflakes predicted to fall tonight, the weather will be mostly cloudy by the time Barack Obama steps to the lectern on the West Portico of the Capitol at noon.

Two killed in accidents in Randallstown Two people were killed in separate apparent accidents involving automobiles on Liberty Road in Randallstown over the weekend, but only limited information was available from county police on the incidents. Yesterday, at about 2:30 a.m., a person driving in the 9300 block of Liberty Road crossed the center line and slammed into an oncoming vehicle, according to the county Police Department's dispatch office. The driver of the second vehicle was killed in the crash, police said.

Carroll Rinehart, out in Bel Air, remembers that May rainfall had threatened to top the all-time record for the month in Baltimore, and asks: "Did the last couple of days put us over the top?" Happily (or sadly for us weather geeks), no. The last day of May brought a final quarter-inch of rain. That pushed the month's total to 7.77 inches, cementing its standing as the second-wettest May on record here. But it was still an inch short of the 1989 record of 8.71 inches.

Summer arrived with a wallop yesterday, even if two weeks early. A heat wave that is expected to hover over much of the Eastern Seaboard for the next few days sent temperatures to a near-record high, bringing strenuous activity to a standstill, driving up bottled water sales and making swimming pools the most popular places in town. The National Weather Service said it reached 95 degrees at BWI Marshall Airport, one degree shy of 1999's record and 14 degrees above normal, said forecaster Rich Hitchens.

About 14,000 BGE customers in Baltimore, Anne Arundel, Harford and Calvert counties temporarily lost power yesterday afternoon as a cold front from the west brought thunderstorms and tornado watches to the area. Firefighters in Prince George's County reported seeing a possible tornado touch down in the Clinton-Brandywine area, but National Weather Service officials could not confirm that it was a twister. The worst of the storm hit south and east of Baltimore, downing power lines and trees in Fairfax County, Va., and dumping large hail in the Lothian area of Anne Arundel County and parts of Calvert County, according to the National Weather Service.

Two tornadoes ripped through the Maryland suburbs of Washington yesterday, part of a weather system that sparked fires, spawned hail and flooded roads around the state. Afternoon reports of severe weather in Charles and Prince George's counties were confirmed as tornadoes late last night by the National Weather Service in Sterling, Va. No injuries were reported. Closer to Baltimore, the weather service issued a tornado warning for northern Baltimore County shortly after 6 p.m. for about 40 minutes, advising people to take cover.