A flash from the Wedding Wormhole! Just received this photo of the June 23 double rainbow over Baltimore. Paul M. Novak Jr. shot it from the 13th floor of his building downtown. Wow!

Pretty sure that's Johns Hopkins Hospital at the end of the arcs. They oughta buy this image for their annual report. On the other hand, I believe the long, low building at lower right is the state's troubled Juvenile Justice building. Maybe there's hope for the place, or at least its residents.

Now, back into the Wormhole...

Posted by Frank Roylance at 6:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
                    

Your WeatherBlogger, who has been circling the event horizon for days, has finally been pulled into the Wedding Wormhole. Scientists, citing Alfred Einstein's Especially General Theory of Relatives, say no information can pass into or out of the event horizon.

Theorists say the blogger can be expected to be eclipsed by the glare of his daughter's happiness, emerging again on the other side no sooner than July 2. Unfortunately, his wallet will be crushed into an infinitely small singularity with zero mass.

Watch this space for further developments. 

Posted by Frank Roylance at 6:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

So, here we are at the peak of the early-summer thunderstorm season. And, sure enough, we're looking at a five-day forecast that sounds like a broken record (remember records?).

The prognosticators out at Sterling say the delightful high-pressure system that has been parked here for several days, delivering warm, dry, sunny days and cool nights will begin to shove off after today.

As it departs, we will fall into the return flow from its clockwise rotation. That means we'll be getting warmer, wetter air from the South; highs will slide into the 90s; and all this heat and humidity will increase chances for afternoon and evening thundershowers every day from tomorrow through Monday.

Of course, Saturday is the only day we care about here. My daughter is getting married (did I mention that?) and the forecast calls for a high of 91 downtown (actually a tad cooler, or less stifling than out at BWI airport) with a 40 to 50 percent chance for showers or thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening.

Shrewdly, we've planned the ceremony to be outdoors. So I'm looking at the "mostly cloudy" forecast and I'm thinking, 'OK, we don't need direct sunshine heating our guests, or our bride.'  Her mother and I were married in cloudy, muggy weather, and that's worked out fine.

And by 7 p.m. it should be a shade cooler than 91, right?. Maybe 85? We'll take 85. Rain? OK, we can handle rain if it comes early in the afternoon and leaves us time to wipe off the seats. Might even cool things off a bit. A rainbow would be a very cool bonus. MEMO TO WEDDING PLANNER: Look into the rainbow. A single arch will do. Alert the photographer. Just send me the bill.

Rain at showtime will chase us indoors, of course. That would be too bad, considering our investment in the location and the view, and the chairs and the platform. But at least we have a Plan B. Rain after the ceremony is OK. Rain with a power failure during the reception and eating and dancing, however, especially an extended power failure, is unacceptable. MEMO TO BGE: We'll need trucks and crews on standby. I'm thinking something like the Verizon network folks on those TV ads. Just send me the bill.  

Posted by Frank Roylance at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Those lightning-sparked wildfires that have been plaguing Californians this week are producing enough smoke to be clearly visible from orbit. NASA's Aqua Earth Observing Satellite has sent back a remarkably clear image showing numerous smoke plumes drifting across the state. The hottest spots are sensed by infrared detectors and outlined in red.

Posted by Frank Roylance at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Hope. Forgiveness. A beautiful play of refracted sunlight in raindrops. Anyway you look at them, a rainbow is a surprise and a delight whenever you spot one. Sun videographer Karl Merton Ferron captured this colorful and eerie display after a light shower in Baltimore on Monday.

Rainbows are so striking, and unusual, that we long remember where we were and what we were doing when we spotted them. I can recall a rainbow that appeared after my wife and I arrived in Bar Harbor, Maine, for our honeymoon. Seemed like a good omen, and we're still hitched after 38 years. I can remember a spectacular double rainbow that astonished our kids (and us) during a summer camping trip in the 1980s. We were driving south from Flagstaff, across the desert, after a visit to the Grand Canyon. We just pulled over and gawked.

Have any special memories of rainbows you'd like to share? Leave a comment.  

There was a double rainbow yesterday in Washington, and CapitalWeather.com has posted a terrific photo gallery. There's a link in the comments below.

Posted by Frank Roylance at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
                    

Forecasters out at Sterling are on the lookout for showers and thunderstorms today. They say conditions are ripe for some severe storms to develop as heat, humidity and an approaching cold front team up to make our afternoon and evening positively electric.

The cold front was out over the Ohio Valley early this morning. But it's headed this way, and due to crash through after 2 p.m. Showers and thunderstorms will boil up along the front or just ahead of it. This morning's discussion says "in the late afternoon/evening storms should begin to develop along/ahead of the actual frontal boundary. Damaging wind gusts and large hail will be possible within any severe storm that develops."

You can track conditions in downtown Baltimore via The Sun's own weather station, at Calvert & Centre streets.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms could even linger into Tuesday. But as high pressure works its way into the region, Wednesday begins to look like the best bet for outdoor activity this week. Temperatures will be close to normal for this time of year - near 87 degrees. But humidities should be relatively low, and sunny skies will dominate.

Then things begin to slip. As the high moves offshore, we get into the familiar "return flow," meaning that the clockwise circulation around the high begins to draw more hot, humid air up from the South. That, in turn, increases our risks for showers and thunderstorms. Forecasters put that risk at 30 percent for every day from Thursday through Sunday. Daytime highs will creep to 90 by Thursday and hang in that neighborhood right through the weekend.

Sooprise! Sooprise! Hot and humid on the Chesapeake in the summertime! What were we thinking when we scheduled an outdoor wedding for June 28? NOTE TO WEDDING PLANNER: Get more ice for the beer. Just send me the bill.

Posted by Frank Roylance at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Alright, here's the deal. My daughter is getting married next Saturday, and we are beginning our weather-watch this weekend. The National Weather Service forecasters out at Sterling make their local forecasts a week out, which means next Saturday's date is just now coming up on the screen.

So far, the week ahead looks relatively mild, with seasonable highs in the mid-80s, and a 30- to 60-percent risk for showers and thunderstorms nearly every day and every night through Tuesday. Then things get even better. No rain, no lightning, just mostly sunny skies and mid-80s highs through Friday.

But it's Saturday we care about, folks. The wedding is outdoors, at 7 p.m. It's the evening after the latest sunset of the year, so the sun will still be quite high. But temperatures should be moderating by then. I'm looking for 80 degrees or cooler, please and thank you. There's no AC under that white gown. Thunderstorms are OK so long as they come after we've gone inside to party. (And so long as the power doesn't go out. That happened at a wedding we attended last year. Not good. Paying a DJ. Need the juice.)

We'll even welcome a few clouds. Cuts the direct sunshine and cools the guests. A nice breeze would be desirable, say 5 mph or so. Enough to push the mosquitoes away, but not enough to blow out the wedding day hairdos or knock over the flowers.

LA Times file photo 

MEMO TO WEDDING PLANNER: See above. Think you can manage all that? Very important! Just send me the bill.

Posted by Frank Roylance at 6:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

Summer arrives at 7:59 this evening. (Misled by a typo on a reference book we use, we mistakenly said on the print weather page last week that the solstice arrived on the 19th. Just a reminder that humans produce this stuff.)

We have visitors from Sweden with us this week. For them, tonight is the night to celebrate Midsummer's Night and dance around a pole with candles in their hair. Or something. That's MID-summer's Night. Not BEGIN-summer's Night.

They conceded to us that they, too have been confused about why summer BEGINS on the date called MID summer, when the sun is in the sky longer than any other. And where they're from, it never does get truly dark at night at this time of year. 

We were visiting them one summer many years ago in Sweden, and we all went to dinner at the home of some friends. We drank. We ate. We talked alot. And each time I looked out the window it was dimmer, but still light. My wife and I, accustomed to summers living around a latitude of 40 degrees or so, figured it was, maybe, 9 p.m.

When we finally looked at the clock we were astonished to discover it was past midnight! We were dining at around 57 or 58 degrees north latitude, the equivalent of Churchill, Manitoba, on Hudson's Bay. The sun was down - we weren't above the Arctic Circle. But it was still twilight. I could have read a book without a flashlight.

Anyway, the idea that summer BEGINS around June 20 or 21 is a recent notion. Many of our ancestors did indeed see this as MID-summer. They used "cross-quarter days" - the midway points between the equinoxes and the solstices - to mark the beginning and end of the seasons. For example, by the Celts' reckoning, our summer began somewhere between the 4th and 10th of May, on a day they called Beltane. And it will end between the 3rd and 10th of August, on Lughnasadh.

Some also find it curious that the hottest days in Maryland - the warmest long-term daily average temperatures - are in mid-July, a month after the solstice. If the days are longest, and the sun is highest, and its rays most direct and intense around the 20th of June, why does this month not also produce our highest average temperatures?

The answer lies in the oceans. Literally. It just takes a few weeks for the increased solar energy falling on the Northern Hemisphere to heat the oceans to their maximum seasonal highs. That, in turn, delays heating of the atmosphere. It's like heating a pot of water on the stove. It takes a while on HI to get the water to boil. By the time temps reach their peak, the incoming solar energy is waning, and by late July, the oceans and air finally begin to cool again.

Anyway, enjoy the long day today. From here on until Dec. 21, the days only get shorter. And don't forget to get a look at the solstice moon tonight. It rises at 10:24 p.m. in Baltimore. It's just past full, but still a gorgeous sight in the east.  

Posted by Frank Roylance at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

We've been watching these flood stories coming out of Iowa and some other very wet places this week. Very amazing and very sad for those affected. But I can't help wondering why we continue to allow people to rebuild in flood plains, when we know they will, eventually, be washed out again. These rivers, and the oceans, are far bigger than we are, they they don't give a whit about our attempts to colonize their ancient territory.

Seems to me there have been some efforts to buy out a few of these places, and rebuild communities on higher ground. But it's clear we don't do enough of it. Instead, we spend our money on (ultimately) futile attempts to hold back the rivers and defy the storm tides. New Orleans is a classic example of a place that should never have been settled. Yet we rebuild, spending billions on levees that break and beaches that wash away, and flood insurance that just keeps on giving.

Consider this from Friends of the Earth:

"In 1966, a report to Congress by the Task Force on Federal Flood Control Policy gave the nation a lesson in flood control: don’t rebuild in high-hazard zones like coastlines and river deltas.  This lesson was reiterated in the 1973 Report of the National Water Commission.  Both distinguished panels found that despite the enormous flood control expenditures, flood damages were increasing. Both panels recommended that more attention be paid to relocation out of flood zones and called for greater emphasis on non-engineering solutions.  There is a growing body of evidence that healthy wetlands, in-tact dune systems and other natural ecosystems reduce storm and flood damage, but far too many tax dollars have been spent to destroy these natural systems to facilitate more development."

FOE makes the argument that global warming will make all this worse. But it's not necessary to invoke global warming here, although there are plenty of people ready to argue that more extreme precipitation and warmer, higher oceans will only increase the frequency of flooding events. Set all that aside. These rivers and shores have been flooding for eons. We're the new element there. And we're only building more costly infrastructure and adding more population to the riversides and coastlines. That's what's costing us so much more each time these events occur. And that's just dumb.

Anybody have any thoughts on this? Should we just help these people rebuild? Or should we help them move to higher ground? Leave the farm fields. Floods are good for them in the long run. But move the homes out of the rivers' path.

You can read more here.

Posted by Frank Roylance at 3:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
                    

Another chilly June morning, blessed by the silence of idle air conditioners.

It was 52 degrees at dawn on the WeatherDeck in Cockeysville, and 52 degrees also at Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport down in Linthicum. That was not a record for the city's official weather station, but it was a nice run at one. The record low for a June 18 in Baltimore is 48 degrees, set back in 1959. We still haven't touched 80 today - only the third day this month that's happened. It was 62 this morning at The Sun's weather station at Calvert & Centre streets.

The forecast low for tonight is 57 degrees, as temperatures begin to warm back toward more seasonable readings this week.

All this cool air is being delivered by a big low rotating north of Lake Ontario. That's dragging cool air in from the north and west, along with little disturbances that, with some solar heating, may trigger some showers or thunderstorms - a few perhaps with hail - as they roll by us. 

So far, however, the coast is clear. Just some cumulus clouds and patches of blue, clearly visible in the satellite image below.

They're calling for more of the same Thursday and Friday, with a risk of showers both days, and highs near 80 degrees. Saturday looks perfect for a wedding - sunny and 83 - but showers and thunderstorms become a risk again for Sunday.

Posted by Frank Roylance at 1:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Another fine morning in the Land of Pleasant Living. Temperatures will hang below normal for today, with even cooler weather on tap for the balance of the work week. Sunny skies this morning, growing a bit cloudier later today as some upper atmosphere changes work themselves out.

The forecasters out at Sterling say today's weather will "usher in  a period of quite pleasant weather as we approach the solstice ... Dewpoints in the 50s today, temperatures 75-80. Breezy northwest winds. Enjoy." The summer solstice occurs at 7:59 p.m. EDT on Friday - the 20th (not the 19th, as I mistakenly said in a Weather Page item last Saturday). 

And here's a bonus. The west and northwest breezes will keep away the smoke from those wildfires burning down in Virginia and North Carolina. We've been getting some reports from vacationers and residents down there who have been dealing with the smoke. Not a pretty picture.

It's not perfect. We have a "slight" chance for showers and thunderstorms tomorrow and Thursday, and again on Saturday. But they're not a big worry. Mostly we're looking at pleasant temperatures, sunny to partly cloudy days.

Tonight and tomorrow evening we can also enjoy a spectacular full moon rising in the east. Astronomers say it will be perfectly full at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow, so at moonrise either tonight or Wednesday night it will be almost equally full. Moonrise in Baltimore is at 8:13 p.m. tonight, and 9:03 Wednesday. It's 10 minutes earlier in OC.

This is the 4th full moon since the Vernal Equinox, and before the Summer Solstice. That presents a problem.

Names for full moons (like the Harvest Moon or Hunter's Moon) are only available for three per season. In the old days, calendar writers reserved the term "blue moon" for these oddballs, and applied it to the third full moon in a season that happened to have four, according to Guy Ottewell's Astronomic Calendar. That would have made the May 20 full moon the Blue Moon, and this week's full moon would be the Flower, Rose or Strawberry Moon. (It's only in relatively recent times - since 1946 - that Blue Moon has been applied to any second full moon occuring in a calendar month.)

I think I've already used those names here for the May moon, so I'm stuck. This will either be a second Flower Moon, or a Blue Moon. Take your pick.  Or suggest your own moon name here. Like Smog Moon, Muggy Moon or Most Heat Moon.

Posted by Frank Roylance at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

As I left work Friday evening I could detect a smoky aroma in the air. And looking out from The Sun's garage on Calvert Street, I noted a pretty thick haze. Maybe you got a whiff of it too, on Friday or Saturday.

Turns out, as forecast earlier in the week, we were downwind of several stubborn wildfires in eastern North Carolina and in the Great Dismal Swamp in southeastern Virginia. Those fires have been burning for quite a while now, and on Friday the winds finally shifted and began carrying the smoke up from the south. It eventually got all the way to New Hampshire before more wind shifts began to sweep it out over the ocean.

This sort of thing happens from time to time. Anybody else recall a weekend in 2002 when forest fires in Quebec began sending smoke wafting our way. It smelled like smokehouse in Baltimore, and the skies were noticeably beige as a result. 

And lots more probably remember the smokey stump dump fire in Clarksville 10 years ago this month, and another in Baltimore County that began in 1992, sent smoke drifting across the city, burned for 18 months and cost $3 million to control.  

Anyway, here's how the NC and VA fires looked Saturday, from NASA's orbiting Aqua Earth Observing satellite. They're still burning. I suspect vacationers on the Outer Banks are pretty sick of the smell. Anybody reading this on the OBX?

Posted by Frank Roylance at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
                    

Woke up cold last night. We'd shut off the AC and opened the windows as the evening temps began to slide below our thermostat settings.

By 2 a.m. or so, there was a cold breeze drifting through the house, and it was enough to demand we pull up a blanket. You can thank that little front that rumbled through Baltimore Saturday night with a brief thunderstorm. Behind it came yesterday's more seasonable temperatures and better sleeping weather. You can see the storm's impact on temperatures in data from The Sun's weather station for Saturday. 

Today there's another cold front due. Forecasters say we should expect showers and thunderstorms with it. Some may be severe. But behind THIS one is even cooler weather. Starting Tuesday we can look forward to days with highs only in the upper 70s to low 80s through the weekend. That's a couple of ticks below normal for this time of year in Baltimore.

Best of all, the nighttime lows will sink into the 60s again tonight, and then to the 50s through Thursday night. We should be able to leave those AC compressors idle at night all week long, and pocket the savings on our next electric bill. We need the break. We're running 88 percent above normal on cooling degree-days so far this month. That means the demand for energy to cool our homes is running 88 percent above the long-term average for June in Baltimore. Ouch. 

The cooler weather will provide a nice comfort zone for a pair of Swedes we know who are arriving in Baltimore this week to attend a Fells Point wedding. A hot summer for them is 70 degrees and sunny. Venturing into a Chesapeake summer, for them, is like spending a month in the Amazon. And an extended dip in ocean water without brain freeze is a marvel.

But beware: these people change into (and out of) their swim suits on the beach. See if you can spot them. They're headed for the Delaware Shore this weekend, 380 years after Sweden's first (1638) landing in Delaware (right) in an abortive attempt to colonize the New World. This attempt will likely fail as well. We welcome them anyway.

Posted by Frank Roylance at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Indiana residents are dealing with terrible flooding. And even if your house isn't under water, just getting around when roads are flooded can be a big headache.

But if there's one thing to remember when your world goes under water, it's this: TURN AROUND, DON'T DROWN. The water in the street might look shallow and fordable in a heavy car. But surprisingly little water, especially if it's moving, can strand you, or pick you up and sweep you downstream to meet your Maker. Even in hurricanes, it's inland flooding - not storm surge or high winds - that kills the most people. And most die trying to drive on flooded roads.

The couple in this You Tube video seem to think that driving around, sight-seeing during a flood, with Baby Keller in the car is a fine way to pass the time. It's not. They're fools. And I trust the kids will survive in spite of their parents.

Posted by Frank Roylance at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Pennsylvania's little-known, but much-beloved (by amateur astronomers) Cherry Springs State Park has been named an International Dark Sky Park by the International Dark Sky Association. It is only the second park to win that honor. The first (last year) was Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah.

The best thing about Cherry Springs is that it is so far east, perhaps the last best refuge of the natural night sky east of the Mississippi. Almost everywhere else, Baltimore included, urban light pollution has washed out the star-choked night sky that our ancestors knew so well. Few of today's children have ever seen what the night sky really looks like. Ask your kids of they have ever seen the Milky Way. Ask yourself.

While it's not exactly an easy day trip for Marylanders, Cherry Springs is only a five-hour car ride away, in north-central Pa. And there's plenty to do once you get there, even with that pesky sun in the sky. And once night falls, the view on a clear night is stupendous. And the park folks have worked hard for years to keep it that way. It's a real astro-tourist draw. The photo of the Milky Way at left was shot by Jeff Ball at Cherry Springs. A long exposure exaggerates its beauty, but you won't be disappointed.

Here's the full release on the new dark-sky kudos for Cherry Springs Park:

―This errant light from near and far is a problem for nocturnal wildlife and has been identified as a substantial energy waste. The leadership demonstrated by The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and Cherry Springs shows that protecting the view of the cosmos also makes economic sense, preserves ecosystems, and maintains quality of life.‖

The state park has retrofitted all of their outdoor lights to be night sky friendly. Using readily available light fixtures that direct all light downward and combined with electricity saving 13-watt compact fluorescent lamps, there is more than enough light for visibility given the surrounding environment. Some areas of the park are even designated as no–light zones to protect owls, bats, and a host of indigenous mammals; and to allow astronomer’s and casual stargazer’s eyes to become fully dark-adapted.

Posted by Frank Roylance at 3:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Can't beat this. Sunny skies, highs about normal in the mid-80s, with low humidity. The only fly in the ointment might be some smoke. Wildfires in North Carolina, triggered by lightning, have been sending clouds of smoke out over the Atlantic. (See satellite image below) The fires aren't out yet, so if winds shift around to the south in the next day or so, as forecast, some of that smoke could blow our way.

Otherwise, it's late-spring weather that can't be beat.

Until Saturday. That's when the next cold (or at least cooler) front slides by, increasing cloudiness in advance on Friday, and leading to increased chances for scattered showers and thunderstorms on Saturday. Some could be severe, though probably not on the scale of Tuesday's storms.

High pressure moves in behind the front, dropping temperatures a bit and clearing the skies. Monday brings yet another front, another chance for showers, and a stretch of "unsettled" weather. Look for periods of showers and thunderstorms Monday and Tuesday. Daytime high temperatures could even fall below long-term averages, with highs in the 70s by Wednesday. Cool.

Posted by Frank Roylance at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

The heat and humidity have split, but not before toppling trees- big ones - all across Maryland and Virginia.

The list of incidents of downed trees, with associated structural damage and power outages, is impressive. There were also some lucky escapes, too. There's the story in today's Sun about Craig Cocharo, of Towson, whose 2007 Honda Accord - with him at the wheel - was crushed by a falling tree at Loch Raven Drive and Dulaney Valley Road. He escaped uninjured, but it's hard to imagine how.

Got any good storm stories to relate? Leave us a comment and share them. Here's Iver Mindel's report of an apparent microburst that raked the Lutherville park where he was attending lacrosse practice:

Posted by Frank Roylance at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Forecasters out at Sterling say the atmos