Posts about Weather

And...: The first 90-degree day in April since 2010 shuttered nine DC libraries. (Post) ... DC tries again to get a developer for the Franklin school downtown. (City Paper) ... Cicada Brood II will return from its 17-year hiatus this summer. (Post) (Comment)

NOquester: Though Snowquester didn't amount to much in many areas, there are still some closings and delays. You should also make sure sidewalks are clear of any snow you did get. (DCist, WTOP) (Comment)

Snow: Heavy snow has now started, and almost all governments and schools are closed. (WUSA9) (Comment)

Prevents the descent after the maelstrom: Freshly-mopped floors in Metro stations in winter conditions may seem odd, but that mopping actually makes the floors less slippery thanks to a chemical agent in the mixture. (Examiner) (Comment)

Photography

Snow in the Flickr pool

by Aimee Custis • January 25, 2013 3:11 pm

Here are our favorite new images from the Greater and Lesser Washington Flickr pool, showcasing the best and worst of the Washington region.

Eastern Market. Photo by caroline.angelo.

Dupont Circle. Photo by ekelly80.

Logan Circle. Photo by Joe in DC.

Eastern Market. Photo by caroline.angelo.

Lynn Street, Arlington. Photo by BrianMKA.

Got a picture that depicts the best or worst of the Washington region? Make sure to join our Flickr pool and submit your own photos!

Comment

Tags: photography, weather

How New York recovered: NYU created an interactive timeline of NYC transportation before and after Hurricane Sandy as part of a detailed report on Sandy preparation and recovery. One recommendation: keep the exclusive busways the city set up to route around flooded tunnels as permanent BRT lines. (Atlantic Cities, Streetsblog) (Comment)

And...: Sandy damaged many of New York's bikeshare docks and bikes in a Brooklyn warehouse that flooded. (NYT) ... The Brookland and Shady Grove Metro stations get more bike parking. (PlanItMetro) ... Could the area get a high-speed ferry? (WTOP) (Comment)

Storm gives New York temporary BRT: In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, New York City quickly established a rapid bus line linking Brooklyn and Manhattan at frequent intervals. But bikes were even quicker. (BikePortland) (Comment)

No damage to Metro except pocketbook: Metro suffered no significant damage from Hurricane Sandy, but WMATA will still pay a cost for overtime and lost revenue from a day and a half without service. (Examiner) (Comment)

Roads get emergency money faster: Under the latest transportation bill (MAP-21), it'll take much longer to get emergency aid to cities for transit systems than it will to give emergency road funding. (Streetsblog) (Comment)

Teleworking: why just in storms?: One-third of local federal government employees telework during storms like Sandy. But less than 8% do so on regular days. Why can't more telework in good weather? (Post) (Comment)

Climate change does cause Sandy-like storms: The Presidential campaign has ignored climate change, but Sandy reminded everyone; it's indeed fair to cite climate change for the kind of weather we've had. (Post) (Comment)

Why Sandy didn't flood Bloomingdale: Bloomingdale actually didn't flood during Sandy. Is the flooding problem fixed? No, it's just that regular drainage could handle the sustained, less-intense rain we had, but not sudden heavy downpours. (City Paper) (Comment)

Pepco does a bit better: The much-maligned Pepco performed better in this week's hurricane than the summer's derecho. Total outages among Pepco customers peaked below 42,000, compared with 483,000 in June's storm. (DCist, Post) (Comment)

Region still faces risk of flooding: The region is returning to normal today, having avoided the worst effects of Sandy. But waterways which received millions of gallons of sewage overflow still pose a health risk, especially if they overflow. (Post) (Comment)

Sandy hits the Northeast hard: At least 40 people have died as a result of Hurricane Sandy, and millions are without power. In the DC area, 115,000 still have no electricity. (Post) (Comment)

Sustainability

Where does the water go?

by David Alpert • October 30, 2012 3:43 pm

An awful lot of stormwater just fell on the Washington area. DC Water shared this 2011 video about what happens to a raindrop after it falls in a storm until it gets to a river.

Stormwater has to pass through the Combined Sewer Overflow system, which mixes water and sewage. That is, unless and until DC Water digs new tunnels for stormwater (and, unfortunately, has to spend a very large amount of money to do it).

36 comments

Tags: video, water, weather

Breakfast non-links: Sandiest

by David Alpert • October 30, 2012 9:56 am

Yesterday, a giant storm smashed into the mid-Atlantic. Virtually nothing else of note happened.

Photo by nevermindtheend on Flickr.

Sadly, a few people were killed in traffic crashes or from falling trees in the region, but it was far worse in New Jersey and New York.

The Ocean City boardwalk was damaged and a pier destroyed. Storm surge flooded Atlantic City Lower Manhattan, and parts of Brooklyn, including the New York City Subway, PATH, and tunnels.

Metro will reopen at 2 pm today on a Sunday schedule, and will return to normal weekday service tomorrow. There is no timetable about when the New York subway will reopen after facing what its chairman calls the worst disaster in its 108-year history.

There aren't as many traffic signals out in DC as some expected, but there are a number of of roads closed in Virginia and Maryland.

Finally, forecasters expect flooding in the Potomac over the next few days as all the water that fell yesterday makes its way downriver.

How did you and your homes hold up in the storm?

24 comments

Tags: New York, weather

Transit

Many holidays look like weekends on Metro

by David Alpert • October 29, 2012 3:10 pm

WMATA's planning department has started posting more graphs and charts of ridership data, like one today changes in ridership over 5 years. A few recent charts show how holiday ridership compares to regular weekdays, Saturdays, or Sundays.

On holidays like MLK Day and Presidents' Day, when most offices are closed, Metro runs a Saturday schedule. That seems sensible, because the ridership pattern across the day closely resembles the typical Saturday.

Images from WMATA.

When the federal government is closed but most private companies still have work, like Columbus Day and Veterans' Day, Metro runs a Saturday schedule with extra peak service. Then, the ridership graph looks like a blend between the Saturday and typical weekday pattern:

On some of the holidays where virtually everyone is off and people generally travel, like Thanksgiving, Memorial Day and Labor Day, Metro runs on a Sunday schedule. The ridership pattern looks a lot like a typical Sunday as well, except Thanksgiving where it's even lower:

Even though the final numbers aren't in yet, we were able to get an exclusive look at the ridership chart for today, during Hurricane Sandy. Here it is:

Image not really from WMATA.

11 comments

Tags: Metro, ridership, weather, WMATA

Sandy shuts down transportation: You shouldn't need to wait for the Breakfast Links to know there's a massive storm hitting Washington. Metrorail, Metrobus and MetroAccess are all closed today, as are MARC, VRE, and Amtrak, local and intercity bus services, Amtrak, Capital Bikeshare and more. (DCist, City Paper) (Comment)

Dutch bike lanes may warm up: Towns in the Netherlands are considering heating bike lanes, to prevent ice from forming. 4 weeks of frozen lanes correlates with 7,000 additional cyclist injuries. (BBC) (Comment)

DC feeling the heat: DC is currently experiencing the hottest year on record, bolstered by the 3rd hottest summer, 2nd hottest July, and 5th hottest August on record. (Post) (Comment)

Even hotter?: The urban heat island effect doubles the effect of global warming in cities. Cities can mitigate this effect with urban green spaces and tree planting. (NPR) (Comment)

Flooding problems: In the wake of flooding in LeDroit Park and Bloomingdale on Sunday night, Kenyan McDuffie called for the DC government to establish a relief fund to help these neighborhoods with frequent flooding problems. (Post) (Comment)

Are denser areas more resilient during bad weather?: Denser areas less reliant on transportation may fare better during extreme weather. Much of this comes from a freedom from cars which can be shut down by the weather. (Streetsblog) (Comment)

And...: Obama declares DC a disaster area after the derecho on June 29. (Examiner)... Mayor Gray broke ground on a new clinic in Ward 8. (NBC4)... DCist imagines the 2012 Olympics in DC. (DCist)... JDLand has pictures of construction at Canal Park. (Comment)

Heat slows Metro: Metro has slowed down trains above ground starting last night. We're in for more hot days, and heat caused a train to derail at West Hyattsville during the last heat wave. (DCist) (Comment)

And...: Bikers in Portland spend more money at bars, restaurants, and convenience stores than those who arrive via other modes. (BikePortland)... Tuesday night's heavy rain caused more power outages across the region. (WTOP)... A Greenbelt co-op would allow residents to ban smoking by mutual agreement. (Gazette) (Comment)

Wave bye to heat wave: The heat wave finally came to an end Sunday night, but not before temporarily stranding a plane at DCA. Its departure also caused damage and power outages. (WT, DCist, Examiner) (Comment)

Heat may be damaging roads: The hot weather is also affecting roads. The Virginia DOT has warned drivers that the heat may cause roads to buckle. Evidence of such buckling has been found on Interstate 395. (Examiner) (Comment)

And...: The Chik-fil-A food truck will begin service in DC this Monday. (Post)... Amid talk about WV's MARC service, let's recall more ambitious proposals. (RPUS)... DC cleared almost 300 trees in the wake of last week's storm. (DCist) (Comment)

And...: Airline passengers stuck in Chicago going to Milwaukee never considered the train. (Raschke on Transport) ... Yes, climate change probably has something to do with this year's weather. (Post) ... 2005's BRAC cost 67% more than estimated. (Federal News Radio) ... One Spanish city put a moving walkway on their sidewalk. (Atlantic Cities) (Comment)

And...: As of Tuesday morning, 200,000 DC area residences were still without power. (Examiner) ... Montgomery will integrate bike infrastructure with the Purple Line in Long Branch. (WashCycle) ... Arlington libraries return to Tuesdays. (ARLnow) ... National construction expenditures rise at the highest rate in 5 months. (HousingWire) (Comment)

Mapping DC's power outages: DC's power outages from this weekend's storm lie predominantly on the edges of the city. In the ZIP code encompassing Chevy Chase 64% of households were without power yesterday. (Post) (Comment)

Gray criticizes slow Pepco: As more than 40,000 DC residents remained without power on Monday, Mayor Gray berated Pepco for its slow progress in restoring power after this weekend's storm. Gray's Hillcrest home was also without power. (Post) (Comment)

Page 2 »