Bad Weather

Once again, it has come down to a question of credibility. Which groundhog does one believe? Groundhog Day was awash in controversy again yesterday, as furry critters near and far failed to concur on the outlook for the rest of winter. Upstate's Octoraro Orphie said yes (to six more weeks of winter weather), and Punxsutawney Phil said no. New Jersey's Woodrow K. Chuck said yes, and Chance, a groundhog at the Philadelphia Zoo, didn't say much of anything. At 7:04 a.m. on the banks of the Octoraro Creek in southern Lancaster County, Octoraro Orphie emerged from hibernation, spotted his shadow and scurried back into his hole.

The midday news warned vacationers here at Cape May of more bad weather and something else - a bad undertow. But that's not news to me. When I was a kid, this was the peak of summer. From August through Labor Day, all I thought about were more days at the beach, marathon games of Monopoly and Scrabble, and riding my bike over sticky blacktop streets. This was not the end - it was the crest. We rode the wave of summer fun right up to the end. That's not so today. At our house, instead of being knee-deep in the Atlantic, we were hip-deep in homework.

As many weather theories are flying around as predictions about the game. Every impending snowflake is being factored in as a threat or advantage as the Eagles head into tomorrow's NFC championship game against the Atlanta Falcons at Lincoln Financial Field. "I have a Doppler on my Blueberry," Eagles coach Andy Reid joked yesterday. Weather forecasts are calling for 8 to 12 inches of snow this weekend. The game-time temperature is expected to be 18 degrees with a wind-chill factor of minus-7.

If Mark McGwire's attempt to break Roger Maris' home-run record is threatened by bad weather in the final days of the season, National League officials said they aren't likely to step in and help. St. Louis is 19 games out in the Central Division and without a realistic shot at the wild card. The NL said that if a game between two non-contenders is rained out, and the teams don't meet again or have a common open date in the schedule, it won't be played - even if McGwire is stuck one home run short of the record.

The bad weather has caused a dry spell for swim teams, keeping them out of the water and forcing cancellations of practices and meets. "It feels like forever ago," Wissahickon coach Stephanie Johnson said, trying to remember the last time her team jumped into a pool with another team. "I don't even remember. We've only had five meets. The kids are getting itchy. They're driving their parents crazy. So I think they're ready to go. " Because school district policies vary on practicing and competing when schools are closed because of inclement weather, some teams have had more practice than others.

Terry Graham's phone had not stopped ringing for days. Dale Cravener, just back from removing a tree that had crashed through the roof of an elderly man, was almost too busy to talk. And Arun Sen was having to turn people away. Across Bucks County last week, roofers, repairmen and insurance agents were inundated with calls for help as residents reeled from the impact of two separate storms that bullied the Delaware Valley in the space of a week. It just goes to show that sometimes bad weather can mean good business.

If the balky winter weather hasn't been enough to heighten the anxiety level of Central League baseball coaches this season, a new rule certainly has. In the past, a pitcher who threw more than six full innings in a day was required to rest three days, and one who pitched more than five had to rest two days. This year, the PIAA lowered the numbers so that any pitcher throwing more than five full innings will have to sit three days and any pitcher throwing more than four will have to sit two days.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland - The chaps who run the Royal & Ancient tried to pull out all the stops yesterday afternoon at the Old Course, to help properly distinguish the 150th anniversary of this goofy game's oldest championship. Then, the weather turned very British, and it was everyone's loss. It would have been something worth celebrating. Instead, the four-hole Champions Challenge, featuring 26 of the 31 living British Open winners in a team competition, had to be scrubbed.

The Public League's overall, eight-team baseball playoffs were scheduled to begin next Wednesday . . . So much for that. In the AAA classification, games on 4 consecutive days are still necessary to determine the survivor, and the first of those won't occur until Monday, according to Dave Connolly, the PL's baseball chairman. Rain, rain, go away. You've already wrecked too many days! "This is our worst year for rain," Connolly said. "I thought last year was, but . . . You can't help the weather.

Four days after an earthquake devastated northern Pakistan, hail and rain, along with a shortage of helicopters, kept rescuers yesterday from reaching thousands of survivors still trapped in isolated Himalayan villages, Pakistani officials said. Rescuers have not yet reached "hundreds of villages," Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, spokesman for the Pakistani army, said yesterday. Eight American military helicopters joined the relief effort, but bad weather grounded flights in the afternoon.

Question: My last relationship was several years ago. We'd been together for four years and engaged for one. Right before we were supposed to do the deed, he informed me that he never wanted to marry me, never wanted to be in a relationship, and he'd been lying a lot. This was the exact opposite of how he had been behaving. Quite the shock. I'm in a new relationship now, of only a few months. We're already talking marriage. A lot of my friends think this is too soon, but I've resigned myself to the fact that if something bad is going to happen it will, regardless of how long we're together.

New Jersey Turnpike revenue for the year through October was $47.1 million below forecasts, Bloomberg News reported. It said the turnpike authority collected $934 million in the first 10 months of 2011. Officials said, according to Bloomberg, that bad weather and high gasoline prices contributed to reduced use of toll roads by motorists.    - Inquirer staff

ASIDE FROM drawing X's and O's this week, Brian Fluck is scratching his head. Though he's hardly incensed, West Catholic's football coach does wonder why his team will play a championship game on its opponent's home field. Curious decisions are not limited to the Public League, it turns out. Because neither has an outrageous amount of teams at the AA level, Districts 12 and 1 combine for what's called a subregional. The semifinal survivors are West, the defending state champion, and Springfield Montco, and they'll meet Friday night on the latter's grass-and-dirt field.

Home-improvement stores selling emergency supplies and coffee shops providing a break from the cleanup may benefit from Hurricane Irene, while department stores shut because of flooding likely lost sales. The storm may have reduced apparel retailers' comparable-store sales by 0.5 percent or less for the month as consumers stayed home during the critical back-to-school shopping season, Jennifer Davis, an analyst at Lazard Capital Markets, said Monday. Grocery stores, drugstores, and big-box retailers likely benefited, she said.

A search is expected to resume today for a boater who is missing and feared dead at the mouth of the Wading River in Bass River Township. James W. Ashley, 52, of Mays Landing jumped into the river Sunday morning to retrieve a line that went overboard but could not swim back to his 20-foot motorboat because of strong currents, State Police said. The New Jersey State Marine Police, U.S. Coast Guard N.J. Fish and Game personnel and West Tuckerton Dive Team searched for Ashley until 4:30 p.m. Sunday, when the operation was called off because bad weather.

  READING - Carlos Rivero and Derrick Mitchell had two hits and two RBIs apiece as the Reading Phillies defeated the Trenton Thunder, 6-1, in an Eastern League game Friday night. Reading's Tyler Cloyd picked up his third win against one defeat, going six innings and allowing just one run on seven hits. He struck out five. Lehigh Valley 9, Rochester 5 ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Tagg Bozied went 3 for 3, and Rich Thompson, Delwyn Young and Cody Overbeck added two hits apiece as the visiting IronPigs rode past the Red Wings in an International League contest.

Lee Westwood and tour newcomer Mark Tullo, of Chile, shot 7-under-par 65s yesterday to share the lead after the first round of the Scottish Open in Inverness. Westwood had six birdies and an eagle in the warmup event before next week's British Open. A bogey at the 16th hole was his only setback. With a win at the new links course at Castle Stuart, the second-ranked Westwood would regain the No. 1 ranking held by fellow Englishman Luke Donald. Tullo, ranked No. 232 and in his first season on the European Tour, birdied his first four holes and then five of the back nine to join Westwood atop the leaderboard.

The Public League's overall, eight-team baseball playoffs were scheduled to begin next Wednesday . . . So much for that. In the AAA classification, games on 4 consecutive days are still necessary to determine the survivor, and the first of those won't occur until Monday, according to Dave Connolly, the PL's baseball chairman. Rain, rain, go away. You've already wrecked too many days! "This is our worst year for rain," Connolly said. "I thought last year was, but . . . You can't help the weather.

Extreme weather around the world and high gas prices at home are combining to put a strain on food banks, including Philabundance, the largest hunger-relief agency in the area. Beyond that, changes in the food industry are drying up resources that food banks once used to feed the poor. All this is happening during a post-recession period of high unemployment, which is keeping the need for charitable food high. "There's just this sense of frustration we're feeling," said Bill Clark, executive director of Philabundance, which has seen a 30 percent spike in people needing food since last year and more than 60 percent over two years.

BOISE, Idaho - A Canadian woman stranded for seven weeks in a remote area near the Idaho-Nevada border sensed her ordeal was about to come to an end a day before she was found, her son said Sunday. "She had a very clear indication," Raymond Chretien said. "She got ready on Thursday to be with her Savior or rescued. " Rita Chretien, 56, was found Friday by hunters who spotted her van mired in mud on a national forest road in Elko County, Nev. Her husband, Albert, 59, remains missing after setting off on foot March 22 to get help.