Photo by Matt.Dunn

A soggy good morning to you, Washington. It’s my turn to run the sandbox while Aaron continues his vacation, so you can expect 15 or 16 posts about DCist Exposed today with – oh we hope! – a surprise zoo baby gallery or two. (Are you listening, National Zoo?) Or maybe we’ll just get desperate and grab some animal videos from outside the DCist coverage region and call it a day.

Actually Let’s Talk About the Weather: Given that many of Alert DC‘s weather warnings arrive in our inboxes about half an hour after the treacherous weather has started, it’s always disconcerting when they start arriving two full days before the action. That’s when the National Weather Service expected to issue a Flood Watch for the region, which started last night and continues until midnight, with up to three inches of rain expected and the heaviest rains arriving this afternoon. I was recently introduced to, and am now obsessed with WeatherSpark (on which I’ve been monitoring the forecast and noticed that 20% chance of thunderstorms today has now decreased to zero), so click that link and now you will be, too.

The Status of Metro: The Post’s local front page story today is all about General Manager Richard Sarles’ Metro status. He starts, “In the past, I would say, the authority went too far in reducing its labor cost and reduced maintenance, and as a result, the system was not maintained as it should be. We are trying to make up for that.” As a result, Sarles notes that with such a backlog of maintenance work, there’s no way for Metro to meet its performance standards, though he is trying to gain on some numbers, like increasing ontime escalator maintenance from 40 to 60 percent. The projected $72 million shortfall in the 2012 budget and the House legislation that may eliminate $150 million in federal funds (which would include an additional $150 million in local matching funds) would be, as the Post notes, devastating, and make it near impossible for any improvement to take place. Read all of Sarles comments here.

Today’s Gray Personnel Update: The Washington Post’s Mike DeBonis digs deeper into campaign consultant Howard L. Brooks, who we mentioned in yesterday’s Roundup. It turns out that Brooks, who was involved in a bid to run the District’s lottery in 2007, owned a lottery terminal servicing company that had a $1.4 million judgment imposed against it for claims of over-billing. We also mentioned yesterday that Brooks’ son was given a $110,000 salary job in the Gray administration; DeBonis writes that the son will now be resigning from the position.

In Brief: Man who made Metro threats on Facebook pleads guilty, “deeply sorry” … Three D.C. police officers plead not guilty to stolen property charges … Mayor Gray may fill the eight vacancies on UDC’s board tomorrow, taking heat off Sessoms … Three of the four worst dorms in the country are at local universities.

This Day in DCist: In 2009 we worried about a string of cashier robberies; in 2008, Amsterdam Falafel started taking Euros; and in 2007, we breathed a sigh of relief after, yes, our very first DCist Exposed show at Warehouse.