Hurricane Sandy

[digitS']

At the risk of scaring Charlie MV off to higher ground, dragging heavy weaponry . . .

. anyone want to talk about Sandy?

[img]https://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h22/Digit_007/Just%204%20Fun/Sandy.gif[/img]

Steve

[Charlie MV]

Unless you think this one will bring the world to an end, have me foraging for road kill and then dying of cholera within two weeks, I'm okay with it. I've been in the eye of 8 or 9 of these things and like tomf says the sun will come up tomorrow.

[rainbowgardener]

The sun will continue to rise, but "they" are saying that this could be nasty -- combination of a hurricane and a winter storm.

I'm far enough inland so it won't be a big deal here, but if I lived on the coast, I would think about getting away for awhile.

Ohio is starting to look like it could be a nice place to be in the coming times. Not as cold as it used to be, close to being beach front once the Great Lakes finish their coming expansion and Cleveland disappears. Not near any flooding coast line and not on the track of hurricanes.

Main problem is that with all the fracking we are starting to have earthquakes, which NEVER used to happen here.

[Francis Barnswallow]

I think the media is hyping this up yet again. Any landfall of a tropical storm,cat.1 or cat.2 is not really that big of a deal. Cat. 3's and above, then yes, that's something the media needs to seriously hype up.

They did this what, last year? When that weak storm hit just south of NYC. Remember how the media went ape **** over that and it turned out to be nothing? Same thing here.

[applestar]

Right now, that projection puts Sandy aiming directly for my garden

...darn... What to do with all the row tunnels???

[gumbo2176]

I think the media is hyping this up yet again. Any landfall of a tropical storm,cat.1 or cat.2 is not really that big of a deal. Cat. 3's and above, then yes, that's something the media needs to seriously hype up.

They did this what, last year? When that weak storm hit just south of NYC. Remember how the media went ape **** over that and it turned out to be nothing? Same thing here.

Yeah, that's what folks here in SE Louisiana thought about Hurricane Isaac's cat 2 status when it hit shore. The thing stalled at the coast and hung around for way too long dumping tons of rain and a long term storm surge that flooded several communities that resulted in huge losses in property and several lives.

But you're right, the media, especially the weathermen in this instance, play it up like it's the end of the world as we know it.

I remember one televised report from downtown N.O. where the reporter was outside and leaning into the winds like he was going to fly away any minute, then in the background 2 men in suits appeared on the screen, walked across the street and went their way. I almost cried I was laughing so hard at that fool.

[DoubleDogFarm]

Frakenstorm. Projected 1 billion in damages.


Eric

[gixxerific]

I think the media is hyping this up yet again. Any landfall of a tropical storm,cat.1 or cat.2 is not really that big of a deal. Cat. 3's and above, then yes, that's something the media needs to seriously hype up.

They did this what, last year? When that weak storm hit just south of NYC. Remember how the media went ape **** over that and it turned out to be nothing? Same thing here.

I can't beleive I am hearing this. What is wrong with you. The media has NEVER EVER blown anything out of proportion, just straight facts.

[Dillbert]

if one looks up Hurricane Hazel (Oct 1954) you'll see it _can_ happen. Hazel took out stuff from the Caribbean to Toronto; Hazel was a Cat4 when the storm landed on the east coast.

whether it will happen again is of course anyone's guess.
but I sure would not want to be a forecaster in Italy - the judge there just tossed a couple people in jail for not properly predicting an earthquake....

[digitS']

What is Sandy up against? . . . We have a very short thermometer here. The high yesterday was 37F after a morning low of 31F . . . it is aaalll the way down to 36F after 14 hours of darkness.

The rain is driving me up the wall . . ! Yes, nearly a tenth of an inch fell! I think most of it is coming down as fog. The teevee weather person claimed hers was a "soggy forecast." Maybe the fog is hiding the sog.

So . . . there is interest in this storm from other parts of the country and I'd have my supply of propane, charcoal - get the barbeque cleaned up! Have some bottles and buckets filled with water . . . rice and pasta in the kitchen.

Here's a more encouraging model from a meteorologist at Florida State U:

[img]https://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h22/Digit_007/Just%204%20Fun/Sandygif2.gif[/img]

Which one of these catches your attention - that one that to the untrained eye looks like the winds dissipate rapidly when Sandy hits the coast? Or, this one that looks about the same as it did 2 days ago (from the same guy at FSU)?

[img]https://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h22/Digit_007/Just%204%20Fun/Sandy-1.gif[/img]

Steve

[Ohio Tiller]

I used to date her I miss her for one thing but nothing else!!

[DoubleDogFarm]

Her mind?

Eric

[edelweiss]

We Canadiens ,Ontario and Maritimes,should not complain, but we too had more than usual rain, fog and we shall see sunshine again by this coming Friday. Yap, we just get the end tail of hurricane Sandy, but lots of down pour and flooding. But again, we should not complain!

[applestar]

My gardening has been more reactionary than carefully planned and scheduled lately. I finally got around to planting 2/3 of the garlic and some barley (it may be too late -- 10/20 was the last planting day according to Ag.Ex.) thanks to Sandy's approach.

I had to do a thorough once-over of the entire garden to make sure everything is tied down or put away.

I decided to clean up the dead and dying tomato vines and finished pole beans since past experience has been that its better to get them down while dry than after soaked and whipped into tatters into soggy moldy mess. So I finally got the area cleared where I'd planned to plant the Inchellium softneck garlic that needed the protected location in front of the SW facing wall and planted them.

While I was at it, I cleaned up the bed where I was going to plant my saved Elephant, Music, and Others (I think German pink or NY white) and planted those.

I then realized I still have a bag of Chesnok Red. I don't know where I thought I was planting them, but I don't have a cleared bed. Though thinking it over, I think I'm planting them after the sweet potatoes and Seminole squash, and they are still mostly lush and green under the double layer low tunnel. If Sandy doesn't rip the covers off, they should be comfortable with the 50's/40's for another week and there is no frost possible until next Monday morning (then possible frost for three nights). I guess these garlic will have to be planted later.

I cleared another tomato bed where I had planned to sow a winter small grain covercrop. I wanted to try barley so even though it's past the recommended schedule (and we seem to be having a later frost/freeze anyway), I prepped the bed and sowed hulless barley.

I also cut down the bloody butcher cornstalks that would also have become soggy moldy mess if left standing. I'm not sure if I want to use them for decoration, but if I do I needed to get them under cover. As it turned out, when I stood the stalks up in the corner of the front porch, I noticed a surprise:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/DA05342A-6D5B-4AC6-BD63-6E06FBF1656E-172-000001155DF2D804.jpg[/img]

Can you see it? Here's a close up:
[img]https://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll272/applesbucket/D02FE2BF-3BA2-4F76-9D47-450EEBFA317A-172-00000115D1A2EDF3.jpg[/img]

-- it's a Monarch butterfly chrysalis. It is still soft meaning the caterpillar had just shed it's skin and the chrysalis has not hardened into the smooth shell -- probably transformed no more than 10-15 minutes before this photo was taken.

[Charlie MV]

Rain bands are spitting a tiny bit on us. Winds are up but gusts at 30 so no worries. She's passed us by. We'll finish the game and watch The Perfect storm and maybe Jaws....

[rainbowgardener]

Yeah because Sandy is still out to sea. By the time she turns inland tonight, she will be north of you. But Applestar is right, it looks like the storm is aimed straight at her garden:

The storm could cause the worst flooding Connecticut has seen in more than 70 years, said the state's governor, Dannel P. Malloy.

Sandy was located about 260 miles (420 km) south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, with top sustained winds of 75 miles (120 km) per hour early Sunday, the NHC said.

The storm was moving over the Atlantic parallel to the U.S. coast at 13 mph (20 km/h), but was forecast to make a tight westerly turn toward the U.S. coast on Sunday night.

https://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/28/storm-sandy-idUSL1E8LS06O20121028

They are still talking about this as a record breaking storm, the worst of which will hit tomorrow. But what is record breaking about this one is not its fierceness, but its hugeness. Once it turns inland, a huge slice of the mid-Atlantic/ north Atlantic coast line, from Delaware on to Maine, is going to be affected by it.

Incidentally, hurricane Sandy is part of the new normal. This is what global climate change looks like. The reason why we are getting an unprecedented storm like this:

Sea temperatures are also warmer. September saw the second-highest global ocean temperatures on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Off the Northeast United States in particular, sea surface temperatures are about five degrees above average.

Sea surface temperature is FIVE DEGREES above normal!! That is huge and that is the energy that feeds storms like this.

[digitS']

The Weather Service said that this season has been: "In terms of accumulated cyclone energy...which measures the combined strength and duration of tropical storms and hurricanes...tropical cyclone activity so far this year is about 50 percent above the 1981-2010 average through the end of September in the Atlantic Basin." [url=https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/MIATWSAT.shtml](link)[/url] (And, I've spared you all of the capital letters .)

I don't really know much about hurricanes but it seems that the storms this year have not been terribly powerful. If I read the info right, there have been no category 4 or 5 storms. This map on Wikipedia seems to have been updated 3 days ago. It show the tracks of the 2012 storms and most have stayed well away from land.

[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4f/2012_Atlantic_hurricane_season_summary_map.png/320px-2012_Atlantic_hurricane_season_summary_map.png[/img]

Steve

[pinksand]

It looks like we're about 100 miles South of where the center of the storm is supposed to hit NJ, but it's already been insanity around here! School and government jobs have already been canceled for tomorrow. Firefighters were going door to door on our street talking to people in the flood zone (fortunately we're at the top of the hill). All of the grocery stores are sold out of bottled water and batteries. Mass hysteria!!!

I've taken the bird feeders and pumpkins inside and huddled the potted plants together. In all seriousness though, in storms like this there are bound to be casualties from fallen trees and other accidents that increase in these conditions. I hope that everyone fares well!

[digitS']

https://google.org/crisismap/2012-sandy

I came across this and it looks like a useful way of exploring what is predicted and what is happening with the storm.

-- If you go to the page, unclick ALL of the boxes on the right. --

Then, you can decide how YOU want to fill the map! It started off showing shelters, etc. etc. etc. If you need information on those sorts of things - better do some zooming to show areas very close to ground level. Otherwise, it is difficult to see the forest for the trees.

And, I hope all the trees are left standing after Sandy .

Steve

BTW - I have seen a prediction map where the storm goes in a much more northerly direction once it gets inland. Google shows the weather.com prediction of a northeasterly track. In other words, there are models that suggest that the center of Sandy goes straight across Lake Ontario into Canada.

[webmaster]

Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts advised:

Check in on an elderly or disabled neighbor. Make sure they have what they need to stay safe.

[gixxerific]

Be careful Apple

[applestar]

Thanks rainbow and Gixx and everyone else.

So far the worst of the storm weather have turned west a little further south of us and I'm hearing all kinds of terrible conditions along the Delaware and NJ coast and along the Pa side of the border but we are doing OK.

One of my windowbox-on-bench on the patio got blown over, narrowly missing the firepit (who knows what happened to the broccoli and cauliflower, shallot, parsley, and seedling greens ) and all of the low tunnel covers are whipped off the garden beds in various states of distress, and one of the supports look like its been torn down. Water everywhere, of course.

-- still hearing roariing wind blowing outside even now and will be thru the night. So it's not over yet.

Hoping other members in Sandy's path are doing OK. Good luck.

[rainbowgardener]

Glad to hear you are OK, Applestar, even though your garden is suffering. Apparently you still have electricity. The news is saying over 6 million people are without power and most will be for days...

It sounds like this storm is every bit as bad as they were predicting... NYC subways flooded (for a century old system that can't be a good thing), hospitals being evacuated when back up generator fails, 13 foot storm surge, levees breaking, water treatment plant in Maryland failed and is pouring out raw sewage, 90 people have been killed from Haiti to Canada.

And it's not even a hurricane any more. I gather part of what makes this storm so bad, along with just how huge it is, is the confluence of the storm and the tides, and then being very slow moving, so it just sits there and batters one spot for a day.

Hasn't really touched us here in the heartland, yet. We have windy and very cold, chilly and damp, but no rain so far. They are predicting snow showers for today, but at 38 degrees, it may not even hit the ground. But 38 is our high for the day. Ordinarily this time of year we would be in the 60's.

Anyway best wishes, hugs and prayers to everyone in the path of this monster.

[applestar]

We didn't lose power. Now that it's light enough to see, it looks like some furious winds blew through here overnight that weren't apparent before sundown yesterday.

In my garden, some additional patio objects that had been OK last night have been blown about -- my greenhouse shelf unit that I'd wedged between the hose box and a heavy teak chair is now laying in the middle of the patio. Good thing I DIDN't put the cold hardy broccoli, etc. seedlings intended for over-wintering experiment in there. A handmade bamboo trellis in the kitchen garden has been twisted out of shape and I cant see one of the PVC supports for a low tunnel in one of the veg beds (and the plastic sheeting is down).

Across the street, a neighbor's Bradford pear has lost an entire side -- the split trunk and branches are on the street but looks like luckily no cars were parked under it) Their driveway is blocked though. And now the 1/2 tree is only full on the house side for this neighbor and the house next to his and will have to be dealt with.

Those trees are infamous for typically splitting in heavy wind storms and we have a lot of them as street trees in this 80's construction neighborhood. This is the timeframe when the cultivar hit the landscaping scene... Then it was discovered that this and other Callery/ornamental pear cultivars start to have problems after 20-25 years. So yep. We are in trouble. Hopefully other trees did not come down to cause serious damage.

I'm going outside for a once-over of the garden. I'll be sending out prayers for all who have been affected and is being affected by this storm.

[Nightowls]

That storm was fierce - I never knew trees could sway (and bend) so much! One fifty (?) foot maple tree snapped in half and fell on my dad's gardening trailer. And I am missing a honeyberry plant that I planted in the summer, I can't find a trace of it. Friends in the city have ocean fish in their basement and according to the news, 80% of the island - luckly not including us - is out of power.

[Francis Barnswallow]

Nightowls what part of Long Island are you from?

[Nightowls]

I'm in the middle of Suffolk County so I luckily did not have to worry about the water like most of the island. Instead, just the wind and the big trees surrounding us.

[applestar]

My brother's house in Pa. lost power and my 15 mo nephew is still coughing from being sick last week. Last year, the area was out of power for 3 days. So we're trying to decide what to do.

MIL has power outage and worst case estimate is 7-10 days to restore.

Parents live nearby and are OK same as my house.

But have been watching/listening to the special coverage and NJ governor's news conference with grim reports, visuals and descriptions -- lots of folks in deep distress right now and over 2 MILLION homes in NJ with no power. Months to recover and winter is coming.

[digitS']

Yes, we want to know how things are!

Here is a more recent Weather Service prediction of Pressures & Fronts, today through Day 7:

[img]https://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h22/Digit_007/Just%204%20Fun/Sandygif2-1.gif[/img]

Once again, it looks to me that Canada is kind of left out of the equation. Canadians can, of course, rely on their own weather agency but it still seems as tho' Sandy drifts north and kind of disappears in a fit of confusion.

Some predictions have been that it will just continue north for a good number of days in something of a straight line from about where it is today.

Steve

[edelweiss]

We had last night winds gusting between 90 to 100 km and in Toronto and area over 150 000 people have as a result power failure. Some minor damage in my garden, but fixable. Hydro will need some time to bring back power to those areas.I know Maritimes are going to get hit way harsher, they always do. Unfortunately the heavy rain continues, more rain til Friday.

[Green Mantis]

Sending my prayers to all of you.

Try and stay safe..

[edelweiss]

Wanted to let you know I am thinking of you all who ever was in the path of hurricane Sandy.I hope you are all okay.

[digitS']

Here are some photographs from

[url=https://www.spokesman.com/picture-stories/superstorm-sandy-aftermath/]the Associated Press (click)[/url]

Steve

[Charlie MV]

Hat's off to all in the northeast US and Canada. We get way too many of those things down here. The spirit and determination and cooperation I'm seeing on TV is inspiring. You'll be back. God bless and prayers for all of you.

The thing that's difficult to keep in mind is that so few who need it are seeing or hearing the sentiments of the entire country. Hope you get power and your lives rebuilt asap.

[Nightowls]

...and now a snowstorm.

[prettygurl]

My thoughts and prayers are with those in NY and New Jersey.

[Bobberman]

I was wondering about the rats in NY subways and under ground. Never herd anything!

[tomf]

Rat can swim good But I bet there are a lot of dead ones.

[Bobberman]

Maybe the cold weather that set in this week saved disease from starting from mesquitoes and dead rats! NY. has a ton of underground areas that stay warm and may still cause problems with bugs & dead animals!!

[digitS']

The "post-Sandy" storm seems to be drifting off into the open Atlantic.

Snow covers the ground here this morning but there is quite a storm in Montana right now. Get ready Midwest!

I always slow this thing down almost to a stop (Set Animation Speed - at the top) . . . otherwise I can't see which day they are showing:

[url=https://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/basicwx/day0-7loop.html]Pressures and Fronts Through Day 7 (link)[/url]

Steve