THE SANDY SAGA - Part 1

We continue…

~ ~ Monday, October 29, 2012 ~ ~

12:00pm – It’s windy. It’s rainy. We experienced more intense precip here earlier in the day, but I definitely wouldn’t want to go outside right now without a raincoat. I found the website for this weather station (Ron Gelaro's) close to my apartment; in the last observation cycle (obs appear to be posted about every 15 minutes), winds were sustained at 11mph with gusts of 21mph. Looking out the window now, I wouldn’t be surprised if those numbers have increased. The center of Sandy is now off of the coasts of New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. At the last advisory, Sandy was still a Category 1 hurricane, with sustained winds of 90mph and a central pressure of 943mb. In other words, it actually intensified over night. This storm truly is something like we’ve never seen before.

1:00pm – Hourly updates again! Woohoo!! It’s still windy. It’s still rainy. I still hear the wind chimes. I’m actually amazed that whichever neighbor it is who has the wind chimes has not bothered to take them down and bring them inside. I’m also amazed that other neighbors have left out their potted plants and furniture. Really, people? Really? The wind has begun to literally howl at sporadic intervals. Just now, in fact, it knocked at my door. The latest obs from the weather station down the road? Winds sustained at 18mph, with gusts upwards of 30mph. Sandy is announcing its (or her) presence. (Just after I typed that, there was a rather intense gust that made the whole place pop and creak.)

2:00pm - Things have not gotten better, but they’ve also not gotten terribly worse. The latest obs (it’s actually about 2:30 as I write this, but the 2:00pm obs were not much different) have the winds sustained at 20mph and gusting to 28mph. My power has flickered a bit. Power outages are increasing in the DC/Baltimore area, but thankfully there are few so far in my specific region.

3:00pm – Jinkies! It’s still rather rainy and windy here in my corner of the world. Latest obs down the road: 17mph sustained winds with 25mph gusts. The parking lot in my neighborhood is starting to become a lake down by the mailbox. The wind isn’t great enough to prevent walking outside, but with the rain and temperatures below 50 F, it is cold. In the meantime, Sandy has accelerated and is now moving towards southern New Jersey at about 30mph, faster than anticipated. In a sense, this is a good thing… if the storm moves quickly, it won’t have as much time to cause problems for people in affected areas.

4:00pm – Aren’t these updates boring and redundant?! It’s always “more of the same, more of the same…” Like suddenly *poof!* the weather magic is going to happen and things will get suddenly worse or suddenly better. No, that’s usually not how weather works. Unless, of course, you know it’s going to rain and you decide to go for a short walk before the downpour arrives, only you don’t bring and umbrella and you can see the curtain of rain crossing the street just as you’re re-entering the grounds of your apartment complex, and no matter how fast you run, you can’t escape the torrent of precipitation that is intent on suddenly crashing down upon you and soaking you to your skin in 5 seconds flat. (That’s totally never happened to me. NEVER.) In those instances, weather will change rather suddenly. But most of the time, it won’t. Anywho, standard update: 20mph sustained winds down the road (caveat: provided these observations are accurate) and 33 mph gusts. The howling is becoming more frequent, but SO FAR power is still on here (*knock on wood*), but some areas in the vicinity have not been so lucky. And to think, the worst isn’t even here yet!

I’ve been having fun looking at this site’s archived obs for the past 24 hours. The pressure has fallen steadily, and wind and rain have steadily increased. The wind gusts have gone from about 10mph around midnight to nearly 40mph now. And the area’s gotten 2.86” of rain so far today. Gee, I can’t help but think that number will increase….

What?! No pictures?! Sorry, but you know what a windy, rainy scene looks like in a snap shot? That’s right, exactly the same as it looks any other time, except maybe slightly less contorted, but hey, the winds aren’t THAT strong yet…

5:00pm – 23mph sustained winds. 46mph gusts. The place is creaking. The door knocker is knocking. Oooooooooh boy!

If I blow away, know that I love you all.