Yesterday!

I was up in Haverhill MA yesterday with some friends, a friend drove up and on the way home I was checking the progress of the great big red, yellow, and a little purple blob moving up from the south.
 

When we left it was over southwest Connecticut, and all the way home for over 2 hours it was over the Gold coast.
 

We dodged showers on the way home, through heavy rain and drizzle. When I was driving home from Enfield I was watching the radar… was still over southwest Connecticut! Then slowly it drifted over me and sat here for hours pouring.
 

Now I have lived here for over 30 years, you all know that I have wetlands behind my house and over the years I have seen it flooded. But it was over days of rain, not just 2 hours of rain! I have been through hurricanes and tropical storms that dumped tons of rain. But those were like over six or seven hours not 2.
 

And now I see all about flooding in the southwester part of the state.

Flash flooding emergency in Connecticut prompts water rescues, evacuations
By Caroll Alvorado and Robert Shackelford, CNN
August 19, 2024

 Water rescues were underway Sunday after heavy rainfall caused a flash flood emergency in the Connecticut counties of New Haven and Fairfield, according to the National Weather Service.

“Widespread flooding and water rescues” were ongoing Sunday, the weather service warned. The emergency advisory, which has since been downgraded to a flood warning, included the cities of Waterbury, Danbury and the town of Fairfield.

David Stark of the National Weather Service in New York told CNN Weather there had been 6-10 inches of rainfall across southwestern Connecticut in a span of about six to nine hours Sunday, the bulk falling in the afternoon. Monroe, Connecticut, received 9.98 inches of rain, a one in 200-year event for the city.

[…]

Water rescues were underway Sunday after heavy rainfall caused a flash flood emergency in the Connecticut counties of New Haven and Fairfield, according to the National Weather Service.

“Widespread flooding and water rescues” were ongoing Sunday, the weather service warned. The emergency advisory, which has since been downgraded to a flood warning, included the cities of Waterbury, Danbury and the town of Fairfield.

David Stark of the National Weather Service in New York told CNN Weather there had been 6-10 inches of rainfall across southwestern Connecticut in a span of about six to nine hours Sunday, the bulk falling in the afternoon. Monroe, Connecticut, received 9.98 inches of rain, a one in 200-year event for the city.

As I write this at 2 AM, there is thunder to the southeast of me. Long Island is getting hammered and the blob is moving northeast, the mass of the rain looks like will be to the east of me but we will get some of the yellows and green… no reds through!

We had about 3 - 4 inches of rain.

---

Yesterday in 1955...

Hurricane Diane came a week later and dealt a massive punch to New England. Rainfall totals from Diane ranged up to nearly 20 inches over a two day period. The headwaters of the Farmington River in Connecticut recorded 18 inches in a 24-hour period. Both of these accumulations exceeded records for New England. The same is true of much of the flooding that resulted from these massive rainfall amounts.

Deja Vu all over again!

The Winter That Wasn’t!

The summer of 1816 wasn’t!

The summer of 1816 was not like any summer people could remember. Snow fell in New England. Gloomy, cold rains fell throughout Europe. It was cold and stormy and dark - not at all like typical summer weather. Consequently, 1816 became known in Europe and North America as “The Year Without a Summer.”

It was caused by a Mount Tambora eruption in Indonesia, this year it was the winter that wasn’t.

January was ~9.7 degrees above normal at Bradley airport and I had at my house no measurable snowfall. While February was ~5 degrees above normal, We had a couple of brutal days of sub zero nights and below freezing but it quickly bounced up to the 50s in a couple of days. The local television station names storms and here on the last day of February and the last day of winter it is the first named storm of 2022/2023 season… Anthony.

This winter we never had the ground freeze, the lakes and ponds only froze for week or so and the ice was what we called "punk" ice where the top layer of ice was soft and cloudy, and one week after three days in the single digit temperatures it was back in the 60s, and the ants were out! We had our first measurable snow fall on the last weekend of the month but then it was gone, and on our very last day of winter we had our first plowable snow storm. 

In New Hampshire and Vermont they had warning out to check the ice thickness before going out on the ice, because this year the ice is a lot thinner than normal. The maple sap is running early and they think it will be a meager harvest this year because they need below freezing temperatures at night and warm day to keep the sap flowing.

The good news: the price of natural gas and heating went out of sight but the warm weather resulted in homes needing less energy to keep them warm. The state and towns saved money on highway plowing and fixing potholes.

The bad news: snow plow drivers didn’t make any money. The guy who does my driveway only plowed it once. The warm weather allows invasive insects and plants to come north, the tick and mosquitoes population will explode over the summer. The ground water didn’t get replenished, all the rain just runs off and doesn’t sink into the ground. The orchards are worrying that the fruit trees will bud too early and be killed by a late frost.

While it wasn't a tropical paradise you didn't have to navigate snowy roads and sidewalks. I only wore my winter parka a couple of times and wore a car coat. I read one article that compared the our Connecticut weather to what Washington DC usually has for a normal winter.

*****

What will the spring and summer bring?

Will we be roasting? Or a cool summer to balance out the high temperature this winter?

Will the drought stay busted or we have a wet spring and summer?

'78

 I Remember.

The Blizzard of 78.

For me it started it started at noon at work… Wow! It is coming down hard and is piling up.

Boss I’m taking the afternoon off.

It is a normal half hour drive to work but it was really slow going, the wind was howling and the snow was coming down with vengeance. It took well over an hour to get home at my parents’ house. At the time I was living at home with my parents and when I got home I went out and stocked up the firewood, I figured that we would need it.

The weather forecast that morning was for snow flurries and possible a little snow. By nightfall it was a full blown nor'easter leaving in its wake 30 hours latter two feet of snow. Of course I had to do the driveway but it was way over the top of the snow blower, so I parked the blower and shoveled the snow into it to throw up over the drifts on the side of the driveway. The governor shut down the roads for 3 days to let them clear the streets. But the top of the hill on our street they brought a bulldozer to clear the road. The husband of the couple at the there had a heart attack and died, they had  to use a bulldozer to get the ambulance there. He was actually frozen stiff. He was one of four that died in the state during the storm. On the last day of the governor’s order I put on my cross-country skis and went over to visit a friend, I was getting cabin fever being stuck home with my parents, so I went out skiing on the empty roads.

When the ban was lifted I went to work and it turning out that I was very lucky that I left when I did, many didn’t make it home. They were one of the thousands of stranded motorists and there were even a couple of people stayed at work.

My desk was the first one by the door into the room and the HR director came in asked me if I called in to work or not, and I said “No the state was closed down!” She replied “Well the employee handbook says you have to call in, so we are going to dock your pay.” WTF! I’m salaried I’m suppose to get paid no matter what! Those cheep b****d! I was mad but I had already given my two weeks notice that I was leaving.

Of course the other engineers all said that they called in but no one answered and they all got paid.

My grandmother always used the Blizzard of '88 as her benchmark and I use the Blizzard of '78 as my benchmark; "I remember back in '78 we got..."

You can read about it here.

When Is A Hurricane Not A Hurricane?

When it is a Nor’easter.

I wrote yesterday post Tuesday night, the wind was howling for over ten hours already, it was around nine o’clock at night but I thought the storm would be over by morning. That it was winding down, but it was winding alright but up not down!

Those of us who live in the northeast know about the storm with the funny name, Nor’easter. But instead it was coming back for a second round worst than the first, the meteorologist call it a retrograde storm it means that the storm is spinning around in the North Atlantic. Instead of the storm moving south to north a retrograde storm moves north to south.

I woke without power the house was silent, no refrigerator that was the first clue, the second clue the WiFi was down, the third clue was I had zero bars on my phone. When I looked out the lawn was riddled with small and large branches, everything was plastered with wet leaves. So I decided it was time to retreat back to Connecticut where there was city water.

The wind was still blowing hard, I estimate it was a constant 30 or 40 mph. Just about everywhere were without power, route 6 was open but there were downed trees pushed to the side of the road or cut to clear the road. Eversource the electric company report 98 percent of Wellfleet was without power.

The Wicked Local reported that,

Eversource was reporting at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday a power outage of 99% of customers in Provincetown, and an 85% outage in Truro and an 80% outage in Wellfleet, following high winds that swept through the outermost towns of Cape Cod overnight.

The company was in the area working on ending the outages, the town of Provincetown reported at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday.

Unofficial wind gusts of 83 miles per hour at 2:25 a.m. Wednesday in Wellfleet were reported by the National Weather Service. Within a few minutes, gusts of 80 miles per hour in Truro were reported and gusts of 63 miles per hour in Provincetown.

Strong gusts were expected to diminish on Wednesday as the storm leaves the area on Thursday, according to information from the town of Provincetown. Some roads have storm damage due to downed trees.

Keep in mind that winds above 74 mph are considered hurricane force winds!

This comes on the…

This Week’s Nor’easter Comes on the 30th Anniversary of the “Perfect Storm”
But don't expect a sequel.
Boston Magazine
By Spencer Buell
October 26, 2021


Batten down the hatches, and the gaudy 12-foot-tall yard skeletons: a spooktacular nor’easter is rolling across the Northeast. It’ll land in Boston just before Halloween and the 30th anniversary of perhaps the most famous late-October meteorological events in New England history.

That’s right, as Boston prepares for heavy wind and rain this week, it’s time once again to remember the so-called Perfect Storm, which battered the East Coast in late October and early November of 1991, inflicting severe damage on coastal Massachusetts and killing the crew of a fishing vessel called the Andrea Gail.

Yes, Yankees are all too familiar with Nor’easter, hurricanes pass through in a matter of hours and is 50 – 60 miles wide, Nor’easters take days and is all of New England wide.

---

I have an hour Zoom meeting this morning and a two hour zoom meeting this afternoon.

This morning's meeting is a panel discussion by the CHRO on trans athletes, I am on the panel with the head of the Connecticut chapter of the ACLU, the head of the CIAC (Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference), and is moderated by a lawyer from the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunity and then there little ol' me.

The afternoon meeting is with the legislative LGBTQ Health and Human Services Network.

Post FanFair

Last week the weather was gorgeous! Hi in the mid 60s, sunny, and no wind,

But just to show you how lucky we were, over night the Nor’easter moved ashore with 70+ mph winds pouring rain and with power outages.

This is a short post because the lights are flickering and the internet s flaky and I don’t if I will have power in the morning.

See you on the flip side of the storm.

I made it through the night!

Ida struck last night, around 11 last night I was woken up to my phone buzzing and ringing a funny ring, I googly pick it up and look at it.

A Tornado Warning has been issued for your area!

Oh that’s nice and roll over to go back to sleep. Something in the back of my head kept on saying No, no get up… this could be serious!

I got up and turn on the TV and every station was reporting on the warning and where the “possible areas of rotation” were. Martha’s Vineyard had a number of “possible areas of rotation” and towns on the Cape had warnings issued for Falmouth, Sagamore, Sandwich and Barnstable.

I learned a lot last night, how when you look at the velocity setting on the radar you cans see the “possible areas of rotation” where the red winds moving away from the radar and the green winds that are moving toward the radar, and how tornadoes form in areas of convergence just like the one over the Cape.

On Martha’s Vineyard there were a whole line of “possible areas of rotation” moving across the island and heading for the Cape. There were at least 6 places that could be having tornadoes moving northeast across the Cape and islands. The areas would form and then disappear to only pop up in another place.

You know how they show the predicted path of the storm… well it had Wellfleet in its sights in another 45 minutes. But the storm was losing strength and all the tornado warnings were being lifted and when it hit Wellfleet it was just some very strong winds and very heavy rain. I took my pillows out of the bath tub and went back to bed.

So this morning when it gets light out we will see if any of those “possible areas of rotation” formed any tornadoes.

---

Update: 9/24/21 @ 4:00PM

Updated full statement: EF-0 Tornado confirmed in Dennis
CapeCod.com
September 2, 2021


DENNIS – The National Weather Service has confirmed an EF-0 Tornado confirmed by NWS Storm Survey in Dennis, MA on Cape Cod.

Max winds near 75 mph. Damage was concentrated near intersection of E Bay View Rd & Wampanoag Trail:

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOSTON/NORTON MA
532 PM EDT THU SEP 2 2021

…NWS DAMAGE SURVEY FOR 9/2/2021 TORNADO EVENT…

.DENNIS, MA TORNADO…

START LOCATION…DENNIS IN BARNSTABLE COUNTY (CAPE COD), MA
END LOCATION…DENNIS IN BARNSTABLE COUNTY (CAPE COD), MA
DATE…SEP 2 2021
ESTIMATED TIME…130 AM EDT
MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING…EF-0
ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEED…75 MPH
MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH…15 YARDS
PATH LENGTH…0.1 MILES
BEGINNING LAT/LON…41.7413 N / -70.2135 W
ENDING LAT/LON…41.7427 N / -70.2134 W
* FATALITIES…0
* INJURIES…0

…SUMMARY…
A WEAK TORNADO BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN IN DENNIS, MA ON CAPE COD EARLY
THURSDAY MORNING AROUND 1:30 AM EDT AND LASTED FOR LESS THAN ONE
MINUTE.

I suppose that if you are in its path a F0 is not fun.

A Glancing Blow!

Henri took a last minute turn to the east and was about 60 miles further east from the track last night a 9. There was very little wind and no downpours, a typical Sunday afternoon thunderstorm have strong winds than where I’m. Meanwhile Newport RI got hammered with 75 mph winds and tidal surges. 

But… you always know that there is a but. The ex-tropical storm is going to hang around overnight and that is bad news for the Berkshires, the Green Mountains, and the White Mountains. One just has to remember the damage done Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, friends in southern Vermont were isolated for weeks while they rebuilt the roads.

Mountains + tropical storms = floods!

Some Good News

I don’t know about you but we are due some good news…

I’ll start out in my home state, in a press release.

Attorney General Tong Defends Right of Transgender Americans to Have IDs That Match Their Gender Identity
August 17, 2021


(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong today joined a coalition of 15 attorneys general, led by California, in an amicus brief in Corbitt v. Taylor in defense of the right of transgender Alabamians to obtain driver’s licenses that correspond with their gender identity. Under Alabama’s Policy Order 63, transgender Alabamians are unable to access driver’s licenses that accurately reflect the gender and sex with which they identify unless they have undergone “gender reassignment surgery.” In the friend-of-the-court brief filed before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, the coalition blasts the patently unconstitutional policy and urges the appellate court to uphold the district court’s ruling finding that the policy was an impermissible form of sex discrimination.

“Discrimination on the basis of gender identity and expression is wrong and barring transgender people from having driver’s licenses consistent with their gender identity causes unnecessary stigma, isolation and harm,” Attorney General Tong said. “This Alabama policy is unconstitutional and flies in the face of common sense and modern practices.”

Although gender-affirming surgery is an important form of healthcare, many transgender Americans do not want or need it — and some cannot afford it. No matter an individual’s reasons, they are still entitled to have a license that can be safely used without putting at risk their dignity and safety. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s policy prevents transgender Alabamians from having that chance. In fact, the policy is an extreme outlier among states and is unsupported by any legitimate governmental interest. Critically, it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The amici states have a profound interest in protecting all Americans against unconstitutional discrimination in any form — in particular, to help reverse and remedy the stigma and discrimination that transgender Americans have experienced for decades.

Moreover, many states across the country — including Connecticut — have successfully adopted policies contrary to Alabama’s, issuing driver’s licenses and state identification cards with updated sex designations without requiring applicants to undergo surgery. These policies help reduce discrimination and, in some instances, even violence. Used routinely when applying for jobs, patronizing restaurants and bars, and applying for housing and bank accounts, identification cards and driver’s licenses can have a direct impact on the mental and physical wellbeing of transgender Americans in their daily interactions with society. According to a recent Gallup poll, approximately 0.6% of all U.S. adults — or roughly 1.9 million Americans — identify as transgender.

In the amicus brief, the coalition of attorneys general asserts:

• Alabama’s Policy Order 63 fails scrutiny under any constitutional standard;
• The express surgery requirement is rare and out of step with modern practices;
• Driver’s licenses that reflect a transgender person’s gender identity serve state interests in lowering hate violence; and
• Alabama’s asserted interests are unsupported and contrary to federal law.

In filing the amicus brief, Attorney General Tong joins the attorneys general of California, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia.

I am proud to be a resident of Connecticut a state that doesn’t play politics with people’s lives.

Now on to a court case involving a business that we all know.

Transgender victory over Hobby Lobby could have national impact
LGBTQ advocates say the "sweeping" ruling could be used to attack “bathroom bills” and trans sports bans across the country.
Out NBC News
By Dan Avery
August 18, 2021


In appellate court deciding Hobby Lobby violated Illinois anti-discrimination law by denying a transgender employee access to the women’s restroom could have nationwide implications, experts say.

Meggan Sommerville, a trans woman who has worked at a Hobby Lobby location in Aurora for more than 20 years, has been denied access to the store’s women’s room since transitioning at work in 2010. As a result, she has had anxiety and recurring nightmares and has been forced to limit her fluid intake, according to filings.

On Friday, the Illinois 2nd District Appellate Court upheld a lower court decision that determined the crafts chain violated the Illinois Human Rights Act both as an employer and as a place of public accommodation.

“Sommerville is female, just like the women who are permitted to use the women’s bathroom,” the three-judge panel said in its decision. “The only reason that Sommerville is barred from using the women’s bathroom is that she is a transgender woman.”

The ruling is one of first impression, meaning it presents a legal issue that has never been decided in the court’s jurisdiction.

“They stuck to the law,” Sommerville, 51, told Forbes. “This is a precedent-setting case in Illinois, because the Human Rights Act has never been tested in this way in Illinois, and actually in the country.”

But it is not over yet…

Hobby Lobby could appeal the ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court and theoretically take it all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Attorney Whitman Brisky, who represented the company, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Yes, I imagine that we will see this go all the way to the Supreme Court.

Lastly here is an article about a homophobic church.

Anti-vax cardinal, who blamed ‘homosexual culture’ for child rape, hospitalised with COVID
Cardinal Raymond Burke, one of the most extreme anti-LGBT+ figures in the Catholic Church, has been hospitalised after contracting COVID-19.
Pink News UK
By Emma Powys Maurice
August 19, 2021


73-year-old Burke is sedated on a ventilator in a stable but serious condition, according to officials at a Wisconsin shrine he founded, who have asked people to “pray the Rosary for him”.

The ultraconservative bishop is an outspoken vaccine skeptic who believes the best weapon for fighting the virus is Jesus Christ. Several holy relics have been placed in his hospital room, religious officials say.

Burke criticised early COVID measures and encouraged Catholics to attend Mass in person, partly to combat “the pervasive attack upon the integrity of human sexuality”.

“We need only to think of the pervasive attack upon the integrity of human sexuality, of our identity as man or woman, with the pretence of defining for ourselves, often employing violent means, a sexual identity other than that given to us by God,” he wrote on his website early in the pandemic.

Maybe God is telling him something, that God is about love, not hate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am batting down the hatches!

Henri is making a beeline to Cape Cod Bay and then stay around there making havoc. The National Hurricane Center's cone-of-uncertainly goes right over Cape Cod Canal slowing as it bumps into a high pressure wave. If worse comes to worse, I will head back to Connecticut.

1955 v. 2021

In 1955 we got hit be a one two punch.

Hurricanes Connie and Diane hit within days of one another.

Tropical Storm Fred and Hurricane Henri will hit within days of each other.

Hurricanes Connie & Diane Deliver Double Hit – Who Knew?
CT History
August 12, 2020


…that Hurricanes Connie and Diane, which struck within days of each other in August 1955, exceeded the combined property damage of the Flood of 1936 and Hurricane of 1938? The latter alone had caused an estimated $100 million in property damage and the loss of 85 lives.

Connie struck first, on August 12 and 13, sparing the state high winds but dropping up to 8 inches of rain, particularly saturating southwestern Connecticut. Five days later, Diane arrived, pouring another 16 inches of rain on the state, hitting the Naugatuck Valley and the northwestern towns hard; northeastern towns such as Stafford Springs and Putnam were also hard hit, the latter suffering from the Quinebaug Dam’s collapse in Southbridge, Massachusetts.

Jump forward 66 years…

Small Tornado Likely in Thompson; Roads Flooded; Power Outages
NBC Conncticut
By Kaitlyn McGrath


The NBC Connecticut meteorologists were tracking a rotation in storms moving through Thursday morning and said a storm in Thompson was likely a small tornado.

Eversource is reporting 1,495 power outages and more than 450 of them are in Thompson.

Storms brought heavy downpours, remnants of Fred, which caused flooding in parts of the state and issues on the roads.

There are flash flood warnings for Windham, Hartford, and Tolland counties.

The rain is also causing several issues on the roads this morning.

Hartford police said there is heavy flooding in several locations around the city.

They have been receiving calls in the Blue Hills/Granby Street area.

They urge people not to drive in standing water.

Some areas of Connecticut got close to 5 inches of rain, my town got 2 inches.

Now add to that Henri that is scheduled to arrive Sunday… beware this is the same scenario as 1955. Depending on the track this could be a biggie!

The Forecast Said 3 Or 4 Inches Of Snow…

We got over two feet of snow with drifts to six feet!

I remember it well.

I was working at Allied Control in Plantsville CT that Monday morning as a senior electronic technician, at the time I was four years out of college and I was still living with my parents at the time. The drive to work took twenty minutes and it wasn’t snowing yet but the forecast was what I called a nuisance storm; it wasn’t enough to close work but just enough to have to shovel and make driving treacherous.

I had already given my two week notice and I still had plenty of vacation days left, so around noon the snow was coming down hard and I told my boss that I was taking a half day vacation.

Well that twenty minute drive took over three hours and many at work never made it home that night, some even stayed at work over night.

I woke up to silence that morning; everything was dark and cold… no electricity and the snow was still coming down!

So I started a fire in the fireplace and went down in the basement and brought up my camping stove and gas lantern. I made coffee for my parents and we huddled around the battery powered radio listening to WTIC and Bob Steele.

Around noon I started the snow blower and started clearing the driveway. The snow was way over the top of the snow blower so I was shoveling it down into the snow blower. After many trips inside to warm up by the fire the driveway was done but there was no place to go because the road wasn’t plowed and there were six foot drifts across the road.

We then learned that the governor had shut down the state for three days.

Late Tuesday a bulldozer came down the street clearing one path. We later learned that a neighbor died that morning from shoveling the snow and they couldn’t get an ambulance there until the afternoon when the bulldozer came through.

On Wednesday we finally had the street plowed and with the roads still all closed I cross country skied over to a friend’s house on Chamberlain Highway.

Thursday we back to work…

So the big boss came around and asked me if I called in on Tuesday and Wednesday and I said no the state was closed. He said that the company rules were that you had to call in, so I got docked two days pay even though I was salary non-exempt. He went and asked the other technicians if they called in, since they all heard what he said to me they all said that they called but there was no answer and they got paid.

I could have made a stink about it but since Friday was my last day there I let it go.

Here are some articles about the Blizzard of ‘78

The Hartford Courant
The Hartford Courant photo spread
WTNH

Hurricane Sandy – Made It Through With No Damage.

I only lost power for about 15hrs. The storm wasn't bad until right after I talked to my brother around 2PM and then the wind started to pick-up. Around 7 the wind was howling and lights stated to flicker, then went off a little while later and the power came back on around 10:30 this morning. I went out breakfast with the other refugees at a local dinner (it was packed) and when I got back, the lights were on.

The trains are not going anywhere; this is the main Amtrak line that goes through my town.

Most of the damage from the hurricane was from coastal flood, the wind was blowing right down Long Island Sound and the water was piling up at the western end. They had an eleven foot storm surge on top of a full moon high tide. Here are some photos from the Hartford Courant.

Milford damage
( John Woike, Hartford Courant / October 30, 2012 )

A couple that I know who use to live in Milford on Long Island Sound just finished rebuilding after Hurricane Irene. They sold it two weeks ago and I feel sorry for the people who bought it (This is not their former house, but it is in the same area as theirs).

Dock & Dine in Old Saybrook on the Connecticut River, just opened a couple of weeks ago after the hurricane Irene and now it gets flooded out again.

Dock & Dine in Old Saybrook
( Jim Shea / October 30, 2012 )

Over 600,000 people were without power at the height of the storm but it was way less than last year’s blizzard that happened exactly one year ago. Then over a million people were without power and I was one of them. I lost power for three days while many others lost power over 10 days.

Update 3:30PM:
They just had on the news that hurricane Sandy surpassed the hurricane of 1938 in the height of the storm surge by a foot. Making it the worst hurricane in the history of  Connecticut. 

Hurricane Sandy

They expect widespread power outages from hurricane Sandy early tomorrow morning through late Tuesday,  in all likelihood I will not have power tomorrow.

So I'll see you all on the other side of the storm.

Update Monday, 11:00AM

So far so good. No hurricane force winds yet, they say it should start in the afternoon.

Some links you might be interested in...
National Data Buoy Center
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/

River Forecast Center
Northeast
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/nerfc/
Middle Atlantic
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/marfc/

Also if you are a CL&P customer...
http://www.cl-p.com/outage/OutageMap.aspx 

Update: 1:35PM

The lights are beginning  to flicker and dim... not good for the refrigerator or other motors

Also Facebook is hopping with update of the hurricane.

Another link you might want to check out...
Google Crisis Map
http://google.org/crisismap/sandy-2012