Life after Sandy
Well, Sandy tried her best, but it is nearly November after all. Sunday the winds began to pick up. The rain began to come down. The gutters and downspouts gurgled, an odd rhythm beneath the swishing wind.
Monday noon, the weather got a bit more exciting. The wind was really swirling, not sure what direction to blow, but blowing as hard as it could....somewhere in the 40 mph range. The gusts were strong enough to whistle around the corners of the house and to roar through the trees (not sure what the peak gust wind speed was). The rain, driven by the wind blew first one way, then another. It came down as a steady, fine rain that I associate with Nor'easters more than tropical storms.
By 6 pm, when Sandy was making landfall near Cape May, NJ, things began to ever so slowly quiet down. By 10 pm, it was noticeably calmer, and by this morning, the wind seemed nearly calm. It was still raining, but now a cold rain.
Since the town had declared a curfew until 10 am this morning, I spent my time finishing up all the class prep I had wanted to achieve. (Yes, I am now, for the first time this semester, ahead!) After lunch, I went for a walk in the nearby park. Lots of small limbs and twigs were down, but no large trees. The air smelled "green", at least that was my first impression. A mixture of pine, fallen leaves and probably general plant damage. Probably all kinds of plant stress pheromones being released into the air. The water was already receding. Dunes of pine straw were piled on the far side of the walking path. On section of the park was buried in pine straw. The water was pouring over one of the dams, despite the flood gate also being open. One of the ponds I study in my research was full of swift moving water, brown with creamy islands of foam racing to the far end where the outlet was. We won't be seeing much nitrate in there for a while. Next week it will be calm enough to take sediment samples again. It should prove interesting.
The sump pump is whining away under the house. If all is quiet, I can hear it almost everywhere, but most especially in my bathroom which is nearly over the sump pit. Despite the annoying tone, it is a comforting sound because it means the pump is working and the crawl space isn't likely to flood. I expect I'll be listening to that thing run for a week.
I didn't lose power or internet. For that, I have to give credit to the power company for repairing the circuit my neighborhood is on properly this summer (which included trimming all the trees near power lines). So that's it. It's back to work tomorrow.
Monday noon, the weather got a bit more exciting. The wind was really swirling, not sure what direction to blow, but blowing as hard as it could....somewhere in the 40 mph range. The gusts were strong enough to whistle around the corners of the house and to roar through the trees (not sure what the peak gust wind speed was). The rain, driven by the wind blew first one way, then another. It came down as a steady, fine rain that I associate with Nor'easters more than tropical storms.
By 6 pm, when Sandy was making landfall near Cape May, NJ, things began to ever so slowly quiet down. By 10 pm, it was noticeably calmer, and by this morning, the wind seemed nearly calm. It was still raining, but now a cold rain.
Since the town had declared a curfew until 10 am this morning, I spent my time finishing up all the class prep I had wanted to achieve. (Yes, I am now, for the first time this semester, ahead!) After lunch, I went for a walk in the nearby park. Lots of small limbs and twigs were down, but no large trees. The air smelled "green", at least that was my first impression. A mixture of pine, fallen leaves and probably general plant damage. Probably all kinds of plant stress pheromones being released into the air. The water was already receding. Dunes of pine straw were piled on the far side of the walking path. On section of the park was buried in pine straw. The water was pouring over one of the dams, despite the flood gate also being open. One of the ponds I study in my research was full of swift moving water, brown with creamy islands of foam racing to the far end where the outlet was. We won't be seeing much nitrate in there for a while. Next week it will be calm enough to take sediment samples again. It should prove interesting.
The sump pump is whining away under the house. If all is quiet, I can hear it almost everywhere, but most especially in my bathroom which is nearly over the sump pit. Despite the annoying tone, it is a comforting sound because it means the pump is working and the crawl space isn't likely to flood. I expect I'll be listening to that thing run for a week.
I didn't lose power or internet. For that, I have to give credit to the power company for repairing the circuit my neighborhood is on properly this summer (which included trimming all the trees near power lines). So that's it. It's back to work tomorrow.