stemwinder

Something is popping up right over the nearby Princeton area.  All moving SE.  A few rumbles, and some precip, FWIW. 

Something is popping up right over the nearby Princeton area.  All moving SE.  A few rumbles, and some precip, FWIW. 

3 hours ago, Hurricane Agnes said:

Yeah have been watching this line that just bubbled up in the past hour and is just sitting there expanding.  The sun had finally popped out here about 30 minutes ago and temp is 78 with dp 73.  Another unstable day on tap.

This one was right over me this AM.  Been escaping heavy downpours lately, until now.  Some big CG strikes as well.  Air has been like soup lately.

12 hours ago, uncle W said:

I'll be on the shelf for a while...I had a detached retina operation yesterday...don't know how it happened...old age does funny things...no pain but having a patch over one eye is...

Get well, Uncle.  Wishing you a good recovery. 

1 hour ago, uncle W said:

I'm hoping this storm does not track west of the city...if it does we could see some strong winds from the south south east and less rainfall...I'd rather see more rain and less wind...not looking forward to power outages from this...Hazel in 1954 was a much bigger hurricane but tracked well west of the city...winds were clocked at 113mph on the roof of 17 Battery place in lower Manhattan...

I was in Hudson County during Hazel.  Great winds, but very little rain.  You pointed out elsewhere: it was the third storm to hit the area in 1954.

38 minutes ago, forkyfork said:

i slept right through it

I've always envied people who can sleep through thunder and lightning.  

1 hour ago, PB-99 said:

100

 

https://www.wunderground.com/weather/us/nj/colts-neck-township/KNJCOLTS26

 

I just checked, and it's now 107.  Maybe the station is next to a pizza oven?  At any rate, it's hot.

5 minutes ago, Stormlover74 said:

That cell out ahead of the line means business

That formed near me, and I can vouch for the many short CTG strokes I heard.  Glad it's moving away.  Sorry you're getting it.

55 minutes ago, Hurricane Agnes said:

It's amazing how far digital has come although I suppose the debate will forever rage about which is better - film or digital.  My thing was basically wanting something to move in sync with the earth's rotation to fix on a certain spot to get a longer exposure (without the obvious "streak" as the star "moved"). 

My humble limit is 24MP.  In my amateur film years, Kodak used to make a great, slow film called Royal.  Even had an ISO 25 for a while.  Great colors.  Rivaling Kodachrome.  I'm sure you knew all of the good ones.  Right now, I've got enough, being 83 yrs old.  Leave the new stuff for the kids, except possibly a full frame mirrorless, so I can take (inferior?) photos with some old German lenses I have.  I like that mirrorless can take almost any old lens with an adapter.  Doesn't make sense, but it's fun.

If I still used film, I'd be tempted to go larger format.  

What a muggy, crappy evening.  Maybe the first one of the season here, closer (relatively) to the ocean.   Last night was almost pleasant in comparison. 

28 minutes ago, Hurricane Agnes said:

At the time, I was building an early Dolby Digital "home theater", pre-DVD era, with "budget high-end" equipment and a laserdisc player and trying to maintain a couple fish tanks (including 2 saltwater ones where one was a reef tank with corals and anemones, etc).    I was in a hi-rise with a balcony and an unobstructed view of the W/N/NE sky, where many phenomena fortunately appeared.  I did get an Olympus SLR (L-1, early auto-loading/winding 35mm) camera with a tripod and all kinds of telephoto lenses for it and took I don't know how many pics of Hale-Bopp and other things like the Pleides that I like, but still haven't developed them.   Also liked to occasionally watch for ISS flyovers and now that I am back down on terra firma, I have seen a couple of those.

Looks like my max for today was 95 and it's currently a mostly sunny but hazy 93. Dews hanging in the mid-upper 60s.

Wow.  And I'm berating myself thinking of buying a full frame SONY mirrorless, and scrapping all my smaller format camera stuff.  It's a lot of fun. I hope you eventually develop those pix. OTOH, after looking down on it for years, I realized by 2005 that digital was great.  

1 hour ago, Hurricane Agnes said:

I think Comet Hyakutake was a year before Hale-Bopp and that one, although brief, was visible (appearing as a fuzz ball on my 'scopes at the time).  I had even toyed around with getting a CCD camera for a 'scope but had too many expensive hobbies back then.

Hyakutake was visible as a fuzzy object in a different part of the sky from Hale-Bopp.  It would have been my lifetime comet if Hale-Bopp hadn't scooped it the next year.  A CCD camera would have set you back big time in those days.  And maybe for about a .5 megapixel image at that.  Good that you waited.

Hyakutake got me locked out on my fire escape when I was watching it.  I had had a few.  Lucky someone was around to let me in, late at night.

1 hour ago, JTA66 said:

Agreed, Hale-Bopp is the gold standard I'll measure all comets against. Halley's was a disappointment as was Kohoutek in 1973. I remember looking for it in the backyard as a 6-year old, but I don't think we found it.

Still would like to experience a total eclipse (will have to plan a trip for that) and view a supernova.

I remember all the hype about Kohoutek.  Was at Land's End waiting for it one chilly evening, and never saw it.  Maybe we're allowed just one great comet in a lifetime.  

1 hour ago, Hurricane Agnes said:

I managed to hit 95 so far today just after 1 pm, but before that, I have been getting an on and off deck of cirrus that effectively blocks the sun and drops the temps a few degrees (one such period happening between 11 and 1 pm where the temp dipped to 89 from 93).  Currently "down to" 92 and partly sunny and breezy, with a broken deck of cirrus.  Seems to be some kind of atmospheric mixing going on because it's not a sauna in my location despite still being hot with dews in the upper 60s/low 70s in the area.

I have had some cloud decks during dusk/dawn the past couple days, so little chance of seeing that comet.  Still, I think NOTHING will ever surpass the amazing Hale-Bopp.  Anything that you could literally see without a telescope, during the light of day as well as at night (where it's orientation would be shifted), and to do so for weeks, AND it had an obvious tail, was enough for me! 

Hale-Bopp was great!  I lived in San Francisco when it appeared, and was able to enjoy it from a bluff overlooking the Pacific, called Land's End.   Having seen a great comet, I don't need to fret over not seeing this one.  For anyone who missed Hale-Bopp, I'm hoping something similar will happen soon.  BTW, Halley's, years later, was a non-event for me. I thought I would see two great comets in my lifetime, but Halley's fizzled this time around. (1985?)

3 hours ago, KamuSnow said:

Heard one Wednesday night here, then 2 or 3 last night. Agree about the early part. They don't usually overlap with lightning bugs much, but those guys are still at it, although winding down a bit.

Glad you think that they are early too.  Thought I was going nuts.  Usually don't hear any until late in the month.  Likely the last week.

Interesting that they overlap with the lightning bugs which are still around.Insert other media

Heard my first katydid tonight.  Yakking in the tree outside my Apartment. Seems a bit early for them, but the times are crazy.

5 hours ago, LibertyBell said:

lol here's something funny.....I actually played some common bird sounds I hear on my iPad and I heard those birds calling back from my yard......one was a Grosbeak and the other was an Oriole.

 

That is entirely believable.  I've imitated birds and occasionally they've looked into my Apt to check it out.  Then: Oh! it's that joker!  and fly away.

BTW, heard my first katydid tonight.  Seems a bit early for them, but the times are crazy.

3 hours ago, forkyfork said:

the chipmunks are insane this year. probably because last year was a mast year and winter was mild

The owls must be happy too!  

11 hours ago, Hurricane Agnes said:

I ended up getting 0.3" of rain between 11 pm and 1 am (0.21" + 0.09" respectively, at one point with 3/4"/hr rates).  So my monthly total is now up to 7.31".  Had been watching the front pushing the scattered cells this way before I went to bed and figured I might get hit by some, although I'm surprised they didn't fizzle before getting here.  (image below from when the last batch was exiting)

It was also relatively "cool" this morning with a low of 69 (had the same yesterday morning).  Currently mostly sunny and 78.

Got around a quarter inch, and one thunderous boom at around 1AM.  

2 hours ago, forkyfork said:

fay's impact on the sst anomalies was small

Since I've been blathering, I'll bump this one down.  interesting that little pool of cold water off Delmarva.  

The SST may not have been affected by such a paltry storm, but the aquifers are happy, I'm sure.  At least here in NJ.  

6 hours ago, Juliancolton said:

Fireflies are definitely facing existential threats from multiple directions, although I think year-to-year variations can be attributed more to microclimates than overall population health. This has been the best firefly season of my life up here in the hinterlands. They came early (first sighted on May 25th) and are still going berserk every night as we head deep into July. 

You are hopefully right about the fluctuations in the firefly population.  Someone else has put pix on Facebook showing them in the Middletown area of NY.  Abundant there too.  Magical creatures for sure.

EDIT - it's after 9 PM, and the fireflies are around, in abundance.  Even picked one off my screen, to avoid it flying around the apartment.  I stand corrected, and am glad of it.  

2 hours ago, rclab said:

I’m in walking distance of the promenade. I was a letter carrier in the neighborhood In 1978 and probably delivered your mail. Sahadis is still there. The Long Island College Hospital is gone, thanks to the proliferation of high cost housing. Both neighborhoods, Heights and Hill are now under landmarks status. I have often enjoyed the promenade. I use it as a power walk alternative to the full Brooklyn Bridge park route. If you ever come back, preferably when the shooting stops, you should see the Brooklyn Bride Park. Very well done for solo or family enjoyment. On a somber note, the sounds of day or night nature are mostly mute. With a block full of Sycamores, oaks, maples, dogwood there is not a cicadas to be heard nor a cricket for that matter.  Being old, my nights rest is often interrupted by pit stops. If I’m fortunate and It’s just before pre dawn the birds begin singing. It’s only their sound. They sing alone. It is a kind interruption to the dawn silence. With the first strong rays and the waking of the city the singing stops. As always ...

The English sparrows make a lot of noise in the dawn hours.  They are very gregarious, and incredibly tenacious birds.  Not related to the song sparrow I mentioned elsewhere.  I have much respect for letter carriers at any time.  BTW, those are great neighborhoods.  

Someone took a photo of an old IND R4 train which at the time was running the D line to Coney Island.  That's me in 1970, joyriding maybe to the Botanic Garden.  I was renting a dump on upper broadway at the time.  Someone took this photo.  You never know...  They ran these old R cars into the ground, and I wish that they had been overhauled for 20 more years of service.   

49 minutes ago, gravitylover said:

The year started out 'bird strong' but has definitely fizzled. I was out in a forest area today that has historically been a bird wonderland but it was mostly quiet today and I don't know that I heard more than just a couple of cicadas. It's so noticeably quiet it's unnerving, the only regular sound is the mosquitoes buzzing in your face. At one point I thought my daughter was behind me so I stopped to point out how dry a terminally wet area was and it wasn't her behind me it was a coyote. It had been running with me for well over a quarter mile. I started talking before I turned around and when I did it was just sitting there looking at me like a dog, it was so cool! Anyway, so bugs in the garden... Japanese beetles and earwigs are a pain in the butt this year, neither of which has been an issue in the past.

Japanese beetles.  My grandmother grew roses in our Jersey City backyard, and they were a real problem there.  This was back in the 40's.

41 minutes ago, gravitylover said:

The year started out 'bird strong' but has definitely fizzled. I was out in a forest area today that has historically been a bird wonderland but it was mostly quiet today and I don't know that I heard more than just a couple of cicadas. It's so noticeably quiet it's unnerving, the only regular sound is the mosquitoes buzzing in your face. At one point I thought my daughter was behind me so I stopped to point out how dry a terminally wet area was and it wasn't her behind me it was a coyote. It had been running with me for well over a quarter mile. I started talking before I turned around and when I did it was just sitting there looking at me like a dog, it was so cool! Anyway, so bugs in the garden... Japanese beetles and earwigs are a pain in the butt this year, neither of which has been an issue in the past.

Wow.  I may have heard a coyote now and then around here, at night.  More likely I heard foxes.  Unearthly sounds of them fighting, no doubt.  I have new windows in my condo, and hear less now as a result.  Another degree of separation from the outside world.  In September the hooting of the owl is often heard.  By then the windows are open.  Also the strange cry of the screech owl.  Like a baby human, almost.  

3 hours ago, etudiant said:

Wood Thrushes normally nest in low shrubs, the kind that deer like to munch on. Deer are currently predator free, so they eat themselves out of house and home. Sadly that also means the potential home of the Wood Thrush. Nature usually solves this kind of excess with a plague, for which there are several candidates such as CWD. Meanwhile, deer ticks carry Lyme disease.

Can anyone bring back wolves??

Thanks - I did not realize the possible connection to the deer overpopulation.  Everything is so interconnected.  Deer are everywhere here in Central NJ.  

BTW another songbird I am missing is the Song Sparrow.  A plus (for me, if the city dwellers will forgive me) is that the English sparrow is seldom seen around forested areas.  OTOH, I have much respect for these tough little critters in the unforgiving urban environment.