rcostell

You know it about the greenheads! Blackflies are really annoying- but greenheads just plain hurt! Those marshes with the wind down can be tough, agreed. Great Bay was a great fishing bay- 10 pound weakfish were not unknown...good waterfowl hunting, too. The Baymens museum in Tuckerton is a great stop, if you've never seen it.

Theres a section of pine barrens up near my place in the Northern Adirondacks in Clinton County. Odd seeing that landscape up there...

Yep- Have camped there myself. We used to cannonball off the top of the counterbalance on the draw bridge over the Mullica River (flows into Great Bay) at night, that cedar water stayed cool all year around. Used to have a boat in Great Bay at a place called Rands marina, out on "7 bridges road". Sandy erased Rands from the map- not rebuilt. (Sold my boat prior). Cedar swamp "logging" is still practiced some- down near Delaware bay in Cumberland County. Some of those logs are "prehistoric" huge! I've also read that the Meadowlands up near where you grew up contained large Atlantic White Cedar stands. Some tiny replanting attempts are ongoing. Those swamps make great flood control measures- but BOY are they dark at night!

I'm not too far from there, actually. Just 3 years ago (again, in April) there was a Pinelands fire that burned almost 70,000 acres. I've read that the "cedar water" prevalent in the area (high acid tannin from all the Atlantic White cedars leaches into the water) retards the leaf litter from decomposing quickly- hence high tinder availability. Sea captains in Colonial times used to cask that cedar water for drinking aboard- as it would not "sour" quickly. You can still drink from cedar water springs in certain areas- as all waters emanating from the central Pines do not flow through man made pollutants. Sorry to go on. I love that area!

That was a crazy one (I was 5, but recall it vaguely in family discussion) in an area that gets many. That sandy soil drains so fast (and can be tough in spots to traverse ("sugar sand"!) but sits on the largest untapped aquifer east of the Mississippi! Its a unique, large area of the southern/central part of the State that is surprisingly (except at the edges, filling in) unpopulated. Radiates well in cold clear conditions, too. It can be 20 degrees here but 0 30 miles southeast, in the heart of the pines. Cool stuff!

Sir- I believe in a written, science/factual based forum like this one- thats its a good thing to call out personal blaming, factual inaccuracies or slander. If you 've seen a pattern of that- Thank you. I don't cotton up to BS. But there you go again- for the Ocean county fire, I used the word "contained" deliberately- as its latest given offical status was "30% contained". Thats not "Out of Control" (nor certainly out, either!) Good for you for observing that Southern California has a different weather pattern, climate and vegetation than the NJ Pine Barrens- I'm familiar as I spend lots of time in San Diego county- but have no idea why you brought that area into the dicussion. Fires )of all sizes) in the Pine Barrens are relatively common this time of year- not every year- and a part of the local ecology, and always have been, prior to the era of suppression. (Lots of scrub Oak leaf litter, pine needles and very sandy, porus soil make for a dry, fuel rich area- you can ask others who live here, or maybe Mr. Gorse, if you distrust me. I'm done so, you can get the last word in, if you'd like- as that seems important to you.

Good morning. You can call me Bob. I'm happy you apologized to Mr. Gorse for your remarks. Well deserved. That was the point of my comment that the mulch fire was not "major"- and especially that exaggeration of a fire caused by spontaneous combustion shouldn't be linked to NWS being negligent. Those were my only points. I see nowhere where I wrote those other things you linked me to. (As far as your attempts at "face- saving", above- everyone on this board knows we have a rainfall deficit, its been windy, and its fire season. I mentioned none of that- so don't imply I did. The fire near Jim Thorpe was preexisting my comments- and the Ocean County fire is "major", although contained. I grew up in the Pine Barrens- there are fires most years, especially during spring before leaf-out..its a neccessary part of the ecology here. Your proclivity towards exaggeration and blaming folks for non-existent issues is noted. Maybe stop trying to bite my ankles when you are already on the canvas. Its a bad look.)

I agree with you 100% of course. My point was that the situation was being exaggerated and (non-drought) causal mechanism ignored- at the expense of our local NWS mets- who have enough "static" to deal with these days.

Mlulch can spontaneously combust- which the local firefighters say is what happened at that site. Its been smoldering for weeks. Nothing to do with NWS or weather, at all. Roger that?

Weren't you the same guy on here that said "mark my words" there was going to be major ice jam issues on the Lehigh this year? Maybe take a bit of a chill pill instead of disrespecting NWS Mets. Just a suggestion.

A smoking mulch bed is a "major fire"? Really?

Great Shot! Below is closer to the storm, last evening about 7 PM in Haddon Heights. Just got clipped with about 1 minute of rain from that curtain seen in your image..

Sweet.. Massive view! Will be in Zermatt again this September and might hit it up. Heres a link to Chez Vrony. Its off the Sunnega lift. https://chezvrony.ch/wordpress/en/

Chez Vrony? (what a place!)

Some folks don't- agree with you. Even in this forum, science based that its' nature is- there are degrees of non-acceptance- lots of distractions. Its the decison makers or disrupters that really count in the long run.