Hurricane Irene Observations Thread

[MJHUB]

Starbucks Via instant brew (the iced is fantastic imo) to the rescue?

no coffee is where I draw the line

I went to a Dunkin at a gas station yesterday and the guy said he had coffee, then 5 people came in for coffee and he suddenly had none. I saw one dunkin open but had about 30 plus cars in it. had to drink a monster coffee this morning and it was the most awful think ever, I don't do cream so all the off the shelf stuff is like coffee milk to me...gross.

[PWMan]

Never lost power for more than a second or two. Some of our biggest gusts were late last night; awoke at some point to the bedroom door slamming repeatedly. Also had to pull up the covers, as it was brisk. As others have said, it felt somewhat autumnal this morning. Nice stretch ahead.

[weatherMA]

Good morning.. Power here at work in Franklin, MA, none at home in Blackstone.. is all of Worcester county out or just towns?

Power on here, and from what I understand in most of town (Shrewsbury).

[Mr. Windcredible!]

25 homes in east haven totally destroyed by storm surge. Being torn down this week.

wife has a friend whose family owns a home there on Cosey Beach, right on the water...sounds like ground zero for destruction there. Will be interesting when we finally hear from her. From sounds of it...I'll be surprised if their house survived.

Any word on major damage from that area on East? Seems most of the shoreline damage reports I've heard are Fairfield, Milford, West Haven, and East Haven. I did see one report on a Facebook page of a home washed out into the sound in Clinton along Shore Rd. Anything else from Branford, Guilford, Madison, or Old Saybrook? Or was the worst of the surge related damage from East Haven on west?

Wonder if we'll get some aerial shots from the shoreline at some point in the next day or so?

[Cold Miser]

. . . Day 2 of living off the generator.

Entire town is still without power. I am not expecting it anytime soon.

Of course the power is in full force here at the office. Damned underground power.

[40/70 Benchmark]

. . . Day 2 of living off the generator.

Entire town is still without power. I am not expecting it anytime soon.

Of course the power is in full force here at the office. Damned underground power.

I am so lucky....I'd be tying a noose if I had to be without power for days because of Irene.....if I am gonna be without ower for a week, it had better be attributed to a 1938 redux.

I am suprised by how much harder folks to the s of the pike seem to have been hit...my take is that the winds were marginally strong enough to down trees and the little extra strength down there made the difference. ...fine line. Don't think there was a huge diff. in sensible wx between say here and Milford\Mendon.

[40/70 Benchmark]

One more thing....I think the past few years has been a wonderful illustration of how my area is not prone to any type of extreme weather, aside from snow:

1) 2008 Ice storm: Major power outages began about 3 miles inland from me.....I was spared power outages and the only effect I could discern was a brief film on the roof of my car around midnight, which subsequently melted.

2) One of the worst sever weather outbreaks in NE history and didn't so much as awitness a small hail stone or a gust over 35 mph....hell, I can count the number of downpours all summer on one hand.

3) Didn't feel the earthquake....NDB, but it is what it is....seemed to be much less prevalent N of boston.

4) Hurricane Irene: Major tree damage and power outages about 15 mi to my ssw and the 3rd worst surge in history endured in sw CT; I lost power for a total of about 20 minutes.

Let is snow, let it snow

[Baroclinic Zone]

Looks like no work today. No word as of yet. Just finished clean-up around the yard. Took about 3 hrs. Not too bad. Drove out to Rt44 this AM for and the damage is noticable. Trees uprooted. Trees snapped, Branched and debris all over the place. Lines down, roads obstructed. I am shocked we have power. Our neighborhood is all underground utilities but once you get out of here, its all poles. What a beautiful day out there for yard work too. I hope everyone made it through with their health and minimal damage.

[Clinch Leatherwood]

I am so lucky....I'd be tying a noose if I had to be without power for days because of Irene.....if I am gonna be without ower for a week, it had better be attributed to a 1938 redux.

I am suprised by how much harder folks to the s of the pike seem to have been hit...my take is that the winds were marginally strong enough to down trees and the little extra strength down there made the difference. ...fine line. Don't think there was a huge diff. in sensible wx between say here and Milford\Mendon.

It looks like the area that had that one super intense feeder band move through yesterday morning got it the worst. If someone posts a radar redux...went over Bob, Easton, Brockton and a lot of points N and W.

Brought down those high gusts, did a lot of damage.

Governor Patrick just said the power will be back on for most tonight, he must be smoking the funny stuff...they haven't even moved trees of lines in a lot of easton.

[Cold Miser]

lol - I just saw "Tolland" on the Weather Channel map for high rain totals. The map showed about 8-10 towns from Northern ct up to the Canadian border. Never seen Tolland on there before.

Kevin must have all kinds of high end pull to get his town on the map. Either that or Tolland just happened to have the high number in the state.

[HimoorWx]

was that the one between 10 and 11? That's the one that got us in Randolph. Still no power at home. It was definitely a scary ride for a few minutes during that band - lots of cracking trees; quite a few down in our area. We are also on a hill which probably made matters worse.

It looks like the area that had that one super intense feeder band move through yesterday morning got it the worst. If someone posts a radar redux...went over Bob, Easton, Brockton and a lot of points N and W.

Brought down those high gusts, did a lot of damage.

Governor Patrick just said the power will be back on for most tonight, he must be smoking the funny stuff...they haven't even moved trees of lines in a lot of easton.

[Baroclinic Zone]

was that the one between 10 and 11? That's the one that got us in Randolph. Still no power at home. It was definitely a scary ride for a few minutes during that band - lots of cracking trees; quite a few down in our area. We are also on a hill which probably made matters worse.

Yeah, my peak gusts were in that late morning early afternoon stuff. 50kts.

[Typhoon Tip]

As others have noted the day's weather is topico. Almost poetic to open up to this in the storm's wake.

I lived through Gloria, missed Bob so no comment available, and now this... My impression for Middlesex County is that Gloria was worse for wind; Irene was worse for water. It is interesting that Irene did that considering that west track (my 20 miles west of ORH was a dud!) - more typically, TC transports a quasi WCB on the east side, while lopping over a heavy rains shield over a coastal frontogenesis on the west side as they zip up the east coast. This system certianly did not underperform rain in that regard; but there was also a very interesting warm frontal signal embedded in the field for SNE, south of which came in a 2 hour period of best wind. That combined with all that CAA that wrapped in later in the evening I think are worthy of discussing just how baroclinic this event was as it neared our latitude.

I did check the FSU cyclone phases earlier last evening, and the modeling showed Irene crossing from pure symmetric warm core into asymetry, so that does fit with these observations. It is difficult to lift a TC this far N and half a pure warm core system - though I am sure it has happened at some point spanning millenia.

As far as the wind, my best attempt at objectivity is that we had a few 55mph wind gust during the "warm sector" aspect of the system early in the afternoon, and then about equal to that during the apparent isollobaric acceleration later in the evening; which is when in fact Ayer, pretty much the whole town, finally lost power but good after it blinked many times during the mid afternoon. Lost power at 9:05pm and it was restored at 12:10am - pretty much perfect to ruin evening plans with surgical uncanniness. This compares shy of Gloria by 10 to perhaps 15 mph on max gusts. There was a considerable heftier amount of a timbre damage in Gloria than this one in the Middlesex region of Massachusetts. I am aware this may not be true unilaterally - this statement has no intent on describing the Irene for everybody. That said, one thing I noticed about the timbre reports this go is that there were a lot more root balls pulled bodily out of the ground and feld trees in whole. This I believe is related to having higher water content prior to the storm's arrival. Gloria had much more in the way of severed 10 - 20" diameter main stems. The greater timbre damage on whole over interior central Mass is probably consistant with the fact that Gloria was a Category 1 storm entering CT at over 30mph, and Irene was barely 2/3rds that forward speed and beneath that category upon passing over NYC.

Already eyes turn to the Atlantic Basin. Currently, that disturbance over the eastern Atlantic has been declared depression status. Prognostics from the reliable guidance is that the ENE shear will relax, and that soon to be Katla will resume a motion embedded in the trades, and generally little impactful shear. Steady strengthening is forecast beginning in 24 hours and extended right out through day 5, at which time 90 knots (105mph) is the official forecast, situating the TC at 18.5N/53W.

As I peer over the guidance this morning I am reminded that Irene was first modeled to take a polarward (recurved) route by the GFS, which only really corrected that to a pass over the N Leeward Isles, and eventually PR until the middle range period. It is unclear why exactly that bias played out, but it is entirely plausible that the same could be true for a would be Katia.

One reasoning behind that assertion is because the pattern et al has not really changed. We are still in a scenario where EC ridges tend to be over-done in extended ranges, only to come in with more transient positive heights that revert back to trough and/or weakness/shear axis in time. Many of the GFS ensemble members actually indicate an EC strike with Katla, which is pretty interesting to say the least to get that kind of clustering out of the ensembles this far out in time.

The next reason is operational; every determinist model type out there has this system developing in earnest, some becoming exotically intense – such as the 00z and 06z GFS for ~ 55W longitude. The CMC, ECMWF, UKMET and even NOGAPS are all flagging a moderate to severely intense TC within a couple hundred clicks of 55W/20N depending on particular solution. Going from that position to a NNW motion doesn’t fit very well with the synoptics.

All that does is assumes any polarward motion shortly after the D4/5 range may be suspect based on recent performance and pattern recognition. That is not a declaration of threat to the east coast, however. It is too early for that, and left correction could take a TC anywhere.

[Tropopause_Fold]

will and i had a pretty good time out and about. at one point clocked sustained at 54 G 64 mph. was ripping pretty good.

peak Gust at HYA of 66mph, FMH of 71 mph. most certainly 'cane force gusts at the shore at that time.

lots of trees down, wires etc.

carol, edna in 54...

irene, Katia '11?

[DavisStraight]

Good morning.. Power here at work in Franklin, MA, none at home in Blackstone.. is all of Worcester county out or just towns?

Its scattered throughout, half my town lost power, I was in the half that didnt lose it. I rode through Sturbridge, Brookfield and Holland yesterday, lots of trees downed power lines, a good majority of those towns lost power, some have it back today.

[#NoPoles]

are MRG, MPM, and Happey Valley ok? i eard major flooding in western Mass...also, VT got anniilated from excessive rain...

[Clinch Leatherwood]

will and i had a pretty good time out and about. at one point clocked sustained at 54 G 64 mph. was ripping pretty good.

peak Gust at HYA of 66mph, FMH of 71 mph. most certainly 'cane force gusts at the shore at that time.

lots of trees down, wires etc.

carol, edna in 54...

irene, Katia '11?

It's staggering how much worse it was from the windmills SW at Otis. For some reason...I think maybe that the precip died as it moved here, the northeast side of Bourne/Cedarville and over to Sandwich near Hemispheres and down towards Spring Hill was barely touched. Yet Barnstable got ruined and from the herring run west and particularly Buttermilk Bay west a lot of damage was done.

[Sn0waddict]

Still without power, not too optimistic about getting it back anytime soon. Cleanup is still going on around the town as well.

[snowman21]

Still without power, not too optimistic about getting it back anytime soon. Cleanup is still going on around the town as well.

It's gonna be a long time in Conn. Even if they could take care of 100,000/day (probably an overly optimistic estimate) that's still going to take 'til next weekend.

[HIPPYVALLEY]

are MRG, MPM, and Happey Valley ok? i eard major flooding in western Mass...also, VT got anniilated from excessive rain...

Not sure about MPM but Pete and I both came through with families and houses intact. I think his power may still be out and I'm assuming that's why no word from MPM.

The flooding was disastrous. I've never seen rivers that ferocious. Gov. Patrick was in Greenfield this morning. Our downtown was thankfully spared but the hilltowns were not as fortunate. Devastation to many homes and businesses.

Towns in Vt are still only accessible by air.

Slideshow from local station.

http://interactives.wwlp.com/photomojo/gallery/919/1/hurricane-irene-in-western-mass/hurricane-irene-in-western-mass/

[HIPPYVALLEY]

Amazing power of Deerfield River in Shelburne Falls:

Wilmington Vt going bye bye:

[makwx]

Power on here, and from what I understand in most of town (Shrewsbury).

I lost power yesterday, but not for too long. I consider myself lucky.

[tamarack]

carol, edna in 54...

irene, Katia '11?

Then an October surprise? (In my [then] BY in NNJ, Hazel was much the biggest event of the three.)

[Stash]

I gave a more detailed response in the Upstate NY thread, and will add pics when I get power back, but here in Rotterdam, NY (20 miles NW of Albany) the wind ripped siding off my house and snapped a healthy maple at its trunk, and dropped it on my house...although luckily being a couple hundred feet higher than the Mohawk, I had no flooding issues likethose in Rotterdam Junction. All in all, probably the worst non-winter storm I've experienced in my better part of two decades in the greater Albany area. I'll get a better idea of the damage to my house once I can get up on the roof tonight or tomorrow. My rain gauge failed/ I also failed at emptying it, but it was conservatively above 6".

Well they did issue state of emergency for counties in the region up here. Lots of double digit rainfall amounts in the hilltowns around Albany. Sounds like ~5" here in the valley. Flooding in flood prone areas. Was a mudslide in Troy that has taken out a few homes. Winds probably gusted in the 40s for a time...but mostly just leaves and branches down from what I've seen/heard. Kept power at my place...but sounds like 20k without power in Albany Co alone.

[Mr. Windcredible!]

I gave a more detailed response in the Upstate NY thread, and will add pics when I get power back, but here in Rotterdam, NY (20 miles NW of Albany) the wind ripped siding off my house and snapped a healthy maple at its trunk, and dropped it on my house...although luckily being a couple hundred feet higher than the Mohawk, I had no flooding issues likethose in Rotterdam Junction. All in all, probably the worst non-winter storm I've experienced in my better part of two decades in the greater Albany area. I'll get a better idea of the damage to my house once I can get up on the roof tonight or tomorrow. My rain gauge failed/ I also failed at emptying it, but it was conservatively above 6".

Yeah. FWIW...sounds like the Mowhawk will crest in Schenectady at an all time high. Plenty of evacuations over there and businesses in downtown were ordered closed. A lot of other towns along the Mohawk and Hudson likely to have problems as well...Rotterdam, Cohoes, Waterford, Troy, ect. Still quite a few road closures making it difficult to get in and out of the capital region. We had one of our guys coming in from out of town...coming up the Thruway to the south...and found once he hit those closures on the thruway (around Newburgh I think?), there was no way of making it up to Albany. All the major routes closed at some point. They even briefly shut down the Northway here heading up towards Saratoga. I think it ended up being a brief closure...like an hour...concerns about a runaway barge...but people in our office who commute from Saratoga county were starting to think they had no way of getting home.

[OKpowdah]

Flooding is incredible in Plymouth,NH. The Pemi hit the 7th highest crest on record, less than 2 feet under the 1938 crest.

All the athletic fields are under 6 feet of water

[HIPPYVALLEY]

Just heard from MPM. He's ok up on the hill just no internet.

[ski MRG]

Just heard from MPM. He's ok up on the hill just no internet.

Good news.

[Bryan]

Put this in the other thread but figured it belongs more in this one.

Power still out in Kingston, have been told not to expect it until possibly Friday. Have never seen such damage to trees and power lines, multiple telephone poles snapped. Being 23 and never experiencing a hurricane before really I definitely under estimated the damage it could cause. Some scary moments on Sunday. To those who did not see much from the storm than I would consider yourself lucky and not be upset you missed it.

[free_man]

will and i had a pretty good time out and about. at one point clocked sustained at 54 G 64 mph. was ripping pretty good.

peak Gust at HYA of 66mph, FMH of 71 mph. most certainly 'cane force gusts at the shore at that time.

lots of trees down, wires etc.

carol, edna in 54...

irene, Katia '11?

No doubt...Irene was good in Falmouth. I was at the Heights and Menhaunt (sp) Beach and getting rocked with 40+ sustained. I didn't want to overplay the winds but they might have been sustained over 50 even up to 60.

Also agree with Katia...it's going to be a threat, at least. Bermuda, Maritimes, NE, MA, SE Coast/FL....someone may eventually deal with it.