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Summer Banter, Observation and General Discussion 2018


CapturedNature
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I came across this snapping turtle on the side of the main road by the entrance of development where I reside and tried to pick it up to help it cross the road, but it wasn't having it so it snapped at me. I gave up after a couple attempts and then decided to let it cross on its own as it was not worth risking a finger or worse. Fortunately, it made the trek safely without any further intervention from me, but this was one mean turtle! I've picked up other turtles in the past to help them cross the road before and they'd just hide in their shells, but not this one. Luckily he didn't bite a finger off. 

It's actually a beautiful night out with a nearly full moon, nice breeze and comfy temperatures. The butterflies (tiger swallowtail pictured) are loving the milkweed blossoms, including the monarchs. I'd say summer is at its peak now.

 

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rsz_psemzfmbsby0biaueq0hsw.jpg

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18 minutes ago, OSUmetstud said:

I'm not really up on my physical oceanography. Why are the water temperatures colder over the shallower Georges Bank and the Nantucket Sound than they are in deeper water sections of the Gulf of Maine?  

Not my forte either, but I believe it is tidal mixing upwelling cooler subsurface water.

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17 minutes ago, OceanStWx said:

Not my forte either, but I believe it is tidal mixing upwelling cooler subsurface water.

On the large scale, Georges Bank is part of a very long coastal current system which flows southwestward from Laborador to the Mid-Atlantic Bight (Figure 4; Chapman and Beardsley, 1989). Locally, two oceanic water masses and local air/sea interaction determine the hydrographic conditions within the Gulf of Maine and on Georges Bank (Bigelow, 1926). Cold, low salinity coastal water enters the Gulf of Maine from the Scotian Shelf (Smith, 1983) and warm, saline Slope Water enters through the Northeast Channel (Ramp et al., 1985). Both of these inflows to the Gulf exhibit significant seasonal and inter-annual variability. The two water masses plus local runoff mix during a generally cyclonic (counterclockwise) movement around the Gulf which may slow down or even reverse in part during winter (Brown and Irish, 1992). During the summer, this basin-scale movement may be comprised of smaller-scale cyclonic flows around Jordan, Wilkinson, and Georges Basins (Brooks, 1985, Butman and Beardsley, 1991). In the western Gulf of Maine, near-surface waters flow both southward around Nantucket Shoals into the Mid-Atlantic Bight and eastward onto the northwest flank of Georges Bank (Hopkins and Garfield, 1981; Limeburner and Beardsley, 1982; Beardsley et al., 1991). On the northwest flank, the interaction of strong tidal currents and steep bottom topography results in a strong horizontal density front and a narrow, jet-like current flowing eastward along the northern edge of the Bank (Loder, 1980; Magnell et al., 1980; Butman, 1982). The flow then turns clockwise and slows to move southwestward along the southern flank of the Bank. The strength of this anticyclonic (clockwise) circulation increases with increasing stratification in the spring and summer (Butman et al., 1987). A permanent hydrographic front along the southern edge of the Bank separates the shelf water over the Bank from the more saline Slope Water offshore (Flagg, 1987). Much of the shelf water flowing southwestward along the southern flank of the Bank continues westward into the Mid-Atlantic Bight (Beardsley et al., 1985). During stratified conditions, some of the shelf water on the southern flank of the Bank moves northward through the Great South Channel, forming a partially closed gyre (Butman and Beardsley, 1987).

http://www.usglobec.org/reports/nwaip/nwaip.chapter4.3.html

 

I think that answers my question. But it still difficult to conceptualize without more imagery. 

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7 hours ago, wxmanmitch said:

I came across this snapping turtle on the side of the main road by the entrance of development where I reside and tried to pick it up to help it cross the road, but it wasn't having it so it snapped at me. I gave up after a couple attempts and then decided to let it cross on its own as it was not worth risking a finger or worse. Fortunately, it made the trek safely without any further intervention from me, but this was one mean turtle! I've picked up other turtles in the past to help them cross the road before and they'd just hide in their shells, but not this one. Luckily he didn't bite a finger off. 

snappers are nasty little basturds. i grew up near a swamp, they used to come out of the swamp to lay their eggs in peoples mulch beds. biggest one i saw was close to the size of a manhole cover. when i touched it, it snapped at me. It's neck came almost halfway back to its tail. I haven't been near one since.

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16 hours ago, powderfreak said:

Playing golf in Thompson, CT.... man is it steamy when the sun is out.  About 4-5 brief showers amid blue sky too.  

You guys are right though, for all the humidity there is no haze at all. 

Photo from the golf course.

IMG_0161.PNG.794a850ee2706dea8b401a26cc089c04.PNG

Speedway?

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33 minutes ago, Typhoon Tip said:

is it normal to have such warm water piled up on the N side of Nova Scotia like that... ?  Check out N of Halifax ... that pooling is some 23 C water!   Maybe that's normal - I dunno...

I've read that the waters around PEI often get into the 70s, far milder than in the Fundy region.  Some "overflow" from the Gulf Stream?
 

I came across this snapping turtle on the side of the main road by the entrance of development where I reside and tried to pick it up to help it cross the road, but it wasn't having it so it snapped at me. I gave up after a couple attempts and then decided to let it cross on its own as it was not worth risking a finger or worse. Fortunately, it made the trek safely without any further intervention from me, but this was one mean turtle! I've picked up other turtles in the past to help them cross the road before and they'd just hide in their shells, but not this one. Luckily he didn't bite a finger off. 

Back in the 1960s when I was catching snappers near my NNJ home - some up to 45 lb - I'd pick them up by the tail so as to stay away from the business end.  I've since read that such handling can cause spine injuries, which weren't an issue for reptiles headed for the soup pot.  Supposedly the safe way (for animal and person) to handle them is by using both hands on the back half of the shell.  Or you could shove a long (3-4 ft) stick at the turtle's head and drag it off the road by its own "teeth" - might cause some road rash on the plastron, however.

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9 minutes ago, tamarack said:

I've read that the waters around PEI often get into the 70s, far milder than in the Fundy region.  Some "overflow" from the Gulf Stream?
 

I came across this snapping turtle on the side of the main road by the entrance of development where I reside and tried to pick it up to help it cross the road, but it wasn't having it so it snapped at me. I gave up after a couple attempts and then decided to let it cross on its own as it was not worth risking a finger or worse. Fortunately, it made the trek safely without any further intervention from me, but this was one mean turtle! I've picked up other turtles in the past to help them cross the road before and they'd just hide in their shells, but not this one. Luckily he didn't bite a finger off. 

Back in the 1960s when I was catching snappers near my NNJ home - some up to 45 lb - I'd pick them up by the tail so as to stay away from the business end.  I've since read that such handling can cause spine injuries, which weren't an issue for reptiles headed for the soup pot.  Supposedly the safe way (for animal and person) to handle them is by using both hands on the back half of the shell.  Or you could shove a long (3-4 ft) stick at the turtle's head and drag it off the road by its own "teeth" - might cause some road rash on the plastron, however.

I have actually picked up a very large snapping turtle (25lbs or so) back in the 70's by having it clamp onto a broom handle and placing it in the trunk of a car and transported it to a different watershed.

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is it normal to have such warm water piled up on the N side of Nova Scotia like that... ?  Check out N of Halifax ... that pooling is some 23 C water!   Maybe that's normal - I dunno...
I vacation up there on Cape Breton Nova Scotia every summer. It's actually the Northumberland Strait and the water between Cape Breton and Pei is always very warm when we are there. I understand that it is very shallow so I think that leads to those temperatures

The next town over from where we stay, Port Hood, advertisers themselves as having "the warmest waters in Eastern Canada"

Beautiful area, great people, warm empty beaches, incredible golf. Thankfully it's 800 miles away so no one goes there
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18 hours ago, KoalaBeer said:

Got up to 91 here today at LWM which was a surprise to me. Low last night was only 75 degrees with a 70 dewpoint. Anyone got a link for record maximum lows for Lawrence? I can only only find the all time low/high.

Edit: Most surrounding sites topped out around 88 today. I wonder if they are over reporting some as I've seen it happen before there.

A quick browse of the climod site discovered some 77s there, 7/22/2011 and a couple in August 1988 - 2 in a 3-day stretch with "M" for the middle day's low.

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20 hours ago, KoalaBeer said:

Got up to 91 here today at LWM which was a surprise to me. Low last night was only 75 degrees with a 70 dewpoint. Anyone got a link for record maximum lows for Lawrence? I can only only find the all time low/high.

Edit: Most surrounding sites topped out around 88 today. I wonder if they are over reporting some as I've seen it happen before there.

The consensus opinion around here is that LWM is running a little too warm across the board.

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2 hours ago, Typhoon Tip said:

is it normal to have such warm water piled up on the N side of Nova Scotia like that... ?  Check out N of Halifax ... that pooling is some 23 C water!   Maybe that's normal - I dunno...

Yup. Normal for the Northumberland Strait. Water is shallow(relatively) and not much current to mix. Acts more like a Great Lake vs part of the Atlantic. Temps routinely get into the 70's during the summer.

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On 7/23/2018 at 2:28 PM, Typhoon Tip said:

Yeah...sorry to be a pest but it's actually getting worse.. 

just checked my gmail account and 9 has ballooned to 20 ... seems that if anyone posts anywhere it's sending out notices - i don't know if 'that' is true per se...but that fact that i've disabled anything that can move and its still happening and getting worse ... that's definitely a bug.. 

Hasn’t stopped for me.

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36 minutes ago, weathafella said:

Hasn’t stopped for me.

Brian said to hold off for a bit while they try and fix it - ... he said he'd be willing to temporarily default our emails to some bin account that's not real if need be.  So something's being done - my gmail account is smart enough to package them all in one reference so that that the interface doesn't fill up with them... But it's weird seeing 'new mail' from American and having the number 72 associated to it..heh.  

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3 hours ago, Typhoon Tip said:

is it normal to have such warm water piled up on the N side of Nova Scotia like that... ?  Check out N of Halifax ... that pooling is some 23 C water!   Maybe that's normal - I dunno...

Yeah. The Gulf of St Lawrence is really shallow and not part of the westward extension of the Labrador current. It heats up readily in the summer and freezes in the winter. Its been very warm in Atlantic canada   

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2 minutes ago, StormSurge said:

0.18" after the zipper was pulled down. Parched.

The good thing is  the term "zipper low" can be retired to the weather hall of shame. The problem is social media creates competition, so to be "heard" many people resort to hyping news/weather/sports to attract attention. And to create the attention people spend all day trying to come up with new terms such as "zipper low". In basketball someone came up with the term "score the basketball" I never would have guessed that Curry is a  scorer before hearing "Curry can really score the basketball"!....oh wait I just came up with a new term "a zipper scorer" ..as in "Curry is a zipper scorer on drives to the basket".....now I just need a twitter handle....

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Today’s been the worst day in the war stretch. downpours in the am then full clouds and drizzle all day with high dews. Currently 72/72 at home lol. I can take a bad stretch in winter even a 11/12 type didn’t tilt me. But this right here is close to sending the WCT population sprinting to their local mental health center. 

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2 hours ago, RUNNAWAYICEBERG said:

Today’s been the worst day in the war stretch. downpours in the am then full clouds and drizzle all day with high dews. Currently 72/72 at home lol. I can take a bad stretch in winter even a 11/12 type didn’t tilt me. But this right here is close to sending the WCT population sprinting to their local mental health center. 

Well, let's just be happy WNE is getting all of the qpf now instead of in the winter when it would fall as annoying snow.  

:axe:

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