Not Another October Storm!

Storms in my neck of the woods in late October are becoming as reliable as the sunrise itself, because, as fate would have it, the greater New York area could very well see another nor'easter toward the end of this month.  This storm is not expected to be anywhere nearly as bad as either the 2011 Halloween nor'easter or 2012's Hurricane Sandy, but with a lot of rain predicted along with wind gusts of up to forty miles an hour or more, it could be bad enough.

And if that sounds like something I said this time last year, it kind of is . . . I said something similar just before a storm hit our area in late October 2017 (although we emerged unscathed from that).

The bright side of this year's potential storm is that it will be a rainstorm, not be a snowstorm like the 2011 "event," so we won't have to worry about snow bringing leafy tree limbs down.  The down side is that not only have most of the leaves not fallen where I live, most of them haven't even changed color - ironically, due in part to the summer rains the trees soaked up.  And any gusty winds we get in this potential storm could make the leaves act like sails and blow lots of trees over - because, despite a much-appreciated dry spell of late, the ground still hasn't dried out enough for the tree roots to re-stabilize.

I've already had two power outages this month - both on the same day! - as a result of rain that wasn't supposed to be all that bad despite its association with Hurricane Michael (which, of course, turned out to be worse than most of us originally thought it would be).  That makes 47 outages since November 2009 by my latest count.  Now we could get an even four dozen outages in total as of this time next week!

I'm beginning to really, really hate late October . . ..   

A Big Storm?

In the United States, tropical moisture from the Southeast and an approaching low-pressure system from the Midwest are conspiring to produce a nasty storm for the Northeast this coming Sunday.  It's being referred to by some as a big nor'easter, but to call it so and leave it at that would be a major understatement, as the storm itself is predicted to be major.  And on the sixth anniversary of the October Surprise snowstorm and the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Sandy!

Well, this storm is not expected to be anywhere nearly as bad as either of those two "events," but with three inches of rain predicted along with wind gusts of up to forty miles an hour or more, it could be bad enough.  Don't be surprised if you don't hear from me any time after Sunday, which would mean Power Outage #42 . . . . and if you do hear from me, that may be because I'm blogging from my library.  I hope to get through this storm as I've gotten through any other, the preferably not with a three-day outage (October Surprise) or a six-day outage (Sandy).  Any outage I get, I hope it's measured in minutes or hours (but preferably minutes) rather than days.   I'll keep my fingers crossed . . . while hoping that storm damage isn't so massive throughout New Jersey that Chris Christie puts Lieutenant Governor Guadagno in charge of disaster coordination that leads to her doing such an impressive job that it changes the course of the gubernatorial election and allows her to defeat Phil Murphy for the governorship in an upset.

Sorry, I'm fatalistic . . ..