Weather, climate, my cousin and I

Oceasn breaks thru from the bay side on Hattaras Island

Hurricane Irene created more damage in Western Mass and Vermont than it did on the Cape, but that's where I was-- in Wellfleet-- when the storm hit.  Although little rain fell, on Sunday we had sustained winds of 30 miles an hour and gusts up to 70 miles an hour.  But a couple of days before that, I knew Irene had been battering the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where my cousin and her partner lived. Turned out that she's OK, and her house stood, with minor damage.  Hattaras Island, however, was hit hard.

Wellfleet's Mayo Beach --on the bay side!- sea foam in foreground

 This year I've found myself tallying a lifetime of weather.  Probably my list isn't much different from other New Englanders-- flooding, blizzards, heat waves, hurricanes-- but I've experienced blizzards and floods while living alone in the woods, when I had moments of wondering if I'd make it through.  I didn't, however, ever expect to be looking at a tornado barreling up State Street straight toward me.  

I hope never to know a forest fire, a major earthquake or a tsunami.  I hope New England never suffers a drought as lengthy as what Texas is experiencing.  But I have a feeling that I'll have a few more major weather events to add to my tally in the next few years.

Here's quick explanation of the relationship between weather and climate change 

Storms of the century

Ware, Massachusetts in 1936

Ah, the mixed feeling of those of us who love Cape Cod and also love a great storm!  Not much of a beach left on Marconi this year; Wellfleet is only two miles wide and while I don't think it's been subject to the washovers of Hatteras Island in North Carolina, it's certainly at risk of becoming the uppermost part of a new island.

While we're waiting for damage reports, check our the fantastic photos at the Boston Globe of the New England storms of the century.

How to forecast weather

Turn the calendar back 5,000 years and think about it: those who planted rice and barley knew the right time to plant, knew when the rivers would flood their banks, and could tell pretty well what the weather would be like on the next day.


Many of us are surrounded by concrete; we're not looking up at the sky, we're looking at our IPhone.  We listen to the weather forecasters on TV and complain about how often they are wrong.  But we can regain the lost art of forecasting the weather if we want to, with no gadgets to assist.  Amaze your family and friends!  Marisys has a lovely page on how to forecast the weather.  Give it a try.

 Photo from kevindooley's photostream at Flickr.

I have a lot to say - & two snow poems

Got home a couple hours early because of the snow-- and I want to blog because I've felt the weight of words building up the last few days-- things I want to tell people, concerns and the occasional triumph I want to share-- yet I have to be honest and say I have no idea how much my blog is really read or matters. But I write anyway because it is one of the things I can do, and I am obliged to do the things I can!

But before I plunge in for the afternoon, two snow poems by me:

her mom trudges in sneakers
thru the snow
while she, five years old,
trudges beside her
wearing red dancing shoes
that look like fresh blood on linen
bought in a previous moment of hope
totally wrong for the weather
but all that's left now
is to walk on dreams
for protection.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not for ten paces
can my mind empty itself
even in white snow

Photo by Kirk Lau

What is a storm?

One inch of snow is one inch of snow, it is not a storm.
Two inches of snow is two inches of snow, it is not a storm.
Four inches of snow might be a storm if it is accompanied by fierce winds otherwise it is just four inches of snow.

The hyperbole of our local meteorologists when it comes to any winter precipitation at all destroys their credibility. Do they really think we hardy New Englanders are going to be so concerned by a little snow that we'll have to stay glued to our TVs for the local forecast? No, we think it's a big joke.

Really, our winters are getting milder. I think it must be fifteen years since the winter where it snowed substantially every four or five days, and stayed cold enough for the snow to accumulate, not melt. I remember I just couldn't throw the snow high enough anymore to keep the driveway cleared.

Webster's definition of storm:

.	a disturbance of the normal condition of the atmosphere, manifesting itself by winds of unusual force or direction, often accompanied by rain, snow, hail, thunder, and lightning, or flying sand or dust.

2.	a heavy fall of rain, snow, or hail, or a violent outbreak of thunder and lightning, unaccompanied by strong winds.

Saturday morning

Got up grumbling about my chilly apartment then grumbled some more when I had to go out in my rattletrap, slow to heat up car but about five blocks from home and three blocks from the market near my house, I saw a woman and her three children, one in a stroller, all bundled up and walking home with grocery bags. Jeez, at least I have a car, I thought.

Wild winds blew oak leaves across the road-- when I'd stop for a red light a whole cavalcade would dash from one side of the road to the other. Oaks are always the last leaves to fall. A day like today, I consider the earth's housecleaning weather.

At the traffic lights at Bay and Berkshire, I glanced over towards the old Friendly's (now a Chinese restaurant) and there was a man with a kitchen broom attempting to sweep the parking lot clear of leaves and the slender threads of snow!-- an impossible task given the wind. He'd sweep to the north and the leaves would blow in from the south.

That has to be the dumbest thing I've ever seen, I thought, but then I glanced to my left at the other car waiting for the lights and saw that it was a spanking new, cherry red hum vee-like vehicle with a price sticker in the window. No, that's the dumbest thing, I thought. The broom guy is just a working joe trying to make a few bucks. The people in the humvee are separated from reality.

A little ways down the road, a red-tailed hawk flew by me. I hope the day never comes when I don't think it's worthwhile to watch a hawk when I can. Good omen. Go home and be grateful.

Cape Cod after Noel

Cape Cod Times has some good pictures of storm damage from Hurricane Noel....photo in this post, however, is from our own Cape vacation, taken by my sister Liz.

Poor Cape Cod. Born only 10,000 years ago, it may not last another millenium.

Where is Indian Summer?

We can't enjoy Indian Summer until first we have been invigorated by the chill of fall. This weather makes me uneasy.