Archive for October 2012
Toppled Tree Exposes Skeletal Remains
http://m.nbcnewyork.com/nbcnewyork/pm_108797/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=TnowBilV
Toppled Tree Exposes Skeletal Remains
The winds that toppled trees, knocked out power and carved a path of devastation through Connecticut Monday night, also led to a strange discovery on the New Haven Green.
A giant oak tree that stood in the downtown park since 1909 lost its footing in the powerful storm and tipped to the ground revealing human remains and what city officials believe to be some type of time capsule, tangled in its roots.
“You think it’s the hurricane? I think it’s a dead man trying to tell a tale,” a passerby, Curtis T told the New Haven Independent.
Though city officials were aware of the Green’s past as a burial ground, they did not believe that any bodies remained until calls came in on Halloween eve, reporting the grisly discovery.
Katie Carbo told the Independent that at around 3 p.m. Tuesday she called police, who confirmed her finding—an upside-down human skull, mouth agape, connected to a spine and rib cage.
City officials have also taken custody of cement box found among the bones, which they will decide what to do with at a later date, a city spokesperson said.
Even before she arrived, local artist Silas Finch said he had been digging around beneath the upended tree shortly after it fell Monday night. According to the Independent, he says he was searching for old coins but found what appeared to be a long bone instead.
The Lincoln Oak, planted on the 100th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth, is believed to have toppled at about 6 p.m. Monday, during the height of Hurricane Sandy, the Independent reported.
Police, who roped off the area about 24 hours later, and are holding the crime scene until the state medical examiner’s office arrives to retrieve the bones, do not suspect foul play, according to the Independent.
“This is someone’s family remains,” Sgt. Anthony Zona told the paper. “It should be given a proper burial.”
Sandy Schmandy
http://m.styleweekly.com/richmond/sandy-schmandy/Content?oid=1776569
Sandy Schmandy
Stop worrying about the Frankenstorm that isn’t — at least for Richmond.
by Ned Oliver @nedoliver | October 28, 2012
Schools are closed. The mayor has rolled out the city’s new mobile emergency command vehicle. And broadcasters across the state have turned to DEFCON-style storm coverage.
Lost in the swirl of media hype over Hurricane Sandy are answers to basic, practical questions about what we can expect and when. We called up Dave Dombek, a meteorologist with Accuweather.com and asked him to give us the straight talk. The full conversation follows, but the long and short of his forecast is that Richmond doesn’t have a whole lot to worry about with Sandy. As a storm, she’s just not that interested in us — she has eyes for New Jersey.
Style: Is this storm for real or have meteorologists across the east coast conspired to freak us all out and sell bottled water?
Dombek: Ah, no, it’s real. All you have to do is look at a satellite loop to see it. It’s there, and believe me, it’s definitely there, and it’s a pretty powerful storm right now.
Broadly speaking, what should Richmonders be worried about?
Fortunately, Richmond, as far as your orientation and your relation to where the storm is and everything, you’ll definitely feel some effects but it’s not going to be nearly as bad as it will be in other areas. That’s the good news. The bad: You are going to get some rain, and you’re going to probably get some heavy rains.
Total rainfall out of the storm might be on the order of 2-to-4 inches, which is certainly a very healthy rainstorm, no doubt about it, but it’s not the 4-to-8, or 8-to-10 inch plus that will occur further north. So, 2-to-4 inches of rain, some pretty gusty winds, particularly Monday into Monday night. I would say, at the peak here, we might be looking at some winds in excess of 50 mph, but that might be at the top end of what you get out of this. Couldn’t rule out a 60 mph wind gust, but probably going to be more typically in the range of 40 to 50 miles per hour, which again is certainly not a walk in the park, it’s not a picnic, it’s going to be very noticeable, it’s quite stormy, but it’s not going to be in the real brunt of the storm like they’ll get further north and north east.
When can we expect to start feeling the impact of this storm in Richmond?
Right now you’re just getting some light drizzle. It’s misty out there right now. It’s kind of windy or borderline breezy windy. Right now as you step outside you’ve probably got 16 mph winds and gusts to about 25 mph. So again it’s not very pleasant outside right now, but it’s going to get worse. What you’re going to see happen is overnight tonight that band of rain, heavier stuff that’s out to your east over the Tidewater region, that will be shifting westward into the Richmond area tonight overnight. It’s going to rain pretty good, pretty hard late tonight and through the day tomorrow and then it will sort of taper down. … The heaviest rain will get out of here tomorrow night, Monday night.
As far as a 12 hour time period, it’s probably going to be like very late tonight and into the day tomorrow — 5 am to 5 p.m. — some kind of window like that that will be your stormiest time period.
The winds will be skewed a little later. Expect your strongest winds between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. or 9 [a.m.] to 9 [p.m.] or something like that. Long after the rain tapers down, it’s going to stay pretty windy.
By Tuesday, this storm has made its way far enough up to the north above Pennsylvania, so yes there will still be some gusty winds, and some rain showers, but at that point you’re kind of just dealing with leftovers Tuesday. Just kind of a normal, crappy day.
Realistically, what should we expect in the way of power outages?
You’re in borderline area. It’s hard to say, but the wind that we’re expecting, and the amount of rain that we’re expecting, softening up the ground in some areas, should not in theory produce the widespread and massive power outages like what we’re expecting up the coast further. I’m not saying that there won’t be any but, like I said, in theory, the power outage situation should not be nearly as bad in the Richmond area as it will be over toward the coast, on the Delmarva peninsula, up in New Jersey, parts of southeastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland. Those areas will get hit much harder than you guys will. I don’t want to say that there will be no power outages, but I can almost guarantee you it will not be as bad as it will be in other places.
It’s one of those questions where it’s impossible to answer because it really depends. You could say, ‘Well, yeah, normally 40-45 mph winds, that shouldn’t be any problem.’ Well, what if that wind is just strong enough to knock down some branch somewhere, a large branch off a tree that’s already weak and it’s barely hanging on by a thread, and you could almost just get a little puff of wind and it’s going to blow it off and all of a sudden knock power off to 10,000 people or something.
After-Storm Tips We Hope You Don’t Need | Richmond Tree Stewards
http://richmondtreestewards.wordpress.com/2012/10/26/after-storm-tips-we-hope-you-dont-need/
After-Storm Tips We Hope You Don’t Need
John F. Kennedy once said, “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”
And the best time to take care of potentially hazardous trees is well before the storm, but even if everyone had done that, it is certain that trees will still come down during the next few days. Here are some tips:
- Report downed street trees or any tree blocking a street to the 311 Call Center or to the non-emergency police number (646-5100) if the call center is not available.
- For tree work on private property contact an arborist who is certified by the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA). This will help ensure safe removal when necessary or appropriate corrective measures to save the tree.
- When collecting debris for pick-up, do not place on sidewalks, parking places or where the debris will block the alley. When cutting limbs keep them at 4 feet or less; this makes curbside and alley pick-up easier.
- DO NOT put any other trash with tree debris since this could be hazardous when the debris is put through a shredder.
- See Tree First Aid
- If you have time before the power goes out, visit the True Timber blog for a unique perspective on Trees and Wind, written after Hurricane Irene.
Good luck to you and your trees!
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NOAA to East Coast: Beware of coming ‘Frankenstorm’
http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/oct/25/hurricane-sandywinter-storm-hybrid-threatens-east-/
NOAA to East Coast: Beware of coming ‘Frankenstorm’
WASHINGTON (AP) — An unusual nasty mix of a hurricane and a winter storm that forecasters are now calling “Frankenstorm” is likely to blast most of the East Coast next week, focusing the worst of its weather mayhem around New York City and New Jersey.
Government forecasters on Thursday upped the odds of a major weather mess, now saying there’s a 90 percent chance that the East will get steady gale-force winds, heavy rain, flooding and maybe snow starting Sunday and stretching past Halloween on Wednesday.
Meteorologists say it is likely to cause $1 billion in damages.
The storm is a combination of Hurricane Sandy, now in the Caribbean; an early winter storm in the West; and a blast of arctic air from the North. They’re predicted to collide and park over the country’s most populous coastal corridor and reach as far inland as Ohio.
The hurricane part of the storm is likely to come ashore somewhere in New Jersey on Tuesday morning, said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecaster Jim Cisco. But this is a storm that will affect a far wider area, so people all along the East Coast have to be wary, Mr. Cisco said.
Coastal areas from Florida to Maine will feel some effects, mostly from the hurricane part, he said, and the other parts of the storm will reach inland from North Carolina northward.
Once the hurricane part of the storm hits, “it will get broader. It won’t be as intense, but its effects will be spread over a very large area,” the National Hurricane Center’s chief hurricane specialist, James Franklin, said Thursday.
One of the more messy aspects of the expected storm is that it just won’t leave. The worst of it should peak early Tuesday, but it will stretch into midweek, forecasters say. Weather may start clearing in the mid-Atlantic the day after Halloween and Nov. 2 in the Northeast, Mr. Cisco said.
“It’s almost a weeklong, five-day, six-day event,” Mr. Cisco said Thursday from NOAA’s northern storm forecast center in College Park, Md. “It’s going to be a widespread serious storm.”
With every hour, meteorologists are getting more confident that this storm is going to be bad, and they’re able to focus their forecasts more.
The New York area could see around 5 inches of rain during the storm, while there could be snow southwest of where it comes inland, Mr. Cisco said. That could mean snow in eastern Ohio, southwestern Pennsylvania, western Virginia and the Shenandoah Mountains, he said.
Both private and federal meteorologists are calling this a storm that will likely go down in the history books.
“We don’t have many modern precedents for what the models are suggesting,” Mr. Cisco said.
It is likely to hit during a full moon, when tides are near their highest, increasing coastal flooding potential, NOAA forecasts warn. And with some trees still leafy and the potential for snow, power outages could last to Election Day, some meteorologists fear.
Some have compared it to the so-called Perfect Storm that struck off the coast of New England in 1991, but Mr. Cisco said that one didn’t hit as populated an area and is not comparable to what the East Coast may be facing. Nor is it like last year’s Halloween storm, which was merely an early snowstorm in the Northeast.
“The Perfect Storm only did $200 million of damage, and I’m thinking a billion,” said Jeff Masters, meteorology director of the private service Weather Underground. “Yeah, it will be worse.”
But this is several days in advance, when weather forecasts are usually far less accurate. The National Hurricane Center only predicts five days in advance, and each long-range forecast moves Sandy’s track closer to the coast early next week. The latest has the storm just off central New Jersey’s shore at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
As forecasts became more focused Thursday, the chance of the storm bypassing much of the coast and coming ashore in Maine faded, Mr. Cisco said.
The hurricane center’s Mr. Franklin called it “a big mess for an awful lot of people in the early part of next week.”
VA.PHC 