The last couple of hours have been quite active. The second thundershower of the afternoon seems to be winding down. Not much lightening and thunder just heavy rain.

The thunder first started at about 2:30. Long low rumbles from a distance great enough that you couldn't even detect the flash of the lightening. When I head them, I did what I always do. I went to the website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to check the radar. The image from 2:23 showed the approaching storm and but it was hard to tell if we would get it or not. Unfortunately, the image never updated. For 2.5 hours all I could get out of the Upton, NY radar was the 2:23 image.

The radar site is now up to date and seems to updating every few minutes. When you play the animated loop you you can clearly se there is a big chunk of time missing. It looks as though there is a band of storms working its way along the CT shore of Long Island Sound.

We now seem to be between storms. I can hear the faint rumble of distant thunder but for the moment the rain has stopped. But along the track the storms have followed the radar is displaying colors from 40 dBZ (yellow) to 60 dBZ (red).

At one point, while a freshman in college, I gave serious consideration to abandoning my journalism major to study meteorology. I had no desire to be a TV weatherman but I wanted to study storms. I wanted to be the guy Bill Pullman would play in some weather disaster movie. But I stayed with the journalism major and parlayed that into a successful career in design and now I just watch the storms pass by. Either on the NOAA radar or leaning against the window frame so I can feel the thunder when it shakes the house.

UPDATE: 6:37 Rain has begun again. Lightening and thunder about 5 miles out. According to the radar image this is the front edge of another large storm cell that is just crossing the NY/CT border. If you need me, I'll be at the window.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 12:52 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment