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| The end of a healthy beach system |
Where there used to be huge dunes, there is cosmetic Band-Aid sand. I've seen every mile of the Jersey Shore, and these used to be some of the biggest dunes in the developed areas. Now it's cosmetic Band-Aid sand. All those years of beach grass and root systems, gone. Replaced by mush that will wash away in half a tide. I'll never forget that earthy plant smell that was in the air while the ocean was eating the real dunes. The 1984 Northeaster took a good amount (learned from photographs) and some came back, but not all of it. The 1991 and 1992 storms took a lot more, some came back, but a lot didn't. This storm took most of what was left.
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| The end of an age. |
You know when people say 'you can't buy happiness'. Sometimes I think that philosophy should be bulldozed up and put in the trash pile in the parking lot. Tangible things are just as important as intangible things. So even though many people have made it through with the intangible thing called their life, many of those people have lost or damaged possessions. So when I see a giant pile of ruined stuff in the parking lot, I empathize with those whose stuff it is and what they are going through right now. Your life, the lives around you, your home, your cars and your possessions are how I order what is important. Any loss or damage to any of those five things is going to hurt, and I can feel that hurt coming from the island right now when I tune in.
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| Another perspective of how much east wind was over the ocean on the day of landfall. |
The prevailing wind in the middle latitudes is westerly. It was very unusual to have easterly winds across the entire North Atlantic on October 29th, the day of landfall. The degree of how unusual that is, is equivalent to going up to someone and having them say it was the warmest October in Nuuk, Greenland since at least 1978, right around where that high pressure that made all the east winds was getting jammed up.
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| Banned from the big sky. Donald was shut out from his first beach view in a month by fog. Sometimes you just know. |
Donald and I needed to get out from inland and so he decided to take a fishing road trip. My enthusiasm for it was about level with staying inside, but I opted for the trip. We woke up to fog, drove down in fog, and hit the beach in fog. Weather refugees who can't escape. We hit the beach and the water actually looked pretty good, from what we could see of it. I gave it about 10 casts with a yellow mambo. No hits. Ok let's get out of here. We checked another beach, cast for a bit, looked at each other and didn't have to say nahhhh. Let's get out of here. If it's not going to be correct, it's not going to be correct. One thing I do is let myself do what it wants, and it is telling me that I have no patience to cast into quiet water with a damp S wind in my face. I can't put it together to fish this fall, and so I won't.
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| Marine Cyclonic Storm |
Of course the real reason for the trip was the brainstorm session of what official name to give a type of storm like Frankenstorm Super Storm Hurricane Hybrid Sandy. It took Donald all of 10 seconds to say without reservation MARINE CYCLONIC STORM. I instantly liked it. It was a marine cyclonic storm. It was a cyclone that had originated over the ocean and was sustained and energized, at least partially, by being over the ocean. That leaves the tropical and extratropical confusion out of the name, since marine cyclonic storms are storms that display both tropical and extratropical characteristics. Then the official weather forecast will look like this:
. . . DANGEROUS MARINE CYCLONIC STORM HEADING FOR MID-ATLANTIC COAST WITH LANDFALL EXPECTED SOMEWHERE IN NEW JERSEY . . . THIS STORM IS VERY LARGE AND IS EXPECTED TO HAVE A WIDESPREAD IMPACT . . .
. . . A DANGEROUS MARINE CYCLONIC STORM IS FORECAST TO LANDFALL IN THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. A LARGE BLOCKING HIGH PRESSURE NEAR GREENLAND IS FORECAST TO STEER THE STORM INTO NEW JERSEY. THE HIGHEST WINDS IN THE CYCLONE ARE 90MPH WITH GUSTS TO 115MPH. PRESSURE IS 941MB. THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS SYSTEM. LANDFALL IS EXPECTED TO COINCIDE WITH THE FULL MOON HIGH TIDE. THE COMBINATION OF A LARGE FETCH OF EASTERLY WINDS AROUND THE BLOCKING HIGH, THE WINDS OF THE STORM, EXCEEDINGLY LOW ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE, AND THE ANTICIPATED ARRIVAL OF THE STORM AT AN ASTRONOMICAL HIGH TIDE WILL CREATE A POSSIBLE RECORD STORM SURGE NORTH AND EAST OF THE CENTER. THE STORM SURGE MAY REACH 10-15FT. BARRIER ISLAND OVER WASH AND SEVERE BACK BAY FLOODING IS LIKELY WHERE THE SURGE COMES ASHORE. INLAND, HIGH WINDS GUSTING FROM 80-90MPH WILL LIKELY CAUSE WIDESPREAD DOWNED TREES AND POSSIBLY LONG LASTING POWER OUTAGES . . .
. . . A MARINE CYCLONIC STORM IS A CYCLONE THAT ORIGINATES OVER MARINE WATERS . . . AND IS NEITHER CLASSIFIED AS A TROPICAL CYCLONE OR AN EXTRATROPICAL CYCLONE . . .
It was at times extratropical, at times a hurricane, and most times it was a cyclone that wasn't really either one. It's in its own class. Marine Cyclonic Storms. The Marine Cyclonic Storm of 2012. The 2012 Marine Cyclonic Storm. Marine Cyclonic Storms.
So Doug catches all the fish now, I'm not fishing. The dunes were huge, now they are fake. The westerlies became easterlies, even if only for a bit. Donald and I fish lures, but we fished a beach that is known for bait.
What is next?
