Saturday, August 27, 2011

Waiting for Irene

Today we're experiencing the calm before the storm. Although all of Maine is under a tropical storm warning, we're not freaking out here. I've heard forecasts that predict anywhere from 2-7 inches of rain for this area of western Maine. Tomorrow, we'll be experiencing 30-40 mile per hour sustained winds, with possible gusts up to 60 mph. It's hard believe that our partly cloudy day will digress quickly into a tropical storm.

I'm going to watch several data sources over the next 48 hours to stay informed- the weather station at the Mt. Mica observatory and the USGS stream gauge on the Little Androscoggin River. I need something to do here on "vacation", so when it's going to be raining all day, I might as well watch the weather.

1:30 p.m. Saturday August 27

Mt. Mica:
Temperature: 81.5 degrees
Wind: 0 gusting to 2 mph
Barometric Pressure: 29.94 and falling
Partly cloudy
No precipitation.

Little Androscoggin River:

33 cubic feet per second.


As the day progresses, I'm expecting the pressure to drop, the river to start running higher, and the winds to pick up. Yeah, that's not exactly rocket science, is it?

I've been a weather buff for a long time- the questions really are: just how much rain will be get? How long will we experience 30-40 mph winds? Will those winds take out any of the trees lining the driveway and adjacent power lines that lead back to the house? Fortunately, our experience here will be relatively minor to what's going on in North Carolina right now.

I'll check back with updated stats before I head to bed.

-Tom


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