Lightning was intense, thunder booms going off every few seconds at its height although I didnt see too much wind as was in Brooklyn. Luckily I just have a 5 minute drive to JFK to work.
Lightning was intense, thunder booms going off every few seconds at its height although I didnt see too much wind as was in Brooklyn. Luckily I just have a 5 minute drive to JFK to work.
It's funny because now it is totally dry out there at least by me. No flooding or anything though I have not gone on the dock to see if the water is higher than normal. No major damage out over here. I am headded to the mall so I will see the rest of the island when I get there. My Dad said there are a ton of branches down in the lot of his wharehouse though.
Southwest Airlines-"Once it pop's it's time to stop" Southwest Airlines-"Our Shamu's are almost real" Southwest Airlines -"We blow our top real easy" Southwest Airlines- "You can't top us..... really"
I think rain as heavy as this (Central Park got 3.37 inches in less than 2 hours) normally hits an only isolated area, whereas this was just a massive concentration of heavy rain that enveloped the entire area. The radar I saw from channel 2 was the largest mass of orange and red cells I've ever seen over NYC. 99 times out of 100, strong storms coming from the west weaken once they get over the hills of northern Jersey and the Hudson River. These storms seem to have exploded when they got to the coastline and the city.Originally Posted by Phil D.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem.
All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control.
I trust you are not in too much distress. —Captain Eric Moody, British Airways Flight 9
Anyway, I made it to work. When I left at 10:30 the 1 train was fine for where I needed, though it is not moving south of 34th. LIRR and MNRR seem to be nearly back to normal, but the subways are still a disaster. With the Queens Blvd line still shut down east of Forest Hills, I would guess LIRR will be honoring MetroCards for the evening rush. My trip back to Queens tonight will probably be an adventure. :x
Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem.
All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control.
I trust you are not in too much distress. —Captain Eric Moody, British Airways Flight 9
“The problem with socialism is that you eventually,
run out of other people’s money.” - Margaret Thatcher
Headed out for the 1 train a little bit later than usual (some days you just don't want to get out of bed... and I should have followed my instinct to call out sick) and was half expecting the 1 to not be running (it's only 1 level underground and even light rainstorms flood the line) so when I got confirmation of that I was not surprised.
Went to catch the M104 bus from the UWS and the line of people was RIDICULOUS. Heard that even the C was delayed, so I decided to walk to a different bus line.
I'd never caught a bus on West End Ave. before, but I figured there was probably one that ran there, so I walked over and then continued down looking for a stop.... ten mins later and thanks to a kindly doorman, I learned that assumption WAS DEAD WRONG.
Headed over to Riverside Drive (after noting the Broadway-bus-disasters heading down the street with passengers practically spilling out the doors and windows) figuring that most people wouldn't bother walking so far west to head down to midtown.
Joined a small crowd of a dozen or so people waiting for the M5.
An M5 appeared in the distance.... and M5 disappeared in the distance. Too full to stop.
An M5 appeared in the distance.... and M5 disappeared in the distance. Too full to stop.
An M5 appeared in the distance.... and M5 disappeared in the distance. Too full to stop.
An M5 appeared in the distance.... and M5 disappeared in the distance. Too full to stop.
An M5 appeared in the distance.... and M5 disappeared in the distance. Too full to stop.
I ask the girl to my right if she wants to walk back to Broadway and split a cab downtown--apparently that what she had been trying for the 30 mins BEFORE she gave up and came to the bus stop. Decide that idea sucks.
Tried to get any NYC friends on the phone, all went to voicemail. Called my mother in STL to see if she could check out the MTA website, maybe I could catch a crosstown or walk to the East Side if those trains were still running. Mother couldn't figure out my directions, "google the words MTA and NYC," and is no help to me at all.
Decide to start walking.
Approach an express stop and *gasp* see an M5 stop to let off approx. 10 people and 10 of the waiting got on. Figured that was the place to be and the next bus would probably have departing passengers as well. Wait.
Wait.
Wait.
Call boss to tell her that she should not to even try to come in before the afternoon (she lives about 10 blocks away from me and has family visiting her in town); at this moment kindly looking man and woman strangers roll down their window to see if anyone wants a ride. I hang up on my boss. I run to the car. For the first time in my life I get in a car with strangers (didn't even do it 2 years ago during the MTA strike) because I just have that much stuff I have to get done in my office and I must make it in.
Get a ride to midtown. Was not raped/murdered/killed. Walk the last 15 blocks to my office.
2 hours and 5 mins later walk into my office. Boyfriend calls. He just got up and is leaving the apartment. 1 train has started running. He'll be at work in 10 mins. Consider breaking up with him.
HAHAHA! Excellent trip report, Lia.
My experience was different form some others.
first, I woke up at 530am to the sound of thunder. Lightning and thunder simultaneously, telling me that it was striking within just a couple blocks of me or closer. Mel and I had gone to sleep with the windows open, so we crawled out of bed and closed our respective windows and got paper towels to dry off the soaked sills and our nightstands.
Mel woke up at 715, and she got me up as my alarm clock at 815, to see her to the door and lock up behind her.
Now...I have the day off. So I just sat at my desk in my pajamas, ate some cereal and read email while listening to the rough time OTHER people were having on NY1 on TV.
Mel came home and destroyed the "man town" getaway that I create for myself when home alone....I had to put away the beer, the blocks of cheese, the loud music and the Rambo headband came off. Suckage.
Mel and I hung out for a couple hours, getting (my 2nd) breakfast and shipping her off to work on round 12:45.
That was pretty much it as far as my involvement. Glad none of you got hurt.
Email me anytime at [email protected].
F2 Tornado in Brooklyn... Very rare in these parts... Man I would have loved to been there for that!
The SPC has it as a severe wind report.
I woke up at about 4:30 to the sound of thunder. (Actually, "wake up" is a generous term...I'm a bit of an insomniac.) I looked outside, and it was the second-craziest thunderstorm I've seen in New York (the first being the Labor Day Derecho of 1998). Torrential rain, constant lightning, and a bit windy. I live only a few miles from where this tornado happened, and I didn't know it was that bad until I got up and read the news. I wish this kind of thing happened during the day...I work in a glass building :D
It had to be a heck of an experince from the airports. A few nights ago we had what one of my co workers deemed the 5th worst t storm he had seen in his time at LGA. I would have loved to have been up in the "office" for that one for sure today. And that is RARE that it was an F2. Scarey to think that only spitting distance from my home there was something like that. It would have sucked to be asleep when that happened.
Southwest Airlines-"Once it pop's it's time to stop" Southwest Airlines-"Our Shamu's are almost real" Southwest Airlines -"We blow our top real easy" Southwest Airlines- "You can't top us..... really"
The SPC has it as a severe wind report.
Interesting... Either SPC hasn't updated their records, or the local NWS is lying.. lol... What I saw on the news tonight was that the NWS declared the damage a result of a EF2 tornado... So I will take that as the truth.. Maybe the word hasn't gotten down to Norman, OK yet.. I mean for them an EF-2 is probably nothing...
Oh and an EF-2 isn't "rare" for up here, it's just unusual... We saw an EF-2 last year in Westchester County, during the day though... Tornadoes can happen anywhere, anytime... It's all about atmospheric conditions, and how favorable they are for rotation etc...
What do they do to actually determine if and what kind of tornado it was after the fact?
Email me anytime at [email protected].
NWS actually sends a team to the site and measures things like the grass patterns, amount of force estimated to uproot trees and so on.
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.' "
Ronald Reagan
The SPC updated their data.
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/070807_rpts.html
The second one is a mile from my apartment!! I'd have gone to see the damage yesterday if I knew about it :shock:
The old Fujita Scale used damage as the main factor when determining the strength of a tornado. This was somewhat problematic though, as many tornadoes, especially in the middle of the country, don't hit anything and damage is minimal... So you could have had a huge tornado with 300MPH winds in a large field but because there was minimal damage, only have it rated as a F2. On the flip side, you could have had a weak tornado rip through a shanty-town and rip it apart, and have it rated as a F3.
The new Fujita Scale, called the "Enhanced Fujita Scale", takes not only damage into account but also wind speed and strength... The NWS will send field units out after a reported tornado to assess damage and come up with a report.
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