Aug 282011
 

I walked down to DUMBO this morning. It looks like the East River came up into the park, but by the time I got there the river had settled a bit. The current was very strong; it looked like it was almost boiling with whitecaps on the top. I stitched together a bunch of photos; click through the image to see it at Gigapan.

The Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges cross the East Riven in this photo taken from DUMBO in Brooklyn, New York City after Hurricane Irene. In the background are the buildings One World Trade Center and New York By Gehry. The river was running strong with white caps due to the extra water from the storm.

Manhattan Bridge from DUMBO after Hurricane Irene
Brooklyn Bridge and One World Trade Center from DUMBO after Hurricane Irene

[Updated: added better version of panoramic photo.]

 Posted by at 1:02 pm
Aug 282011
 

Hurricane Irene has all but left the New York area. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been. There is a cloud suspended over the Brooklyn Bridge, but the East River looks calm.
Brooklyn Bridge after Hurricane Irene

Anne stayed overnight since the South Street Seaport was flooded. I woke up early this morning to make brunch.
Hurricane Brunch
Waffles, Mountain Sweet Berry Farm strawberries, cherries, Champagne, coffee, and bacon (U.S. and Canadian).

 Posted by at 10:10 am
Aug 272011
 

Patti and I have stocked up with a ton of food and such for Hurricane Irene. One of our friends is already staying with us since the city evacuated her neighborhood. Feel free to reach out to me if you need a place to stay. There is a useful evacuation map if you’re not sure if you have to evacuate: http://www.civiguard.com/irene/. Also, Con Ed is starting to tell people that they will be shutting down power to selected parts of lower Manhattan preëmptively.

 Posted by at 11:27 am
Sep 152009
 

Earlier this summer on July 26, some huge storms whipped through the New York City area. I was at home when one of them came through. Later, tornadoes were reported in Staten Island and Brooklyn; I think I saw a funnel cloud in DUMBO as well.

This is the view from my window of J Condo in DUMBO shortly before the storm began. If you look to the left of the tower, you can see an odd discoloration in the sky.
Funnel Cloud in Dumbo

I took the liberty of enhancing the photo to emphasize what may have been a weak funnel cloud.
Enhanced Funnel Cloud in Dumbo

As the sky grew stranger and stranger, I decided to go up to the roof of my building to take a look at the view. A family of four was there. Shortly after they arrived we heard huge thunderclaps. The dad said that was that and after dragging the kids away from the metal kitchen vent pipes they went downstairs. I stayed up for around five or ten more minutes. However, I was also freaked out by the loud thunderclaps directly above my head and practically ran inside.
Storms from my roof

Shortly after returning downstairs, the heavens let loose a torrent of water. A friend of mine was driving in Manhattan at the time, and described having to pull over to avoid the wall of water coming down the street. As you can see from the photo, it was impossible to see Manhattan from my apartment.
Huge rainstorm in Brooklyn

Less than 15 minutes after the rain started to fall the storm abruptly ended. If you were to look at the sky it was like nothing had happened at all.

 Posted by at 8:01 pm