OK, I have three updates from 3 different cities in the NE to share with you. I apologize to those of who might be reading one or all of these multiple times, but this is the final mailing of these particular accounts... more may follow tomorrow. These accounts were all from the afternoon through evening of 9/16. The first is from Rose Connelly in Williamsport, PA. The second is from Tara McNoldy in Reading, PA, and the third is from Nancy Bose in Verbank, NY. This message will serve as the bulk of the Tropical Update today... a short one will follow with brief comments on Floyd and Gert, but nothing like the past few days. ******************************************** ***** WILLIAMSPORT, PA *********** ******************************************** Thanks for the warnings, Bri! I daresay if it weren't for you, my parents would have delayed getting the front roof covered. The last batch of rain caused leaking in our front room, and they havene't been able to secure a roofer to fix it yet. So when I showed the parents your letter, they put tarps on it, and secured it as well as possible, we'll see if it holds. FYI, it's been raining since I got up this morning. Steady, and calm at first, but after lunch we started getting heavy downpours, and now the winds have set in. Sometimes it blows so hard the rain goes sideways for a bit. There is a flash flood warning in effect until midnight for the whole area. We'll see what it looks like when I drive home in a little bit. TTYL, Ro *************************************** ***** READING, PA ************* *************************************** I read your updates nearly everyday recently since Floyd. They're great, I couldn't live my life without your knowledge. --Actually, I didn't think it would be THIS bad, but you were right, as much as I hate to say that! You'd be proud of me... I took pics of the museum "creek" turned to river. Taco, Mom, and Jim came with me because they didn't want me driving my car (the driveway into the museum was flooded so we couldn't get in that way anyway). I had Jim go around the other way and I got out and walked around in the rain and got about 20 pics. It is incredible. I hope they come out good, I'll probably get them developed Friday... (a lot of places were closed this evening, and I assumed Rite-Aid was one of them). I wore flip-flops too, to get the full affect of walking through the hurricane :) And I even stuck my foot in the rapid flowing creek...I'm sure that my family was on the edge of their seats assuming I would fall in. But, I didn't, even though if I would have fallen in, I would have been swept away and banged into the swans at the edge. So, please mention my name now that I gave you an update and told you how you saved my life by telling me NOT to drive or walk across deep water. your sista, Tara ************************************** ***** VERBANK, NY ************* ************************************** Brian and I stayed up late last night (early this morning) with a determination to "be there" when Floyd made landfall. We had numerous file transfers, and as Brian was composing his tropical update, I was running Irad from the Wilmington NC site. The images were outstanding, and I had quite a loop going before I wiped it out. As Floyd approached land, his eye became less distinct so determining actual landfall was a challenge...but we agreed that it happened sometime around 2:20....(I think) almost right at Cape Fear. This morning, I awoke to rain (no small wonder) as Floyd neared New York. The rain grew in intensity, quickly becoming a downpour~the sort that usually lasts about 5 minutes. Only this continued, no end in sight. Around 11am, my boss was looking for someone to drive 4 technicians to Newburgh NY (south of here). He was somewhat taken aback by my near frantic "I'll go, I'll go." Anything to be out in it...anything to go SOUTH. About that time, it had also started to blow a bit. There was also a trip that had to be taken to Long Island, and I nearly CRIED to do that trip as well, but it was cancelled. Anyway, off to Newburgh I went, scarcely able to maintain a businesslike decorum. As we drove, the subject turned to the weather. Actually, some one said, "how 'bout that rain!". 1/2 hour later, I realized I had been the only one talking for about 29 of those 30 minutes....going on about all sorts of crap that they were totally clueless about. Ooops. Anyway, I got rid of them, cranked the radio up and road the storm for a while, as it was quite robust at that point. Going over the Newburgh/Beacon bridge was a TRIP. Torrential winds, violent gusts....I was loving it. My wild ride was over too soon, and I sat out the afternoon at the dealership, watching firetrucks speed up and down route 9. Blowing wires kept causing small fires in the trees next door, and there were a lot of accidents and such. The ride home was the best yet. Wind wind wind, and floods! Nothing of the "end of the world" sort, but the streams and rivers that had been laid so low by our drought were EXPLODING. Roads closed all over....especially to the south. TOTALLY COOL. I had to break my safety rule of driving through moving water of unknown depth...but I was familiar with the roads, and even if the car had been caught up, there was no place for it to go. Tomorrow, I'll go out and try to get some shots of the various rivers cresting. Chris asked if I felt vindicated for my lack of tornadoes this year. No. Floyd was terrific, but much of hurricanes are about being wet, being cold, and losing power. Playing with the hurricanes when you have a playmate like Brian is ALWAYS a kick, and I learned lots. When you follow a storm of this magnitude from its birth to its death, you develope a sense of ownership, too, that is quite comical. If I had been able to make it to the coast, I'm sure it would have been even MORE fun, but the timing was off. There is NOTHING, however, that nature can offer that rivals the beauty and grandeur of the storms on the plains. Nothing. So as we go into the fall, perhaps there will be a few more hurricanes, perhaps not. I hope there are; Floyd was a magnificent journey and I want to do it again. (apologies to those suffering damage and loss of property). I don't wish a hurricane to hit, really, I just know that storms happen, and I want to be a part of every one I can. The air is cooler now. I can smell fall, almost. The pumpkins in the front yard (OK, growth from last year's pumpkins that I left out till Xmas and they went to seed) are ready to harvest. A few leaves have changed. Far from being depressed, I know that the next time I feel 90 degree heat will probably be when I step off that plane in Wichita, and we once again take to the roads to chase down those magnificent sky stretching, gut wrenching mega storms of Tornado Alley. So here's to the memories, the laughs, the friendships, the learning, the teaching...and all the wonderful things we have shared and will share again. With that, I hereby declare the BEGINNING of the Y2K chase season!!!!! We're in countdown! Just keep that thought, even when you have snow up to your knee caps....winter and all that it brings is a necessary preamble to what we all love best. Nancy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Brian D. McNoldy Colorado State University Dept. of Atmospheric Science Fort Collins, CO 80523-1371 Phone: (970) 491-8398 Fax: (970) 491-8449 E-mail: mcnoldy@CIRA.colostate.edu URL: http://thor.cira.colostate.edu/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Don't drink and derive."