The Storm Cometh...

Come on Irene...

Growing up in Vermont I have dealt with extreme weather. Vermont can be hot in the summer (not blazing southwest hot, I know, but hot enough to cause problems), cold in the winter (-20F cold enough to qualify as extreme?), snowy as all get-out. We even get earthquakes and tornadoes at times (again, they don't hold a candle to those in California, or the mid-west, but still). There are some extreme weather we don't get though. Wildfires don't typically occur, neither do sandstorms or hurricanes. In fact, the northeast in general does not typically experience any of the three.

So, with the approach of Hurricane Irene to the greater New York City area, I'm not really sure what to expect. Most people around here aren't. In the last 50 years, only 5 hurricanes have tracked within 75 miles of NYC. Irene is predicted to pass directly over Queens. I'm at a loss to even quite comprehend, let alone explain, the problems this may cause. For example, the Metro Transit Authority (the organization responsible for running all the NYC subways, buses, Long Island Rail Road, and Metro-North Railroad) has announced that it will be stopping service for the duration of the storm starting at noon on Saturday. Additionally, they have said that it will take a number of hours to restart once the storm has passed. Thus, the public transit may not be running fully until midday on Monday. So, this all boils down to the commuting system for all of NYC, Long Island, Upstate New York, and Connecticut probably not existing Monday morning...

Additionally, since we don't usually get hurricanes through here, buildings are not necessarily designed to handle them. For example, my apartment has 9' high, by 20' wide windows across its exterior walls. The entire building is similar to this setup. Thus, flying debris may be an issue.

Anyway, I'm battening down for my first hurricane experience. Hopefully it will be a good show outside, with none of the drama coming in.

So:

Come on Irene,

Toora Loora Toora Loo-Rye-Aye!

~Alex