The Long Island Blog

Winter on Long Island is off to a slow start. We’ve had inconsistent temperatures and too many warm days for me to even begin to take Old Man Winter seriously. With temperatures above freezing and rain in the forecast what he threw at us yesterday will be gone by tomorrow night, and everything will look like you know what again.

Meteorologists say La Niña and the Atlantic and Arctic Oscillations are responsible for the weather we’re experience this winter. In a nutshell…

Colder Pacific Ocean temperatures caused by La Niña result in less moisture in the air. The Atlantic Oscillations and Arctic Oscillations are in a phase that allows that dry air to flow easily over the country to the east. Less moisture in the air means less snow. With less snow on the ground to reflect solar radiation winter temperatures rise.

I had to work yesterday so I couldn’t enjoy the snow while it was falling, but I did manage to snap a few pictures on the way in. The roads were so slippery that I couldn’t go past 30mph without feeling the car slip–and that’s with snow tires.

The roads were VERY slippery.

Everything looks so good covered in snow.

Driving conditions were really bad at the end of this ramp.

Snow plows to the rescue!

Back in February I went  ice fishing on Lake Bemidji, Minnesota. The weekend included a live performance of A Prairie Home Companion and a walleye dinner.

Don’t ask me why I was inspired to write about it now, I couldn’t tell you, but here’s the story, my adventures ice fishing on Lake Bemidji.

It all starts with a hole in the ice.

I’ve been reading Sippewissett (or Life on a Salt Marsh) by Tim Traver. (Don’t expect a review; the book is about Maine not Long Island.) And it’s hard for me to read about inlets, ponds, fish, shore birds, boats… without wanting to be on the water. Fortunately, living only about 2 miles from the south shore,  it’s easy for me to get to the water whenever I want without disrupting my entire day. Which is good because I ALWAYS want to be near water. So, yesterday afternoon I packed up a cup of coffee, the book, and my camera to do some reading by the bay.

The Great South Bay can be a lonely, cold, unforgiving place during the winter. On nice days you might see some duck hunters, or a few folks in their kayaks, but yesterday was not one of those days. It was cold and cloudy, and we’ve had some pretty cold weather here, so much of the bay is frozen. It was the perfect setting for coffee and a book. Sitting by the bay, when it is cold and dark is one of my favorite things to do. In many ways it is better than a beautiful, sunny day. Some of you might understand…

I read into the fading light until I couldn’t take the eye strain anymore and then got out of the car to take some pictures . The minute I stepped outside I was swarmed by seagulls. They thought I had food and hovered above me just out of reach. I thought they might drop bombs on me, but I was lucky.

Here are some of the pictures I took:

There were well over 100 birds in the air over me.

Jetty at the mouth of Browns River. Fire Island in the background.

The commercial boat Amazing Grace returns from a long day of scalloping.

And those pesky seagulls are still at it.

If there’s a fire hydrant near your house covered with snow, you should dig it out for easy access in the event of a fire. Most people don’t bother, but it really doesn’t take long and the house you save could be your own.

As much as I love a good storm, I’m getting tired of all this snow. The last thing I needed was a blizzard the day after Christmas. Another storm, before the streets are even fully clear from the first one, is not my idea of a good time. It is very pretty though…

The view out my back door.

The driveway. Ugh.

Well, this storm took me by surprise. I was expecting wind and rain but nothing like this.

It was pretty windy yesterday morning when I got up, and then at around 6:30am I heard a noise and the loud boom of a pole transformer exploding. Fortunately, I didn’t loose power, but the folks on the next block have been without electricity since yesterday morning.

This morning I went for a drive to survey the storm’s handiwork. I cannot believe the amount of damage I saw right in my own neighborhood. If this is any indication of what happened to the rest of the island, then this is a genuine disaster.

Suffolk county is estimating $30 million in damage, while LIPA is scrambling to restore power to thousands of residents. I heard that Con Ed has more outages than they did during hurricane Gloria. Incredible.

Check out these pictures. View them full size to really see the damage. (I’m told that the occupants of the green VW escaped without serious injury.)

It’s been a snowy winter for us here on Long Island and in much of the country for that matter. If you have to get up and go to work, then snow is a major pain, but even as I’m cleaning off my car and cursing the weather, I am struck by its beauty.

Every flake is different and they’re so small it’s hard to believe they can pile up so quickly and cause so much trouble. (Are there more snowflakes in a blizzard then grains of sand on the beach? It hurts my head to even think about it.) In spite of the inconvenience, the delays, and the aggravation, I always find the time to snap a few pictures.

Well, winter is off to a roaring start. If you live on the east coast you know we had snow however, if you’re one of those folks who has moved away from Long Island, here’s what you missed yesterday…

At 5am there was already 2 feet of snow on the ground and it was still coming down.

The birds showed up at dawn and they were hungry.

That’s a lot of snow. Shovel and snowblower teamed up to clear the driveway.

Elsewhere, larger machines moved even more snow.

At day’s end a beautiful sunset and clear sky over the Great South Bay.

Snow covered party boats glow in the late sun. (The shadow of my head is under the G in Stranger, my truck is to the right.)

Well, the snow’s gone, but certainly not forgotten. And just to make sure we never forget this late winter snow I’ve collected some pictures and posted them together with one of my favorite wintertime poems.

Here is Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “The Snow-Storm” and pictures of the snow on Long Island.

Here’s three quick shots of Long Island’s beautiful sunrises taken last Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. (I missed Saturday because I was sick.)

On Thursday I was lucky enough to catch a sun dog. That’s the bright little rainbow to the left of the sun near the seagull. Sun dogs are caused by ice crystals in the clouds reflecting the sun’s light and are fairly common during the winter.

Friday’s sunrise was brilliant red with a beautiful reflection of the sun over the frozen Great South Bay. The reflection shows where the bay is frozen and where it’s not, and I thought that was pretty cool.

This last picture, taken on Sunday morning, reminds me of something you might see in the arctic. There was ice everywhere and hardly any sun. In spite of what you might feel by looking at this picture, it was a relatively warm 40+ degrees F and I was quite comfortable without my gloves and hat.

So that’s three pictures of Long Island sunrises all taken in the same place, at the same time, within a few days of each other. It’s amazing how quickly the sky and the bay change isn’t it?

Edit: 02-11-2009

In reviewing the pictures I took on Sunday morning I found this one, taken with my back toward the sun. This is what the sun was looking at as it was rising.