Tag Archives: weather

Coney Island’s Astroland, the nation’s most legendary boardwalk arcade, closed forever this weekend although some still hope that it will someday return. The Wonder Wheel and the world famous Cyclone roller coaster are landmarked and must remain where they are. The Astroland property is set to become a giant “destination” ocean side resort with luxury condos. Sigh. This year’s extraordinarily …

The mandatory evacuation of New Orleans proper is scheduled to begin at 8am Sunday, the airport has announced that the final departures will be tomorrow afternoon, and in telling the hotels to close, the Mayor just said, “Tourists, it’s time to leave the city. Do not wait.” And yet the latest update (embiggen above) of the official Southern Decadence site …

Hurricane forecasters have tightened the probable landfall zone for Gustav and are now saying it may come ashore slightly west of New Orleans, putting the city squarely on the wrong side of the storm’s worst winds and flooding. An evacuation of Louisiana’s barrier islands is underway at this writing. A mandatory evacuation of Lafourche Parish begins at 8am tomorrow. New …

I got an email from someone affiliated with Southern Decadence who suggests keeping an eye on their official site regarding updates on the status of the events. At this writing, no events have been canceled, but numerous JMG readers have reported that their hotels are telling them that an evacuation of New Orleans may begin long before Gustav’s landfall is …

My buddy Little Tom just canceled his trip to Southern Decadence as Tropical Storm Gustav appears like it may be heading for New Orleans. On the eve of Hurricane Katrina’s third anniversary, a nervous New Orleans watched Wednesday as another storm threatened to test what the city has rebuilt. Forecasters warned that Hurricane Gustav could hit on Labor Day somewhere …

To misquote Bananarama, it’s a cool summer. Other than that miserable but short-lived heatwave last month, NYC has had quite the moderate season. This morning the news noted that we’ve only had 11 days over 90 degrees, but usually average about twice that. Seems like the weather patterns have flattened here for the last couple of years, very little snow, …

It’s dark and scary outside. Tornado warnings for most of the city. It can happen here, there was a tornado in Brooklyn last year.

Check out this incredible shot of a tornado touching down in Iowa as caught by local woman Lori Mehman. Somehow nobody was killed. And down in Fort Lauderdale our own Father Tony caught a gorgeous shot of a waterspout just off the coast.

Manhattan is a pretty miserable place to be when it gets this hot, innit? Be glad this only happens a few times a year.

NASA provides a view of Myanmar (Burma) before and after the cyclone. Terrifying. (Via – Andrew Sullivan)

We are fully sprunged today in NYC and the Upper East Side is bustling with people in shorts. Not much of a winter, was it? Just a few days of meager snow and a couple of bitterly cold weekends. Meh. The little girls up the block have got their lemonade stand back in business, raising money for “Bring A Baby …

After a New Year’s weekend with temps pushing 50, I wake up today to find the wind chill at 7 degrees. Wha’ happened? If it’s gonna be this cold, I demand snow. It’s only fair.

Tropical Storm Noel is causing waves to crash over Fort Lauderdale’s meager little sea wall, covering A1A with sand. There’s going to be significant erosion of LaDeDa’s already narrow beach. Up in Palm Beach County, beachfront structures are losing their foundations. But in the spring, the sand machines will dredge up some new beach somewhere. Still, it seems like the …

One thing WingNutDaily did get right: yesterday tied with August 1911 as the coldest August day in New York City history. The high was only 59 and it was in low 50s most of the day. I rather enjoyed spending the day in a hoodie. I wouldn’t mind living in these kind of temps year ’round. Seriously.

Yesterday my mother’s neighborhood association performed a ritual burning of a banner bearing the names of this year’s hurricanes. This new tradition began last year, which turned out to be the first in several years that Orlando was not clobbered. Mom’s not claiming that this bit of homeowner voodoo worked, mind you. But it does make everybody feel a little …

Holy crap! We got 7.81 inches of rain in Central Park yesterday, the wettest day in NYC in 119 years, and almost breaking the 1888 record. That’s Florida-style rain right there. But there’s no flooding around Manhattan, at least none that I’ve noticed. I guess we’ve got great drainage ’round these parts.

The temp is 8 degrees with a wind chill of -10, and I am telling you I’m not going back to gloves now that I’ve realized how much better mittens are. And could I look more like a chubby fireplug? Sigh. .

Thanks very much for all the kind emails asking about my family regarding this morning’s tornados in Central Florida. I am touched by your concern. My people are all OK, the storm did the most damage in Lake and Volusia counties, where at least 14 were killed. Orlando is the thunderstorm capital of North America, but seems have been spared …

Of interest to those with homes or family in Florida, the Florida Senate has voted to ban insurance companies from “cherry picking” which coverage they will offer in the state. Some insurance companies have been retreating from offering home owner’s insurance in Florida ever since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, but they continue to sell auto and life insurance. (My mother …