The AM Forum

(http://images.intellicast.com/WxImages/RadarLoop/hfd_None_anim.gif)

Yep, point your finger to the center of that blue blob and there's Cornecticut.  They're killing us!  Blizzard cornditions. Took Yaz for a walk - looked like a polar bear.


T

Hey Steve,
  I looked at the web cams in Colonial town. It looks very pretty, but dangerous for those not used to that type of weather. Alan says they closed down CWF at 3:00 this afternoon.

Bill

I'm suprised they lasted until 3! The main roads aren't that bad. Even the streets in my neighborhood are quite passable. The winds are supposed to kick up to 35 MPH. That might take down some snow laden trees and kill the AC power. That would suck far more than the snow!

We only have 2 inches so far but the wind is wipping.

Looks like it's getting ugly for the north east
Windy in the 20's here in Western PA.
Global warming yea FB OM
FRED

Just checked and see only about 3" deep. Reason is the snow is VERY fine granules, so accumulation is slow. It's been snowing hard for six hours now, so this is surprising.

Winds are 40mph+. I was watching the 40M Yagis getting pushed around earlier.  The one at 190' has hell to pay up there.


T

I bet the boom for the 80 meter loops is dancing.

Wow, was that caused by an earthquake?

Bill said:
That aint the half of it, Bill. I lived down there for about 6 years. They would cancel school before the first snowflake hit the ground. Onetime the cancelled and the storm missed them. Roads were clear and dry. Made them go to school on Memorial Day, but they got all their spring break off! That would have pissed me off had I'd been a kid!

Can you see the dancing loops?


(http://www.amwindow.org/misc/jpg/loops.jpg)


http://www.amwindow.org/misc/jpg/loops.jpg

I'm excited! The wind has picked up and the buoy bells are clanging away!
Bring on the blizzard, ready with the new generator, radio and the trusty wood stove.
Heater is running in the barn, comfortable 72 degrees despite the wind howling around the building. All in all, a great night to play radio!

(http://www.w1ujr.net/images/DSC01326.jpg)

Yep, dancing like the steel loops in Dolly Parden's bra.


Gawd, it musta taken a lot of swearing to gets your loops positioned right in the trees.. ;D

T

C'mon Bruce. Tell us the truth. You're just anxious to see if your new GENSET is going to work!  ;)

Time for some boat drinks...beam me somewhere Mr. Scott!

Guilty as charged!

And I bet Bruce has a smuggg Flex radio to boot!!!
Fred

Fred said:
 :D  :D  :D

Silly guys.
Nope, no computers in shack!
On the other side of the barn, yes.

Stations:
Collins 30K - 75A1
Icom 7700 - PW1

The Icom is as close to a computer as I come!

Not a Flex radio in the bunch, if you're going to use a computer to control your radio, why bother with RF?  :D

Bruce said:
Here, here!!!!

Just took 8 passes to clear the sidewalk. Friggen snow plow packed it in real good. Wind is still wipping out there. My face still burns. Winter sucks. It is just an excuse to play radio.

You must have found something better to do ;D ;D ;D I was SWL'ing all night and didn't hear you. Lots of people over the week end were on the big 85 and below. Not too much 160 operation however.

There was a big 24" snow drift blocking the garage overhead door. OUCH! Once shoveled, I just drove the car up and down the driveway about 10 times.  The driveway looks good enuff for me. Screw shoveling or paying a plow...   I ain't anal-enuff to need a perfect driveway anyway. *Guaranteed* it will all be gone by June. ;D

T

Not much here in Lorain. Just a dusting. Some grass is even visable.
Good to hear you on the WFDN last night, Steve!

Wild winds here last night and today...gusts at Westerly Airport about 2 miles from here peaked well over 50 about 2 AM.  We have two dwarf Alberta spruce trees outside the front door about 4 feet high in huge ceramic pots that weigh over 100 lbs each that were blown over, lit Christmas lights and all, put them back  upright about noon time, and at about 4 PM found one of them blown over again!  Thankfully less than a foot of snow, but drifts over 2 feet in places.  Our dog Yogi wanted to go out at the height of the storm, took one look out the door and ran back to the family room.  Had to shovel him a path to his favorite pit stop before he would go out.

I was on tonight too. I think you slipped out early. Got about 8" of snow here but some melted already today.

This is big tube WX

Chris,

Can I sail a canoe to Ram Island or the Westerly Yacht Club  (summertime) without get swamped from big waves like on Misquamicut beach?  There seems to be a barrier/ cove there on the map, but I can't be sure.  Yaz hasn't tasted salt water yet, so want to know what I'm up against... ;)

T

Tom:

Ram Island YC is down in Mystic, kind of open water down there, might be a bit rough for a canoe.  Westerly RI YC is upriver on the Pawcatuck about a mile or two from Watch Hill and is private.  Little Narragansett Bay, behind the Napatree Point barrier beach running down to Watch Hill should be a great place to sail a canoe.  You could put in from the Barn Island state public boat launch over here on the CT side.  It's at the end of Palmer Neck Road, which is your first right (within 200 feet) on Greenhaven Road from US 1 North here in Pawcatuck.  Popular spot for windsurfing from on LNB.

Can see why you would have trouble at Misquamicut - that's open ocean water over there.  You might be able to put in on the salt pond over there but I don't know of a public access launch point.  

Would not recommend doing it tonight though.  A wind gust caught the door on the Volvo tonight as I was getting out at Home Depot over in Westerly and would have trashed the hinges if I lost hold of the door.  Been gusting to over 40 all day.

and then.
I'll take the snow!

Chris,

Yes, that's what I meant to say... launch at Barns and sail into Little Narragansett Bay and stop by the barrier beach I see on the map.  I was mistaking it for of Ram Island in Mystic, since I plan a trip there too.

So it looks like I should be OK sailing from the barrier beach to Watch Hill, yes? Or is Watch Hill open ocean and kinda rough?  I'll find out for sure when I get there and will put Narr Bay in the future plans.  I also wonder if I go when the tide is moving out - is this too much to paddle a canoe against in case I have no sailing wind in my favor?

TNX, OM.

T

Well For all the wind, predictions etc.. I only had run reports for a dozen of so generators (out of 2000+)  and most of those were up along the NH VT border towns. A few on in CT and that was it!

I lost my 160 dipole a  new installation last May. Looks like one of the Chi-Com "Marine" grade pulleys broke.. After it came down, our Newfoundland Puppy decided it was a great new chew toy.. Glad I have Friday off.. I'll be stringing some new wire and looking for some better hardware!

Steve

Napatree is the end of the barrier beach that runs out to the west from Watch Hill. There is no place to put in at Watch Hill itself from a car or truck, parking is limited and expensive for long term, and there is no public access launch facility.  Best bet is to put in at Barn Island and head over to the back side of the Napatree barrier beach, locally known as  "The Kitchen".  Transient boaters who anchor out off Watch Hill put in there with their dinghies or even beach their smaller powerboats, and it's then a short walk into Watch Hill itself.  Can't say about the currents in there - Uncle Al, W1UX, who keeps his sailboat at Stonington probably could clue you in.  You can also land on Sandy Point, which was once connected to Napatree, but was cut off into an island during the 1938 Hurricane.  I think there are restrictions on bringing pets on Sandy though, as there are protected bird nesting sites on it.

Tom,
You can't bring a dog on any of the Ct. beaches during season. I wouldn't let Yaz drink salt water. Even along Ct. coast there are streatches of private homes between beaches. I don't think you will find many places to come to shore . The only place you can park in our area and not get towed is at the state parks. Check out niantic public area. There is free parking and a public launch into the Niantic river.  The water moves pretty good in the channel when the tide changes. It would be a nice area inside the bay to check it out. You can go out under the RR bridge to ocean side but there is  public beach West and yuppie private going toward Milstone nuke

Frank are you down at the beach?  Wonder if you know about Grandpa's breakfast spot/Giuliano's bakery over in Niantic - one of the kids in the office brings stuff from there - their "Monster" breakfast sandwich is world class heartstopper but really good in moderation, say once a month.

OK Chris-

Yes, Barns looks like a good place to launch and then explore the bay from there. OK on the possible dog restrictions. I'll have to keep Yaz on a long leash in certain areas.

Looking at the map, I meant the Watch Hill Yacht Club in the cove there. Looks like a good place to feel small while circling amongst the anchored Tom Vu yachts.


Frank, yes the Niantic River scares the heck outa me where it passes through the narrow RR bridge into the mouth. That would be a disaster waiting to happen to try it against the current... :-)

I like Mansfield Hollow in Storrs, CT cuz you can land anywhere - it's all state property with no bird problems. But these heavily populated coastal areas will have  to be handled more carefully. I want to cruise thru Mystic Seaport amongst the tall ships too. Tall ships come in many flavors... ;D

T

My son was working this event. They lost two houses cause they couldn't get to them due to 4 to 5 feet of water in the area. Finally a couple of firefighters donned rescue suits and swam a 2 inch line in.
I heard my son on the scanner at 5 AM taking the fire department inflatable to the scene to rescue people.
We were having 40 to 50 mph winds here in Scituate and all I could picture was him being blown out to sea.
I should turn that scanner off during these situations.
Regards
Q



 
 

Yeah that was quite a fire, Q, I saw some of the footage.

Today we've got a ski lift that jumped the cable up in Maine about an hour ago, some chairs and people fell, others being rescued while stranded in the air.

Only a couple of inches here, white Xmas, down to about 18°F last night.  No QRN.  Surprisingly, the lightning storm map showed blank even while the NE was getting pounded. But it stayed cold enough that after 4 days there are still patches of snow on the ground here.  It is supposed to get up to about 60° Friday. Hope the lightning storms hold off, because if everything goes according to plan, I should be back on 160 by then.

Tom - King Cove Marina at the upper end of Wequetecock Cove just west of Greenhaven Road and Rt. 1 sells and rents kayaks and offers guided kayaking and kayak fishing trips.  Here's their website, they should be able to fill you on all you want to know about the local waters...

http://kingcovemarina.com/

Chris -   I checked them out and they will be a good source of info.  They have tours (for big bux) to the various areas, but I'll use the information and sail solo with Yaz.  I'll sail all areas over a series of weekends.

Thanks much for the info and leads.

T


Naturalistic Kayak Tours:

Sandy Point, Stonington Harbor, Watch Hill, Barn Island, Fisher’s Island, Napatree Point, Quannaduck Cove, Barn Island Wildlife Refuge

Chris,
I'm up north but have been in that bakery. Good stuff, I didn't know they surve breakfast. I'll have to check it out in the spring.
I wanted to work on the rig so passed on going down there this week.
Then truck crapped out so had to deal with it.

Looks like you got dumped on pretty nicely, Steve. Flew outta here Saturday to join Jen in Tampa and missed the storm by a few hours as a result. Still 3-4 inches in places when we got home last night, but it looks like a lot melted and settled. Grass showing through in places and temps of 65 forecast for Saturday.

How does it compare to the Richmond Frostfest storm of last February? That was a lot of snow fast. Even though the heaviest of it was north of the city, you still got a good dumping at your place. A perfect night for the AM Transmitter rally.

It was about the same amount of snow as last year's Frost Fest. But it took about 12 hours to accumulate. Much has melted that past few days and the main roads were clear yesterday. All in all, pretty and not really that bad.

Yep, supposed to be in the 60's here over the weekend too. Quite the change from this past weekend!

He is gonna be one big cat, like Echo. Didn't notice it so much when I was last there, but he looks like he has some Manx or Lynx blood in him. Maybe tat'll change when he grows into his ears (something Ross Perot never managed to do).  ;D

Definitely looks like this guy, just on a bigger scale.

Todd,
winter sucks

It sure used to when I lived up there. 66 degrees here Saturday sounds pretty good, though. Snow is vanishing fast, and I'll be back out in the garage working on the transmitters over the weekend. Beats the hell outta shoveling snow and hauling firewood, though I do miss the woodfire.

Looks like the near-term WX pattern is switching to winter west, warmer eastern CONUS. It ought to be thawing out nicely along the I-95 corridor. Enjoy.

Meanwhile, NWS has hoisted a winter storm warning for over here and should be sub zero Thursday and Friday night. Our first real snow of the season in the Denver area after a ridiculously warm and dry fall.

Rarely a need to shovel snow here in the south Todd. Just wait a day or two and it will melt!

We ran 10-20 below normal here through December. Average is 54 or so, it had to be bumping 60 today. Had the garage open while working on the 30K-5. Most of the snow is gone. 66 predicted for tomorrow. A great way to start the new year!  :D

What a difference a week makes! Last weekend a roaring blizzard, today a spring-like near 50 and sunny.  Spent the afternoon out in the driveway putting new brake pads in the Volvo,  wearing a sweatshirt over a short sleeved shirt.  Was glad to have break in the WX to get that job done for sure.  Made the pre-Fiesta Bowl pizza run with the sunroof open.  Go UCONN Huskies!

Like Mark Twain said about New England weather, if you don't like it, just wait a minute! 

it was nice here today a little bit of rain in the afternoon but not too cold most of the day

Here we go again!  Nothing's moving on the roads here in CT.  My son Dave was flying back to Hartford from Dallas yesterday.  Found out before he left Texas that his  9 PM Philly to Hartford flight was canceled.  Luckily, he was able to get an SUV rental from Hertz and started driving home.  At about 11 PM he packed it in  and is holed up in a motel somewhere in NNJ.  From looking at the traffic cams, looks like he should stay put as long as he can until things clear up later today.

That WX radar loop that HX put up at the start of this post is a great way to do a quick check on the current Northeast situation.

Great day to play radio...going down to hang out on 3705....

The bed of my truck is full and a new band is just starting to hit us. I figure we have about 3 hours before we have to go out and move this stuff.