November Nor'Easter!

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UPDATE (9pm)
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Since, you're all dying to know!

This is video at our apartment around 6:45pm.

Well over 100,000 people are without power across the metro area.

We've lost power at least 6 times (at 3 minute intervals for 5-10 seconds at a time) - glad that madness is over (for now).

Parts of our building have blown off in the wind as well as all matter of deck furniture that people have left out.

An official wind gust at Virginia Beach of 70mph was reported around 6pm with an unofficial gust of 75mph reported (hurricane force winds begin at 74mph).

We've had over 5" of rain today so far (about 7.5" since yesterday).

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No way on earth would Stacie want/be made to blog about a storm so today's blog is brought to you courtesy of Chief Meteorologist Master J. Brass.

I've always wanted to be a co-blogger and until I finished my thesis I found it hard to find the time to dedicate to writing a blog when another paper or thesis chapter needed to be written instead. Well, today is my chance. I'm home from work as the mid-Atlantic is waging war with the atmosphere - I'd wager the latter is winning.

I really don't know much about the weather other than taking a few classes in college and watching the Weather Channel a little (lot) more than I should. But it still fascinates me and days like today are especially interesting.

We knew it was coming. As of Monday, Hurricane Ida was forecast to cut back across Florida after making landfall in Mobile, AL. But a few models had it tracking north into the mid-Atlantic and by Tuesday that was exactly where it was headed.

I woke up yesterday morning (Wednesday) to get ready for work and opened the blinds to heavy rain and gusty winds. Ida was here. After spending a rainy, lonely day at the office with only my coworker (it was Veterans Day and the Army Corps office was closed) I drove home. Already, intersections were flooded after just 12 hours of rain. The forecast called for worsening conditions through Thursday night. I was getting excited :)

I awoke this morning to even heavier rains and winds that had continued through the night. It was rather impressive and I took time to get some video and pictures from our apartment of the crazy weather before I left for work. This is our third Atlantic hurricane season on the East Coast though we have yet to experience a hurricane - not what you'd call active seasons. But Ida's remnants were the strongest we've seen. This photographer had nature to capture - work could wait!


Our pool has already been drained once today as it was overflowing this morning.

I left our apartment at 7:45 and proceeded to work. All the radio stations were reporting road closures/flooding and advising “not to be on the roads”. All the military bases were even shut down. By the time I got to downtown Norfolk (about 12 miles away), every exit was closed as small lakes greeted the bottom of each exit ramp. I drove around trying to find a way off the interstate and down into downtown. I finally got down to the surface streets about 45 minutes after leaving home. Then the fun began. Every route I took ended with cop cars blocking intersections all but one way (i.e. the way OUT of Norfolk) with many intersections requiring a boat to cross them. I played this game for another half an hour before calling my fellow contractor who had arrived at work much earlier (he walked a mile in the rain due to closed streets – I was not doing that). Long story short, I spent 2 hours and over 30 miles trying to find a way in to work with every route either blocked by cop cars or flooded with at least a foot of water and littered with stranded cars. It was time to go home!


My usual exit ramp.


Detour = "LEAVE NORFOLK!!" :)
Every route I took ended in this.


Or this.


Driving to work.

As of noon today, the National Weather Service had 6 advisories out for the Hampton Roads metro area:
1) High Wind Warning,
2) Coastal Flood Warning,
3) Flood Advisory,
4) Flood Watch,
5) Hazardous Weather Outlook, and
6) Flash Flood Warning

And these warnings were at low tide!



Winds and wind gusts at Cape Henry (yellow star) over past 36 hours (we live at red star).


Winds have been sustained at 30-50mph for most of the day (gusts from 55-65mph).


Just draw a line with your eyes to where these fronts meet…Norfolk, VA.


Yes, that's Norfolk stealing the 56mph spot in the center of the map.




Rainfall totals are already over 6 inches in Norfolk/Virginia Beach since yesterday morning, with forecasts as high as 12 inches. It's being compared to Hurricane Isabel (2003), which was a Category 3 hurricane, and The Perfect Storm (1991). This is the most rain Hampton Roads has seen in 6 years (Hurricane Isabel) and that was only as of this morning.


Wave heights are likely to reach 20ft. before all is said and done.


The storm surge is expected to be 5 feet above high tide water levels. High tide comes at 4pm today (about now), when the worst of the wind and rain are expected. All this while the vast majority of the metro area lies at sea level (it’s a swamp – literally). Our apartment is the red dot. Heavy rains and gusty winds are supposed to continue through Friday night which will likely mean...4-day weekend!!

It's been an eventful and exciting day off. Thank you for letting me share it with you. I will try to make my next blog more interesting and less "mappy" (but I doubt it)!

Turn around, don't drown!