the rix mix

Over seven inches of rain in Elizabeth this past weekend. That startled me. Rained hard & steadily for about 16 hours on Saturday, periodic showers through Monday evening. All-day steady rainfalls - the classic "rainy days" - are not that common in Jersey. On-off showery days are more typical. We also have tropical cloudbursts during thunderstorms. Those back up the catch basins on my corner & cause minor street flooding that drains away quickly. There was no flooding on Saturday. Just a lot of water flowing in the street gutters. It never let up. On my side of the building the wind wasn't even especially noticeable. Saturday evening, I walked up to 7-11 during what I thought was a respite in the downpour, according to weather radar. The umbrella was adequate protection until I passed the bank parking lot & was hit with a gale force gust of wind from the northeast. The umbrella held but the right side of me was instantly soaked while the left side stayed dry. I figured to drench that side on the walk back, fortunately the wind had temporarily abated.

Elsewhere, Jersey had the worst river flooding in years. Here's a terrific video of raging Great Falls in Paterson & rising flood upstream on the Passaic River, by an urban explorer.

Labels: New Jersey, video, weather