Weather for NJLHC

No posts 2 days before a challenge? Very odd.

Well here is the weather report for this weekend:

Saturday, Oct 15
Breezy with a blend of sun and clouds. Winds from the W at 15 mph.
High: 76° F RealFeel: 73° F

Saturday Night: A moonlit sky and windy. Winds from the W at 15 mph.
Low: 53° F RealFeel: 47° F

Sunday, Oct 16
Partly sunny and windy. Winds from the W at 18 mph.
High: 69° F RealFeel: 66° F

Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, breezy and cool. Winds from the WNW at 13 mph.
Low: 50° F RealFeel: 45° F

Looks like smooth sailing...

Although I won't be at the challenge, I surely thank you for that wonderful weather report for the weekend. I sure hope you're right. A week of this miserable rain has me climbing walls instead of lighthouses. Have a great time at the Challenge.

Bert

Me too, Bert. Me too. I don't believe there is any sun on top of New Jersey.

bobo

There was a post over on lighthousing.com asking about problems with flooding and any changes to the challenge.

I've tried calling several people connected with the NJLHS and the challenge and no one has any word abotu changes to the Challenge.

I checked the nj.com site and there is flooding along the Shore in Monmouth county. The dam at the shipwreck Pond has been breached and has flooded in that area. this is very near to Sea Girt Lighthouse.

There have been evacuations in Spring Lake. They expect the rain to continue in that area during the day on Saturday with clearing happening in the afternoon hopefully.

I'll post more info when I get any answers.

Dennis

I know we don't have any sun over New England and the news isn't getting any better. Hopefully, let me repeat that, hopefully we'll get to see the sun sometime soon.

Bert

This was posted over on the lighthousing.net site- I got a phone call a few moments ago saying basically the same thing.

Dennis

Just called and was informed that they have been in touch with some of the lights, because people are there setting up for tomorrow and everything looks good to go. In fact, the gentleman that I was speaking with, his parents are at East Point right now and they said that it is bone dry.

Just received an answer to my e-mail: "The challenge is still on the weather is breaking all over New Jersey. All lighthouse we have heard from are reporting everything is a GO! Good Luck and see you at East Point Lighthouse!"

So to all doing the challenge, have fun!!!!

Stan's in Atlantic City playing rounds of golf at three different courses this weekend. This is an annual thing with the guys he plays golf with on Sunday mornings and Tuesday evenings all summer. He phoned me about 6 PM to let me know he'd arrived safely and that they'd played a course on the way into AC. Hadn't rained all afternoon.

It's been nonstop torrential downpours here in Kent, CT all day. It's 11:40 PM and it's just now begun raining slower. The runoff brook on our property is a full-fledged river with whitewater rapids. I corralled the UPS driver into backing up the RV to get it off the parking area specifically put in to park the behemoth two weeks ago because the water is running over the driveway and parking area. I can rest easy tonight knowing the RV isn't going for a driverless spin. I may wake to find I can't get out of the yard, but all the vehicles are on higher ground.
I really believe we're being punished--anybody know how to build an ark?? Hope everybody doing the challenge gets through safely--river's won't crest for sometime after the rain stops, so be careful out there.

According to my grandparents, who are at their house in Spring Lake right now, the bridge between SL and Sea Girt is completely flooded. You have to take the "long way" to go on the challenge to Navesink or Sandy Hook. Also, everything 1 block in (at least on the Spring Lake side) is flooded. She didn't really have any info about Sea Girt, so I can't update you there.

I tried calling the light several times, to no avail. They never pick up the phone regularly, though, so I don't know.

Sounds like it will be very interesting to get to some of the lights in that area. I hope that all make it alright. What a terrible weekend to have the challenge, but who can determine the weather when these events are planned.

Bert

I went Sat after 1:00 to Twin lights, Sandy hook Sea Girt and Barnegat. Had no problem with water,
2 car accidents and the bridge to sandy hook got stuck for a little while. Leaving now for the rest of them.
Fran

Just got home.

Getting to East Point was no problem, although the area around the lighthouse was swampy on Saturday.

Went through Sea Girt (Hi Greg!), Navesink and Sandy Hook with no problems whatsoever.

We had gorgeous weather all weekend (except early Saturday morning at Tinicum -- light mist), but today was REALLY windy.

I took about 500 photos over the course of the weekend. What a job I'm going to have going through them all.

What a Challenge! I seemed to have just missed Fran, but I did meet Diane and Bob. However, I didn't recognise that the Diane that everyone was saying was Bob's wife was our Diane...somehow, I never connected the dots completely when you announced your marriage. I just went back to your wedding pictures that you posted and filled in the blanks. So sorry!

However, I think that Bob is going to help us at Sea Girt a lot to find out some info on John Hawkey, our third keeper, who also was an assistant on LI. Bob said he had all the microfiche from that era, and was going to see if he found anything on him.

I also spent quite a bit of time with Dennis and Esther, discussing various miscellany. It was nice to have another Wacko to talk to during the 5:00-6:00 "Death Hour"!

Other than those, not many more Wackos that I recall...though I did run into people from across town, which was kind of strange.

Overall, it all went well. I noticed two things. One, there were less people doing the challenge this year, perhaps because of petrol prices. Two, I noticed that it was a much more even flow of people. I really got to spend time with the visitors, and really talk to them, instead of rushing them through the light. Usually, we have a line down the stairs and out the door to get to the tower. Today, at one point we had people halfway down the steps for about 15 minutes, but otherwise there were no more than about 12 people waiting to climb.

Looking forward to next year...we might go for the Triple Crown with me driving as "practise." For NJ, we'd probably do all the lights but Sea Girt on Saturday, and then finish up at SG Sunday so I could volunteer. If you're doing the LI, MD, or NJ challenges next year, I'd run when you see the green Land Rover careening into the crowd.

No problem, Greg. I probably should have properly introduced myself. And thanks for the photography tip -- we took some nice shots of Sea Girt from behind the dune.

Greg,

Just let us know when and where you intend to drive your vehicle. Many of us might elect to stay as far away as possible.

bobo

Esther and I spent the afternoon volunteering at Sea Girt on sunday. We decided to not try and do the challenge on Saturday & Sunday. We would have if we had completed the Maryland challenge.

Unfortunately other things came up that weekend so we bailed on that.

I did not see any Wackos during the challenge but did get to speak with 2 possible 3 people from lighthousing.net. Also as Greg said we had a conversation that ran in spurts all afternoon at Sea Girt.

I'll have to try again next year for the Triple Crown. I did at least get to do the Long Island Challenge this year. sorry I missed the Long Island Caravan on Saturday. We probably would have been running into each other all day Saturday as we would have started at Tinicum as well.

Dennis

I met someone named Greg at Seagirt and Mentioned Wacko, And other key words. He looked at me like I had 3 heads. I figured he was not the correct Greg. Oh well tried to meet you.
Fran

I seemed to have arrived just after you left - the NJLHS volunteers mentioned that you were looking for me. Don't know what Greg you were talking to...but if they didn't look like they were 15, then they weren't me.