The Boston Herald
Monday, June 15, 2009
Clouds to loom over Hub till Wednesday
Crabby Bostonians looking for a
change in the gloomy weather will find that reality
slow to come over the next couple of days.
Mostly cloudy skies will mark a
gloomy start to the work week as high temperatures
are expected to peak near 62 degrees today. A 30
percent chance of rain may also put a small damper
on the commute home, according to the National
Weather Service.
Once tomorrow arrives, conditions
become more favorable as residents can expect partly
sunny skies and temperatures climbing back up to 64
degrees.
However everyone will want to savor
Wednesday, which is poised to be the nicest day this
week. The sun sticks around all day and temperatures
soar to a more summer-like 69 degrees.
The Boston Globe
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
June's raw deal has Bostonians longing for summer
3.5 degree deficit often wet, to boot
By Vivian Nereim
The beaches of
Dorchester Bay were empty yesterday, gray tableaus
of steely water and wet sand. Buffeted by a cool sea
breeze as he walked back from Castle Island, Robert
Butts was decidedly disgruntled.
"The weather here
is getting worse," the Fields Corner resident said.
"Maybe I'm getting old and grumpy, but it didn't
always used to be like this."
Halfway through
June, the weather has indeed gotten worse, according
to the National Weather Service in Taunton. Compared
with previous Boston Junes, this one has been
colder, and, depending on how you measure it,
rainier. "It doesn't look like it's going to hit 80
degrees anytime soon," said Neal Strauss, a weather
service meteorologist.
Strauss said the
average temperature this month so far has been 62.2
degrees, 3.5 degrees cooler than usual.
Though rainfall is
also 0.45 inches below average, "that's misleading,"
said Strauss, "because the frequency of the
precipitation has been rather high." In other words,
he said, stating the obvious: "It's been raining
almost every day."
The delay in
summer weather has frustrated and bewildered
would-be beachgoers and sun-baskers. "I'm totally
turned off by it. I'm going to move," said Butts,
who cited balmy Florida as his likely destination.
While some people
on the overcast Boston Common yesterday didn't seem
to mind - "It's been a little peculiar," said David
Galt, an analyst for the inspector general's office
who comes outside for lunch even on dreary days -
others were distraught.
"It's been
horrible, horrible, horrible," said Kathie DiRusso,
a vendor for Mr. Gourmet, a sausage stand on the
Common. "Today we're only doing lunch, and then we
close down because it's going to rain," she said.
"We've lost a lot of business because of the
weather."
"This isn't June,"
said Andrew Benson of the South End.
"I think it's been
kind of abysmal," said Patrick Casey of Jamaica
Plain.
The most difficult
challenge for some has been the weather's
unpredictability.
"We try to be out
here as much as possible," said Eric Grillo, a
pickle stand vendor. But recently, he said, it's
been difficult to guess whether precipitation will
clear up or wreck the day. "If it's pouring out at
10, we're kind of stuck," he said.
"It causes you to
overdress and prepare," said Alexander Johnson, of
Dorchester, "and then it doesn't rain."
There is some
improvement in sight, meteorologist Strauss said
yesterday.
"We do see a
period of dry weather coming up this week for
Tuesday, Wednesday, and much of Thursday," he said.
As for temperatures, while Strauss doesn't see any
significant change in what he called the "overall
pattern," highs will creep into the 70s tomorrow.
Of course, not
everyone is yearning for the sticky heat of summer.
On the walkway to
Castle Island yesterday, Dale Martinez of South
Boston wasn't complaining. Wearing a blue
windbreaker and reading a book, he insisted he
prefers the cooler weather. "Believe me," he said.
"I like it this
way," echoed Arthur Sheehan, also of South Boston.
"It's like Ireland."
Martha's Vineyard, south off Cape
Cod in Buzzards Bay (my destination for this
summer's extended cruise), was the coldest spot
in the lower 48 states at 35° -- beaten only by
Barrow, Alaska's 33° overnight (of course not
part of the lower 48). At 35°, it broken the
record for the coldest temperature in June ever.
We're going to have a peek at
rare sunshine today, a one day event again. It
should claw into the 70s, maybe even reach 75°
this afternoon. Then back to cold monsoons
tomorrow through the weekend, downpours Saturday
and Sunday.
Never mind launching -- I'm still
trying to just get Chip Ahoy ready to launch
between rain squalls! I'm shooting for later
next week, but I'm praying for some of that
"Global Warming" to get here soon. Even if Chip
Ahoy gets to its mooring, who wants to sail in
this crap?!?
Chip Ford -- June 17, 2009
Matt Noyes, my favorite TV
meteorologist, just reminded us of an old saying
about seasons in New England: "We have two;
winter and the Fourth of July"!
He's now hoping we warm up
sometime in July! "Historically we do," he
reminded viewers, not going too far out on a
limb. I think he's just pushing his one-man
suicide prevention program.
It's beginning to fail for me!!
Chip Ford -- June 17, 2009
The first official day of summer
in New England. Whoop-de-do, more of the same.
It's currently 58° under
depressingly gray sky as usual and with more
rain on its way. It might get into the low- to
mid-60s later today with any luck.
We're still waiting for spring's
arrival with perhaps a little sunshine.
The weathermen have been saying
for days now that this pattern we're suffering
in this small armpit corner of the nation is
early- to mid-April weather -- since early- to
mid-April!
Maybe by Thursday the
temperature's supposed to leap into the low-80s,
mid-80s on Friday, with the sun mostly out. It's
been a while since we've seen 80s.
I got Chip Ahoy completely loaded
and ready to launch yesterday; now I just need
some halfway decent weather for a day or two.
I'm hoping for Thursday (trailer to the ramp,
raise the mast, get everything rigged) and
Friday (launch on the morning high tide).
There's only a window of an hour or two there to
launch before the 9-foot tide goes out too far
to be possible.
I don't regret not having
launched sooner this year, considering. The
weather's been too miserable to make it worth
having Chip Ahoy just sitting out there on its
cold mooring beckoning from beneath the rain.
I'm just bummed out that we're still waiting for
spring on the first day of summer.
We are supposed to have a family
Fathers Day cookout here today. It'll be cook
out, eat in. Besides raw and gray with likely
showers, the wind's building; supposed to blow
from the northeast at 25-30 with gusts to 45 mph
this afternoon. (Seas are running 4-7 feet out
there.)
Chip Ford -- June 21, 2009
The Boston
Herald
Monday, June 22, 2009
Not a drop of relief for rain-weary Hub
By Benjamin Bell
Disappointed Bay State families
hoping for nice weather on Father’s Day were forced
to stay inside as rain, wind and fog caused a bit of
chaos in Beantown.
For today, expect more rain and a
high near 62 degrees with breezy conditions and
gusts as high as 38 mph. Tonight will bring more
rain and a low of around 57 degrees according to the
National Weather Service in Taunton.
For tomorrow, expect rain and
possibly thunderstorms throughout the day and a high
close to 66 degrees. Rain is likely tomorrow night
and a low close to 60 degrees is expected.
For Wednesday, rain is likely mainly
before 9 a.m. Cloudy skies and a high near 70
degrees are predicted.
The Salem News
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A Salem News editorial
Gloomy weather taking its toll
A cloudy day, or a little sunshine
have as great an influence on many constitutions as
the most real blessings or misfortunes.
— Joseph Addison, British essayist, 1672-1719,
writing in The Spectator
Many would agree with Addison's
assessment regarding the uplifting — or depressing —
effect of the weather. So the mood hereabouts has
been decidedly downcast given the lack of sun and
cooler-than-normal temperatures.
We're officially into summer now, yet
it's felt more like early spring. Mother's Day in
May is normally hit or miss when it comes to
enjoying the weather. But Father's Day, the third
Sunday in June, is supposed to be safe for any kind
of outdoor activity. Instead, those attending the 9
a.m. Mass at St. Richard's Church in Danvers this
past weekend were greeted with the words: "Welcome
to Noah's Ark!"
The low-pressure systems have been
arriving in the Northeast one after another this
month, and then have taken their sweet time moving
away from the coast. The cloud cover just won't go
away. And those cool ocean breezes, so welcome at
the height of summer, have felt downright cold.
The effect on the public's mood has
been such that even a string of Red Sox victories —
they were four games in front of the Yankees in the
American League East as of yesterday — is barely
acknowledged.
People are craving that little bit of
sunshine. Maybe by week's end, they say.
It's still raw, cold (57° at
11:00 am), and raining. We're planning to
trailer Chip Ahoy to the ramp tomorrow --
weather-permitting -- raise its mast and get
everything rigged. Launch is scheduled for high
tide (3:00 pm) on Friday -- weather-permitting.
The sun is supposed to come out perhaps late
tomorrow morning, maybe; showers and
thunderstorms possible on Friday afternoon, but
in the 80s tomorrow and onward at last.
This relentlessly crappy weather
-- "the second-least-sunny June on record" -- is
getting to everyone up here, even the editorial
writers . . .
Chip Ford -- June 24, 2009
The Boston Globe
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
A Boston Globe editorial
A bummer to remember
In his short story “All Summer in a
Day,’’ science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury describes
a gloomy world where it rains all the time, and
where the inhabitants see the sun for an hour every
seven years. Apart from not living on Venus, we in
New England have reason to feel just like them.
Every year, residents of this region
suffer through a frigid winter that gives way to a
dreary, drippy March, April, and May. But this
month, too, has been a washout - the
second-least-sunny June on record. The summer
solstice came and went undetectably, amid cool mist
and overcast skies.
Usually, local weather patterns offer
one defense against seasonal-affective disorder: a
short but spectacular summer of lounging at the
beach, hiking on wooded hillsides, or mucking about
in the garden. So far this year, it’s all muck. The
only ones rejoicing are transplanted Southerners
escaping record heat in that part of the country -
and a few cranky climate-change skeptics, who insist
that cool temperatures here mean that global warming
is a hoax.
Bradbury’s 1954 story looked forward
to when space-traveling earthlings would move to
rainy planets by choice. But advances in technology
only underscore how New Englanders remain at the
weather’s mercy; a few days ago, a popular iPhone
weather application presented dark-cloud icons
foretelling seven days of gloom.
It could be worse. Bradbury’s story
revolves around a maladjusted schoolgirl who’d
emigrated from Earth. The mean Venusian kids lock
her in a school closet, just as the long-hidden sun
is about to peek out. Some forecasts suggest that
the clouds over Boston could part during the day
tomorrow. Far better would be a sunny weekend. When
that unfamiliar light finally appears in the sky,
let’s hope most people aren’t stuck inside.
Oh boy, still foggy, drizzle,
gray with heavy overcast, 61° and looking no
different than the rest of "spring" in New
England this year.
Matt Noyes, my favorite
weatherman, just reported that we've had 4
days of "mostly sunny" out of the last 55!
Four out of Fifty-five -- NONE of them in
June!
The others on the channel's
'Morning News' anchor desk are laughing at his
optimism for the "improvement" in days to come
-- "Compared to what -- this?!?" He's
forecasting "more sun than rain" . . . !
Wally just called. He and Michael
will be here at 10:00 and we'll get Chip Ahoy
over to Riverhead Beach and the launch ramp,
rigged and ready to launch on tomorrow's tide at
3 PM. Tomorrow's forecast: Sunny in the morning,
showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon,
naturally.
Time to get out there and ready .
. .
Chip Ford -- June 25, 2009
The Boston
Herald
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Wishin’ & hoppin’ for sun
By Benjamin Bell
The Hub still was hunting for summer
yesterday as the city experienced a fourth
consecutive day of rain - but the forecast is much
better for today.
“During the afternoon we should
actually be able to see some sunshine,” said William
Babcock, a meteorologist with the National Weather
Service in Taunton. “Hopefully everyone will
remember what the sun looks like and there won’t be
mass hysteria.”
For today, expect mostly cloudy skies
in the morning and a high near 71. There will be a
chance of showers and thunderstorms after midnight.
Tomorrow, prepare for mostly cloudy
skies and a high near 85 degrees, with a chance of
showers and thunderstorms mainly after 10 a.m.
The Boston
Herald
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
There is a bright side to all this rainy weather
By Lauren Beckham Falcone
Can we just relax about this rain
thing?
OK, it’s wet. OK, everyone’s
miserable. OK, the sun shines on every other city in
the country and Mother Nature is spitting on Boston.
But instead of thinking of this
weather front as a personal affront, why not grab
onto that silver lining and recognize the rainfall
for what it is: a respite from the rat race known as
summer.
Yes, summer, the ultimate setup for
personal and recreational failure, when every day is
supposed to be a mini-vacation but usually ends with
you packing away your shorts and tank tops in
mid-September while wondering how it is you never
made it to Woodman’s.
Talk about seasonal pressure.
But now, thanks to unremitting clouds
and drizzle, it’s off.
No need to squeeze into the bathing
suit. Or do your hair (it’ll frizz up faster than a
flash flood). Or sport a tan. Or go for that walk or
run or bike ride or show up for bootie boot camp at
6 a.m. It’s pouring!
As for the beach, no wonder
everyone’s lying down, exposing themselves to deadly
UVB rays. Getting there is exhausting. Lewis and
Clark had an easier time looking for the Northwest
Passage.
Unless you live on the water, it
takes about four days to pack for a day at the
shore, 45 minutes to drive to one and about $40 to
park, all for the chance to eat soggy Doritos and
gritty PB&Js while kids kick up sand and some dude
decides an iPod is just too darn selfish and shares
his affection for the Beastie Boys with the whole
beach via a boombox.
Rain, rain, go away? No, stay!
The persistent precipitation is also
protecting you from more than melanoma. Try the
green-eyed monster. Friends regaling you with plans
to go to the Vineyard, Cape or Nantucket? Talking
about their weekend on the boat or at the cottage?
Hah! Take one look at the forecast and know,
wherever they are, they’ll be inside just like you.
But without cable.
Speaking of TV, these are the days to
catch up on TiVo, to binge on the DVDs you haven’t
had time to watch. We finally have a chance to sit
back and relax because there’s nothing else to do.
You don’t have to water your garden
(already soaked), clean the pool (too cold to open
it), mow the lawn (too wet), paint (ditto) or weed.
Your central air is on standby, which is saving a
bundle. And since you are either cutting back, broke
or unemployed, there’s no compulsion to sit at an
outdoor cafe and max out your credit card on carafes
of chilled chardonnay.
Oh, cumulonimbus clouds, our
checkbooks thank you.
And the best part of microbursts,
thunderstorms and cloudy skies? There’s no need to
apologize for feeling cranky. Just blame it on the
rain.
How bad is the weather in New
England? We had not one single mostly-sunny day
through the entire month of June, meaning 30
percent or less sunshine even on the few days we
saw it at all. Every day for the past month the
temperature has been below normal, often by
10-15 degrees (it's currently 58° in showers at
9:00 am and expected to maybe reach the mid-60s
this afternoon, when the downpours arrive again.
I'm about to do my laundry this
morning and just realized: I've worn one pair of
shorts all year -- on the few occasions and for
the few hours it was warm enough -- have washed
them once before in 2009. I haven't worn them in
so long now I had to check and see if they
needed laundering yet! (Not really but I might
as well toss them in.) Socks are still a daily
requirement.
My favorite weatherman, Matt
Noyes, just reported that the Climate
Predication Center/NOAA extended forecast calls
for more of the same at least for the first two
or three weeks into July.
Even Matt's having a more
difficult time with his personal suicide
prevention crusade, it appears -- now begging to
keep his job even though every day he just
reports more of the same.
We've just endured the spring
that never sprung, and it looks like the summer
that never happened is ahead. With the heat down
south, we'll probably have an early and active
hurricane season -- have to pull our boats in
September for the winter.
I'm beginning to think I
shouldn't have bothered launching Chip Ahoy last
week, or this season at all -- just for the
coming weekend, which is supposed to be pretty
nice (compared to what?); warming up and with
only showers and thunderstorm in the afternoons.
Of course that's today's forecast, subject to
change by then . . .
Chip Ford -- July 1, 2009
New England
Cable News
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Hampton Beach business suffering in poor weather
Brad Puffer, from Hampton, NH
On a typical July 1st, Hampton Beach
would be packed. Not this day. Once again fog, rain
and drizzle have put a damper on the start of
summer. The temperature never even hit 60-degrees.
While miserable for vacationers, it's
even more miserable for the businesses that line
this typically busy strip.
Kristen Statires, Owner, K. Stats:
"You got the economy plus the weather equals no
people and no people equals no business."
This is the first year Kristin
Statires has owned her seafood stand. But what a
year to start a business, when making even a single
clam roll feels like a victory.
Kristen Statires, Owner, K. Stats:
"Every day you think it cannot get worse than this
but every day it actually gets worse and so I'm just
hoping for a good weekend we need the fourth, we
need the sun, we need the people."
At the Chamber of Commerce Visitors
Center, hundreds usually stop in every day for
information. But Joe Bolis had little to do but put
up a sign saying the evening's fireworks had been
canceled.
Joe Bolis, Hampton Chamber of
Commerce: "People ask me where they can go, go to
the malls go to the movies, go bowling just places
like that."
"Businesses here had hoped the down
economy would actually keep people vacationing
closer to home. But instead the start of the season
has been dismal."
Peter Coutis, General Manager,
Ashworth Hotel: "The weather has to cooperate for
same day bookings."
Peter Coutis runs the Ashworth by the
Sea Hotel, one of the oldest and most popular along
the beach. Usually they are fully booked - but not
this night. Still he is trying to stay positive.
Peter Coutis, General Manager,
Ashworth Hotel: "We feel it will be a great summer.
Will it be as great as our best year ever which was
last year. Probably not. Partly because of what we
just went thorough in June."
This seaside resort town has a
beautiful beach and plenty to do. The population
often grows from 15-thousand year round residents to
120-thousand on a good day. That hasn't happened
yet.
Kristen Statires, Owner, K. Stats:
"It has never started this bad so it just has to get
better it just has to."
The Boston Globe
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Man killed by lightning while boating in Orleans
Rough weather hits region hard
By Maria Chutchian and Christopher Girard
A man was killed by a lightning
strike yesterday while boating in Orleans, as fierce
rainstorms battered New England yesterday.
Captain Chip Burge of the Orleans
Fire Department said the man was killed while in his
clam boat on Little Pleasant Bay.
The Fire Department received a boat
rescue call around 5:35 p.m. and, along with the
Orleans harbormaster, found the man dead, alone in
his boat, just east of Sipson Island, according to
Burge.
The man’s name and age were not
released because next-of-kin had not been notified,
said Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael
O’Keefe.
The identity of the 66-year-old man
who made the rescue call from a nearby boat and who
was transported to Cape Cod Hospital with injuries
that were not considered life-threatening, was also
not being released, O’Keefe said. It was not clear
last night how the caller was injured.
After finding the victim, the
harbormaster towed his boat to the Portanimicut Road
Landing, Burge said. Orleans police contacted State
Police, who dispatched the Cape and Islands
detective unit to investigate, Trooper Eric Benson
said.
Other communities were also affected
by weather yesterday.
Two house fires were ignited by
lightning in Abington. The first, on Summer Street,
was a small wall fire that was extinguished by the
homeowner before the Fire Department arrived, said
Captain David Farrell. The damage was estimated at
$10,000 to $20,000, he said.
The second home, on Mill Street, was
hit by a fire that was contained in the attic, with
damage estimated between $40,000 and $50,000,
Farrell said. No injuries were reported in either
fire.
New Bedford and Fall River were hit
the hardest during yesterday’s downpour, according
to National Weather Service meteorologists. New
Bedford recorded 1.5 inches of rainfall, and radar
estimates indicated as much as 3 inches in Fall
River, said Neal Strauss, Weather Service
meteorologist.
Areas in the southeast part of the
state and near the Rhode Island border also recorded
high amounts of rainfall, including Plymouth, which
peaked at 1.16 inches, said meteorologist Walter
Drag of the Weather Service.
