The blob approacheth. Henri at 6:40 a.m. Source.
The National Weather Service issued a hurricane watch this morning for the Cape and Islands, southern Plymouth County and the South Coast - not all that far from Newport, RI, where it now expects Henri to come ashore as a Category 1 hurricane around 2 p.m. on Sunday. Read more.
OK, OK, a lot can happen between now and Tuesday, but the latest Cone of Probability from the National Hurricane Center shows us right in the potential path of Isaias - they don't even have New York listed, and we are among those East Coast "interests" that need to monitor the progress of the storm. 2020, amirite? Read more.
Tropical-force wind (39-73 m.p.h.) possibility for Friday
The latest Hurricane Dorian report from the National Hurricane Center, issued at 11 a.m., puts the Boston area on the edge of a map of possible hits on Friday. But even if that doesn't happen - and as we already know from the storm, it's particularly unpredictable, it still looks like we could get some heavy winds from it.
Where the new buildings would go.
Massachusetts General Hospital this week filed its plans for a $1-billion project that would not only provide "21st century care in a 21st century environment" but create "a place of refuge" where hospital staffers and patients could shelter for up to four days in the face of the worst nature - or man - could throw at Boston. Read more.
The National Weather Service has issued the watch for Plymouth County and points to the south as Jose approaches. On the one hand, no risk of tornadoes; on the other hand, people should "earnestly prepare for the potential of significant wind impacts."
Let's just keep telling ourselves, "It's no Irma." Plus, of course, it could still miss us completely. Still, we might, maybe, possibly, get tropical-storm-force winds (between 39 and 73 MPH) by Tuesday morning.
When last we heard from Hurricane Jose, it was just some stupid fish storm churning endlessly in a circle and weatherpeople felt free to insult it.But now (and thanks a lot, Eric Fisher), the National Hurricane Center is advising us to shut up for a second and pay attention: Read more.
Post-Gale coliseum.
Today, the folks at the Boston City Archives remind us, is the anniversary of the Boston landfall of the Gale of 1869, a small but powerful hurricane that did major damage to the new Boston Coliseum - built for a "peace jubilee" where Trinity Church and the Fairmont Copley Plaza sit now.
Hurricane Irma at noon today. Via CIMSS Tropical Cyclones.
Still too early to say - Irma's still a week or so away from North America and hurricane forecasting that far out just isn't reliable - the computer models the National Hurricane Center uses don't yet agree on where it's heading. The latest National Hurricane Center discussion says there are some indications it might not turn into the Mega Killer Death Storm it seemed to be exploding into yesterday. Read more.
With flooding in the news, WBZ reports that the Sustainable Solutions Lab at UMass Boston (itself right on the water) is looking at the potential of a hurricane barrier that would stretch along the outer waters of Boston Harbor and be activated when a hurricane approached. Read more.
The state has released a map of evacuation zones for major hurricanes.
The map shows areas that could get whacked by worst-case storm surges - with the brownish areas those that would likely get flooded in Category 1 storms, yellow in Category 2 storms and green in Category 3 and 4 storms (you can also download more detailed community maps).
Today's the 75th anniversary of the Hurricane of 1938 smacking New England upside the head. And as you can see from Leslie Jones's photo, it pushed a sailboat or two onto the beach along Dorchester Bay - just like Hurricane Sandy did last year.
The Hurricane of '38 meant crushed cars in Cambridge:
No, not the Hurricane of '38. The Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635, at least, based on a 2006 analysis for the National Hurricane Center, which features eyewitness accounts from William Bradford of Plymouth and John Winthrop (yes, that John Winthrop) of Boston:
Watch for the creepy doll toward the end of this video by RonRicho (also noted by Rhea Becker).
The Herald talks to Harvey Silverglate about the guy arrested at Nantasket Beach yesterday when he refused to come out of the surf. Well, that and after he allegedly ran across the road to try to evade state troopers.
The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency reports that as of 7 a.m., 91,021 NStar and 339,947 National Grid electricity customers were without power.
Includes the now infamous death-defying rescue of a Channel 7 reporter's hat from the angry seas in Marion Harbor.
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