Radar Migration August 29, 2016
Today’s cold front cleared the Northeast region, and tonight’s light north winds are predictably pushing migrant birds to the south. Wake up early to spot some songbirds, head to the beach to sight the shorebirds, or pop out midday to see some raptors moving south on the diurnal winds. Good birding to you, autumn lovers!
Read MoreLightning Rainbow
Here’s a thunderstorm from earlier this week with orange, pink, purple, white and blue lightning – it may not be all the colors of the rainbow, but it is still pretty good, huh? Natural nature art is the best. Go enjoy some this weekend.
Read MoreYellow Warbler
One benefit from the scorching and inclement weather of the past week was the slow passage of a weak cold front (ha ha, “cold”) that brought us some actually conducive avian migratory conditions. Think about it…when was the last time before this recent August turbulence that we in the Northeast had any winds out of the north? We have had endless southerly or westerly-influenced flows bringing heat, humidity and then thunderstorms and heavy rain, all the opposite of what the birds are looking for to migrate south in this time of year. We are now in mid-August and any time...
Read MoreThunderstorm
One reason we did not have severe thunderstorms locally at Stratford Point on Sunday night was because of this severe thunderstorm to the north in the late afternoon. It likely took some of our energy, and it was pushing out air towards us, cooling things down and then blocking the sun for a while. Combined with other factors like drier air working in thanks to the cold front we lost some of our massive instability. This is right before the sun went behind the clouds from the thunderhead. You can see rain coming down from the ground under the anvil looking NW/N from near the main...
Read MoreSevere Thunderstorms
I spent most of yesterday at Stratford Point, arriving at the tail end of the Connecticut Ornithological Association Shorebird Identification Seminar as the group wrapped up a walk and moved indoors. It was a dangerously hot day with an excessive heat warning and unbelievable tropical-feeling dew points. We decided to bring the Bridgeport WildLife Guards to the office instead of the beach, and that is how the rest of my day went. I left in the late afternoon but had to return in the evening as well-timed and positioned thunderstorms exploded to our west. I hopped in my Jeep for the office...
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