noreaster-0407

April showers...?

Narcissus aquaticus

So....April showers bring May flowers, right? Well what kind of storm is this?

They call it a nor'easter. I had been led to believe that it was one of the most feared weather events of the Atlantic seaboard, but this one is different.

No wind.
No thunder.
No lightening.
Just rain, rain, unrelenting rain.

It's as if someone decided to pick up the ocean and move it. The rain came straight down without stopping. Not hard enough to pound on the roof, and the individual drops were not large, but without rest and without any modulation in its falling. For hours the world was silent but for the constant shush of falling water. The world's first "white noise", it led to a fine sleep, but the tap was still running this morning.

Artificial streams weren't artificial anymore. Plants had roots exposed as the soil that had been their cover was sluiced away. Inch by inch by inch it came, a marauding liquid army with the power to melt rock.

Eight or nine degrees colder and we'd be paralyzed as inches of rain changed to feet of snow. A pain for us, it might have been easier on the plants who now, while not yet in full growth with optimally functioning roots, are sitting in cold, saturated soil. We'll see...we'll see.

I'm originally from the Midwest, where storms in spring have no identity crisis. The winds are loud, brash and wild. The rain is heavy...and often comes down sideways. There is brass and percussion in this orchestra--thunder and lightening are prominent players.

Here? To get the effect, walk over to your bathroom. Turn the shower on full...and cold. Then just leave it go for 40 hours or so.

It just didn't stop. Like trying to get a word in edgewise with a person who manages to speak even as they inhale, you just have to wait until the storm runs out of breath. It can only go on so long...even the oceans have their limits.

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