Irene

Photo of Jersey City from Battery Park City last fall (2010)

Irene is coming to New York tomorrow and she's not in a good mood.  Seems she's caused havoc already south of New York so New Yorkers are bracing for her wrath.  She could, of course, change her mind, and move further East than expected.  She's unpredictable, though...so we'll have to see what happens.

New York is not used to these kind of weather patterns.  We are certainly used to really extreme weather in terms of ridiculously low or high temperatures in the winter and summer months respectively but an "earthquake" or a "hurricane" is not part of the vernacular.  We have had both an earthquake and now a hurricane just in the span of 7 days.  

There is an impressive display of organization and effective communication from the governments affected by Irene which in the Northeast includes what we call the Tri-State area:  New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.  All the mayors have appealed to the public to evacuate when asked to evacuate and to prepare for Irene's arrival.

I'm prepared.  I am not afraid.  Ready to sleep in the bathtub if necessary although I hear I may need the bathtub for water.  Most of all, preparing move out of my building which is a few days away.  My intuition is that Irene will take pity on us New Yorkers and veer to the right.

Crossing my fingers.

In contrast to a photo I took of the Jersey City almost a year ago posted above, here is a picture earlier today (at around noon):

Jersey City from Battery Park City at noon, the day before Irene's arrival (noon)