Tuesday (20-March-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Early Spring Nature in New Jersey.

Some more images of the large branch that came down with the last Nor’easter storm.  We have another Nor’easter due to arrive tomorrow with predictions of 12-18 inches of new snow. I hope I don’t lose any more trees.


Saturday (17-March-2018) — New Jersey

Late-Winter Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

A deer checking out the large branch that broke off during the last Nor’easter. The branch is larger than I can cut with my battery-powered chain saw. The prediction is for yet another Nor’easter next week.

Deer checking out the large branch that broke off the pine tree during the last Nor'easter. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 4000, 130 mm, f/4.8, 1/2000 sec). (David J Mathre)
Deer checking out the large branch that broke off the pine tree during the last Nor’easter. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 80-400 mm VRII lens (ISO 4000, 130 mm, f/4.8, 1/2000 sec). (David J Mathre)

Wednesday (07-March-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Late Winter in New Jersey. Nor’easter Two.

Winter finally arrived with the second nor’easter in a week. This time with lots of snow. The snow started last night. By mid-day it was coming down pretty fast. I was surprised when I had an Amazon Prime – Prime Pantry delivery. In the past, UPS or USPS would hold the delivery if it was snowing. The independent Amazon delivery folks came through. The driver did indicate he was having issues with the GPS on his phone not working, and had to use a map.  During the afternoon I heard thunder, and several trees falling. I took these images just before 17:00 while it was still light out. In some places the snow was up to my knees. It will be a while before I can get the car up the driveway. It looks like I lost 3 or 4 trees, and my last Rhododendron bush. I will miss the Rhododendron flowers since they attracted both bees and hummingbird moths. By evening the power was spiking several times. It only went out once, but I did have to reset several devices.


Individual images in the slide show can be viewed here.

Friday (02-March-2018) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Nature in New Jersey:  Nor’easter Winter Storm.

The red clouds at dawn yesterday did turn out the be correct in predicting stormy weather. It rained most of last night with heavy winds. By 09:00 the rain started switching to snow. I found a daffodil that was trying too open too early. Also some Snow Drops with fresh snow in the background. By the afternoon, the snow was getting heavy. Then the power went off. I got a text message from PSE&G saying that power was off, and that it should be restored in 12 hours. The power was back in two hours. The snow switched back to rain, and the winds kept getting stronger. A police car and fire truck showed up across the street. One of the power lines was touching a tree and arcing. With a telephoto lens it appeared that the arcing wire was cutting the tree, and that a large branch would ultimately fall to the ground.

A daffodil flower about to open in the middle of a Nor'easter. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 720, 300 mm, f/4, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)
A daffodil flower about to open in the middle of a Nor’easter. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 720, 300 mm, f/4, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)
Snow Drops with a bit of snow during a Nor'easter. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 360, 300 mm, f/4, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)
Snow Drops with a bit of snow during a Nor’easter. Image taken with a Nikon D5 camera and 300 mm f/4 lens (ISO 360, 300 mm, f/4, 1/320 sec). (David J Mathre)



Five-Years Ago (08-November-2012) — New Jersey

Autumn Weather in New Jersey: Hurricane, Nor’easter, and Snow.

One week after Hurricane Sandy, we were hit with Nor’easter Athena. I didn’t know that nor’easters were given names. During the night we got 8-12 inches of snow. The power went out again.

At the time, PSE&G sent an e-mail out that stated 70K users were still out due to hurricane Sandy, and another 90K users were out due to the nor’easter last night. The other comment was “Despite the snowstorm, the 4,000 out-of-state workers and 700 PSE&G linemen restored service to more than 120,000 customers affected by Hurricane Sandy in the past 24 hours. Many of our crews from the south have never worked in snow before, but have proven more than capable of handling this new challenge.”