Wednesday (05-August-2020) — New Jersey

Tropical Storm Isaias Aftermath and Summertime Backyard Nature in New Jersey.

Last night I slept in a dark house with the windows open. It was silent in the house, but you could hear several of the neighbors generators running all night. Power from PSE&G remained off all day. Even though I have solar panels, I can’t used them for safety reasons when the external power is off. By mid-afternoon there was a puddle of water under the fridge/freezer. I don’t know how much food I will lose. I am able to continue working with my computer since the Range Rover can be setup as a WiFi hotspot and has 115 VAC outlets.

In the morning two crews from National Tree Service arrived to clear the two downed Oak trees blocking my driveway and Grandview Road. They worked until mid-afternoon. The cut up sections of the tree were pushed to the side of the road and into my front yard. I set up my Garmin VIRB-360 camera to record the activity. The following nearly 6 minute time-lapse video was extracted from the 8483 images.

After the trees were cleared I took another set of images to create a “blue sky” Little Planet view of the front yard. As well as the remains of the trees, brush, and rock wall that will ultimately need to be cleaned up.

Tropical Storm Isaias Aftermath. Little Planet View of my Front Yard after the Tree Crews Cleared the Downed Oak Trees. Composite of 27 images taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Tropical Storm Isaias Aftermath. Little Planet View of my Front Yard after the Tree Crews Cleared the Downed Oak Trees. Composite of 27 images taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)


Individual images used to create the above Little Planet view. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.


Views after the Tree Crews Cleared the Two Downed Oak Trees — East Oak Tree, West Oak Tree, Neighbor’s Rock Wall on the other side of Grandview Road. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Tropical Storm Isaias Aftermath Day 2 -- Post Tree Clearing. Rock Wall on the other side of Grandview Road. Composite of  4 images taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Tropical Storm Isaias Aftermath Day 2 — Post Tree Clearing. Rock Wall on the other side of Grandview Road. Composite of 4 images taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)

Even thought the power was off, I still could set the camera up to monitor the patio birdfeeders: Downy Woodpecker, Blue Jay, Black-capped Chickadee, Brown Thrasher, American Goldfinch, Chipping Sparrow, Song Sparrow, and Northern Cardinal.


Afternoon at the Birdfeeder. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Tuesday (04-August-2020) — New Jersey

Tropical Storm Isaias.

During the night the clouds were moving fast. The first heavy rain squall passed through about 05:15. It started raining again at 09:00 with heavy bands at 11:15 and 11:45. The weather station reported 3.19″ of rain up to the time it stopped collecting data. The wind started increasing at 09:00 with sustained winds of 18 mph and gusts of 34 mph. Power to the house failed at 11:06. The weather station continued to report data until 13:25 via WiFi when the UPS for the network went offline.  By the time the weather station stopped collecting data the relative barometric pressure dropped from 30.0″ to 29.4″

I reported the power failure to PSE&G online at 11:21 and was told it would be restored by 18:00 the next day. I could hear several of the neighbors generator running. A neighbor texted me that live power lines were down and arcing in the street in front of my house. I took some pictures from my front door, and the back door of the garage. Even though it was still raining the arcing 10 kV power lines started to burn the asphalt. It took a while until the power company de-energized the lines. After the lines were de-energized I went to check out the damage. The two large oak trees at the head of my driveway had fallen. The oak tree on the east side of the driveway broke above ground and fell onto my rock wall and crossed the street ultimately landing on the rock wall on the other side of the street. The tree missed my mailbox with the troll that lights up at night, but did block my driveway and the street. The oak on the west side of the driveway fell while pulling the root ball out of the ground. These were two of the largest trees in my yard.


Downed Power Lines Electical Fire on Grandview Road in front of my House. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Little Planet View of my front yard after Tropical Storm Isaias. Composite of 22 images taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Little Planet View of my front yard after Tropical Storm Isaias. Composite of 22 images taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)


Individual images used to create the Little Planet view of my Front Yard after Tropical Storm Isaias. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.

Front yard after Tropical Storm Isaias. Montgomery Township Volunteer Fire Company, District 1, Car 46. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Front yard after Tropical Storm Isaias. Montgomery Township Volunteer Fire Company, District 1, Car 46. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Front yard after Tropical Storm Isaias. West side side oak tree across Grandview Road, composite of 4 images. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)
Front yard after Tropical Storm Isaias. West side side oak tree across Grandview Road, composite of 4 images. Image taken with a Leica CL camera and 18 mm f/2.8 lens (DAVID J MATHRE)


East Side Downed Oak Tree; West Side Downed Oak Tree; Downed Power Lines Damage to Grandview Road. Individual images in the slideshow are available in my PhotoShelter Gallery.