7.15 Update.

Would you believe that the National Weather Service have downgraded the risk of high wind this evening? Well they have. Earl is cooling down, and I am heating up a delicious ragu. Unless there is a change in the weather I'm hoping for a quiet night...

5.50 pm Update...

We drove to visit Town Line and Wainscott beaches half an hour ago. Both were closed off with police barriers and guards, but even at a small distance we could see the monstrous seas that have built during the afternoon. (Images above) Now the rain has started, although it's coming in showers, not constant as expected. No wind to speak of as yet, but the night is young!

1.15 pm Update

... And it's very quiet with the occasional heavy shower passing through. TV entertainment comes from those intrepid reporters on beaches (with oversize microphones I must add) who are saying things like, "It's raining here, but we're still waiting for the wind." Well their home studios ought to tell them that they have to stand there for some four more hours! I bet they won't.

Downpour!

10.49 a.m. One of many sudden downpours, each lasting about two minutes.

Setting the scene ...

For those of you who are not blessed, or cursed, with the intensity of American weather reporting in the media, here's a simple chart showing the northern edge of the storm and its projected path. As you can see just a degree or two to the west would result in far more stormy conditions for us, but it appears to be holding its course.

Regular updates will follow.

The calm before the storm

If there is any good thing to say about the changing weather it is that it comes as a relief from the searing ninety degree heat of the last few days. This morning we woke to cooler temperatures, but the humidity rose with the sun, and then the first of the clouds arrived.

Here on the far end of Long Island, New York, we are all waiting for Hurricane Earl to psss by to the east. Spared a direct hit by what is currently a Category Two hurricane we still expect to be blasted by tropical storm weather during the next twelve hours. All weather reports, hosted by groomed studio presenters interspersed by camera shots of reporters standing on windswept beaches shouting about storm surges and rip tides, agree that winds will blow up to sixty five miles per hour, and that rain will be heavy.

The waves are certainly huge, and will increase in size as the storm approaches. I stood for a few minutes on Bridgehampton beach and could feel the vibrations as nine feet tall shorebreakers pounded the sand.

On the floor of my garage is a small pile of goods in readiness for the worst. Our main worry is not flooding or rain but loss of electrical power. That's what all flashlights have been tested. Three cases of water, because our well pump is electric; matches and candles; propane cylinders to power the barbeques; an old fashioned phone that plugs directly into the network (cordless phones being useless, of course) and a radio.

We've already moved garden furniture to a safe place, and taken down the hammock. It feels like the end of summer, but it's not! Let's se what Earl brings ...