June 23, 2006
Crash Boom Bang
The months since Hurricane Katrina have been filled with the fervor of apocalyptic millennialism for many weather geeks. The Weather Channel has been endlessly running a feature on how dreadful things would be if a Category Five storm trundled up the Hudson, leaving me, as a good Washingtonian, to mutter how Katrina on the Potomac wouldn't exactly be a bag of cupcakes. Newspapers carry, as the Post did yesterday, breathless stories on how the earth is the hottest it's been for 400 years or 2000 years or maybe ever, using, as illustration, the famous "hockey stick" graph, so called because most climatologists are Canadian, though the "nine iron" school of thought has been gaining support of late.
In any case, it seems a lot like the sky is falling these days, and last night was no exception. The D.C. area was wracked by intense thunderstorms, only days after a bolt of lightning exploded a power line and set bushes aflame near my apartment! Last night's donner and blitzen left some 40,000 residents in the region without power, and this week's deluges have not only ameliorated the city's drought conditions but have also placed us, and our temperamental storm sewers, at risk of flash-flooding, should additional downpours ensue.
And it's funny we should mention that, as the National Weather Service tells us that a cold front passing eastward from the Midwest will stall out over the mid-Atlantic this weekend, dropping some 2-4 inches of rain before popping the clutch and accelerating back into traffic and out to sea. People living and working in low-lying areas near water are being told to pay close attention to weather updates and to look back with angst on their decision to purchase a million dollar home in riverside Alexandria. Bubble or no bubble, flood damage will send those early retirement plans packing.
Do be careful this weekend, kids. It looks like it's going to be a nasty few days.
Picture taken by ohad*.
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is it true that some homes in the district are on the "White House Grid" and never go without power? is that true?
I am no longer reading DCist Monday through Thursday. You guys only write like you mean it on Friday.
the electric slide -
The benning road power station is there, effectively, as a security power plant for those kinds of loads, but the rest is silly talk.
National security critical compounds are on their own dedicated power and backup supplies that no one else gets to touch or enjoy, be assured. (Because if you're getting power off of it, you could break it as well, and they're not going to let you in on that power grid any more than they would let you grab some room on their Internet connection...)
Sweet, I can't be too hard on them for that - - I phone it in four days a week, too.
Thanks for the good Friday fodder, folks.
living in the basement of a rowhouse means I don't hear storms at night. :( I want to get it on the scary weather excitement.
Don't the lights go off in the oval office at the start of X2: X-Men United?
The Dance Party, Run Silent Run Deep, and Crash Boom Bang tonight at Iota. is that what this story is about?
ohad* gets around. This pic is on andrewsullivan as well.
sara o.,
don't worry, you can be in on the excitement if we happen to get some torrential rain fall. you see, rowhouse basement apartments tend to back up with sewage if the rain really pours.
p.s. Ryan, this was a brilliantly written post.
The most gripping part of this article is that lightening struck near his apartment! Holy Calamity!
You really need to go live somewhere in the midwest. That storm last night wasn't anything. Should we worry about a new ice age next time it starts to snow a little.
You really need to go live somewhere in the midwest. That storm last night wasn't anything. Should we worry about a new ice age next time it starts to snow a little.