Hey Oswego! It’s been a couple of weeks since I last posted. The weather’s been becoming more active and so has the testing season, for me at least. Anyways, let’s get to what’s happened in the past 2 weeks, and what’s to come (hint: frozen stuff…)
The biggest weather story occurred during the morning of October 30, the day before Halloween. A rather intense wind storm blew through Oswego and the surrounding area, with the highest sustained winds clocked in at 55mph, with gusts as high as 71mph reported as well. This was enough to down numerous trees and power lines, and even cause some minor structural damage in town and on campus. Some may have noticed the sidewalk on the west side of Shineman being closed for repairs for much of last week – this was due to a small chunk of siding on the building being blown off!
A side effect of these winds were massive waves on Lake Ontario. Notice how the wave spray is being blown sideways off the crest of the wave in this picture. No swimming today!
Additionally, the first, dare I say it, snow flakes have flown on campus! Thursday night, as colder air moved in behind a strong cold front, rain changed to snow for a brief period of time around midnight. No accumulation was observed here on campus, however the hills to the south and east of here saw a dusting to an inch fall.
An icy sunset Friday evening along the campus lakeshore.
Finally, a relatively rare sight from campus: weak Northern Lights on Tuesday night!
Current longer-range forecasts indicate a renewed chance for lake effect snow next weekend into early next week. This far out, details are hard to pin down regarding timing and strength of the weather systems that affect how and where lake effect sets up, let alone the lake effect snow itself. Keep this in mind while traveling home for Thanksgiving break!