[Bristol-Birds] Hurricane Irene birding is here !

From: "Wallace Coffey" <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Bristol-birds" <bristol-birds@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:30:31 -0400
The possibility of Hurricane Irene birding is here !

Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning are our
hours.

Unfortunately, it is also race at Bristol Motor
Speedway and our prime watch hours will look
into the face of heavy traffic flow to BMS.  It
mainly cuts off all significant access for many
birders attempting to drive north on US11E to
the speedway or driving from Blountville towards
South Holston on TN Rt. 394 past the speedway.

I know it is old stuff to many but 120,000 people
flowing to the raceway in a matter of a few hours
is no joke.

If it were just heavy and slow traffic it would be
a piece of cake.  It is not.  It is about all kinds
of turn lanes completely blocked off by officials.
It is about miles of traffic standing at an absolute
standstill for hours.  It is about people who can
walk 5 to 10 miles to the speedway faster than
you can drive it.  Since both races are late evening
and the traffic begins to flow in all afternoon on
both days, don't make foolish misjudgments and
end up sitting on the roadside.  There are many
easier and rural routes that can be used but there
is nothing easy or convent about most of them.

At mid-afternoon Friday, the Outerbanks and
Hatteras are making serious plans to hunker down
as the eye of Irene is now 14 hours away.

But remember that the hurricane-force winds
will be into the fall area at least four hours ahead
of the hurricane and the hurricane-force winds will
continue for 10 hours after the hurricane eye moves
north.  This storm is bringing about a 15-20 hour
event in North Carolina.

The storm is large enough to cover all of Europe,
if it was on landfall, so that tells us how far reaching
it can be.

A significant cold front has arrived in the mountains
of our region and is holding off both the winds and
any inward wobbling of the storm onto the mainland.

We had a good discussion with the US Weather Service
and the folks at the Morristown office.  We have been
using them to help define hurricane influences for
our birding over a period of almost 15 years.

The Morristown office believes Hurricane Irene will
not have much influence on our region.  They believe
the National Hurricane Center forecast of the track
is as good as we can count on at this point.  With the
landfall now just hours away in the eastern part of
North Carolina, there is not much room for it to
stray away from the models.

For the first time in this event,  you can now see
a trace of cloud cover pushing into the mountains
and moving with the same rotation and speed as
the hurricane and it is not yet here.

What was suppose to be clear and sunny weather here
has turned somewhat cloudy.  Still Saturday and Sunday
could be sunny and clear.  

Rack Cross, who stood the frontlines at Musick's Campground's
outer banks, 8 Sept 2004, as the Hurricane Frances came
on the identical track as Irene but suddenly made an 
unexpected left turn across Florida and still brought us
a state record number (14) of Red Knots plus
Sooty Tern
Whimbrel
Red (?) Phalarope

Many birders thought we'd get nothing but Rack, Tom McNeil
and Coffey went to make sure.  It was a stunning moment
but also rain.  Not only did we not expect storm-driven birds
but we did not expect the heavy traffic and cars parked 
everywhere at Musick's as the word went out that storm birds
were there and birders poured in from all over the region to
take part in that historic development!

Now we wait to see.
[Bristol-Birds] Hurricane Irene birding is here !

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