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Short visit to the beach
Tuesday, 12:24 pm
By Kate
Oct
25
2005
While the wind and rain are letting rip, it seemed like the ideal time to go to the beach. I haven’t been there in a year. I think the ocean is the most interesting during a storm. So, I gathered up the camera and dressed for the arctic and headed across town. Now, the beach is only about 3 miles from where I live, but as I got closer, the wind grew more and more ferocious—and I began to think maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. But, I pulled into the parking lot and figured, what the heck. I’m here and I might as well take some pictures. The worst that would happen was getting soaked to the skin.
And boy did I get soaked to the skin. In 30 seconds flat. This is a humdinger of a storm. Not only was I soaked to the skin within 30 seconds, I was also hit with stinging sand. My face was nicely exfoliated this morning. My hair is full of sand and I’m still chewing on sand. I’d say the wind was blowing steadily at around 40-45 mph—and this is just the beginning of the storm. It was *very* difficult to walk, stand upright, or even stand in one place without being knocked over and I literally had to wedge myself into a dune to be able to hold myself steady enough to take pictures. The following photos were not composed. They were quick and dirty point and click shots. I didn’t want the lens to be scratched by the driving sand.
What shocked me most was the change in the beach. The last couple of storms have carved it up badly and also unearthed a pile of boulders that have been hidden since Hurricane Bob and the Halloween nor’easter (The Perfect Storm) in 1991. Just prior to those two storms, the rocks/boulders were piled several feet over my head. The two storms buried them. Now they’re back. The houses on the top of the dunes are almost at the edge of the dunes now. Where there were once gently rolling dunes down to the water, there is now a sharp drop-off. I’ll be interested in seeing what happens after this storm. The waves are supposed to be around 20-25 feet today with a small 3-4 foot storm surge...but that’s about enough to bring the waves almost level with the houses on the dunes. More beach and dunes will be eroded today.
My visit today was just a couple of hours before low tide.
For comparison, here is a photograph of the beach on a normal day at *high* tide, taken about 3 years ago. Just a couple of feet beneath the top of that dune is where I was wedged today.
And looking just a few feet to the right, here is the extent of the pile of rocks still visible at the edge of the water. This photo was also at high tide the same day as the above photograph.
Today this is what I saw as I got out of my car in the parking lot. Normally, the waves are not visible from the parking lot, located just behind the dune ridge. In fact, normally, the ocean is only visible melding into the horizon.
Here, I’m standing next to the top of the dune and the area around it has been totally carved out. The view up the beach shows virtually no beach today. And you can see how close these houses are to the edge of the ocean now. The white stuff on the beach, incidentally, isn’t snow. It’s foam from the waves crashing. Also an unusual sight. It was flying through the air like snow, though.
Standing wedged in against the dune, I’m looking a little to my right. What used to be a little pile of rocks at the edge of the ocean has now become a long pile of rocks/boulders. Storms, over the past several years have dug out the sand from around them. Beach erosion. The dune is much higher than before, as the storms continually carve out the sand on the beach. There is no beach today, really. And this is just 3 hours before low tide. The water is already very high and the storm has hardly gotten started. This view is looking southeast, where the storm is approaching.
Here’s another shot looking in the same direction. You can see the sea foam more clearly in this photograph.
Also taken from the same angle, this view gives a clearer picture of how the dune has been eroded. There is a sharp drop-off where the dune used to slope gently toward the beach. I’m standing on a little ledge, wedged against the top of the dune that is shown in the first photograph. (Sorry about the big fat raindrop on the lens.)
Heading back toward town, I stopped by a house I’ve photographed before. It sits on the street that runs along the river which turns into the harbor. This house is located by the lower harbor, just a half mile or so from the mouth of the river/edge of the sea and half a mile from the center of downtown. This photograph was taken the same day as the first two, about 3 years ago—high tide, normal day.
Here’s the same house today. It is located next to a small public park and a boat launch ramp. Judging by where the debris is on the pavement, I’d say that was the high tide mark this morning. By the end of the day, this house will be surrounded by water and water will be in the street. High tide tonight is supposed to be *very* high.
And that is the end of the storm tour. Seemed like more fun that just complaining about it. ;)
The lights have been flickering—better get this posted.