Had an interesting series of events, all weather related, spanning from Wednesday evening into Thursday mid-day of last week. The initial events created my ‘Investigative Photo Journey’, which just as a FYI, had been solely initiated, and driven, by a strong curiosity concerning that weather. 

During that journey, I had witnessed, THE UNEXPECTED, not once, but several times! It was towards the end of my ‘Investigative Photo Journey’ with its unexpected results, that I came up with making my story into a Photo of the Week article.  **NOTE:  Before beginning my tale, just keep in mind, these type of events and results are the norm when discussing weather. The key word IS when you really think about it, is LOCATION!!  Also keep in mind along the same vein, weather conditions can be quite pronounced and very different within a relatively small geographic area with these small sized powerful Summer Storms!!**

THE BEGINNING:

It is Wednesday evening, about 8 p.m. and I had just caught the weather forecast on TV, which called for thunder storms winding down in Northwest NJ, which really should be falling apart quickly because of the cooler air. OK, continue watching TV to about 11. Throughout this time there is a pretty constant flashing of lightning, some thunder and pretty steady rain.  By 11 I was thinking to myself, “Weatherman really nailed this – storms are falling apart quickly?” About 3 a.m. cat wakes me up and I am hearing an unexpected noise. What is that? It is the sound of downpouring rain!  AND I MEAN DOWNPOURING!

Back to sleep and up again at around 4:30 a.m. – no lightning or thunder BUT- still a downpour!  Thinking, “I don’t remember this in the forecast!” Then morning about 8 a.m. and I’m just heading out for breakfast and Anne Marie calls, “We had 4.5 inches of rain last night!  Her brother has a rain gauge and one other person reported over 4 inches!”

Now driving along Kestrel Lane and my neighbor’s yards are all flooded, a sign of heavy rainfall.  Traveling on Youngs Island Road, the irrigation pond there is even with the water atop the fields! Beginning to think about a road trip to check out the rivers after breakfast!

ROAD TRIP:

Heading down Alphano Road and cross over the Pequest River approaching Rt 46, in Great Meadows, the Pequest is over the banks! Continuing down Rt. 46 into Liberty Twp. and I witness the Pequest flowing along Rt 46, very high.  I have formulated a game plan. I am going to Belvidere and photograph the Pequest River emptying into the Delaware River. I wonder how high the Delaware is?  Then I will drive up and check on the Paulinskill River and end up checking out the Big Flat Brook just north of Millbrook in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.  I am thinking this should be a pretty interesting trip. 

First stop, at Belvidere and take a photo of the Pequest going over the dam in town (pictured above). It is going really good! Then go to the Belvidere Bridge to photograph the Pequest entering the Delaware River. This was interesting and I got a nice photo of the Pequest River churning out into the Delaware about mid-river at which point seeing the muddy Pequest waters begin to head south with the Delaware’s water.  What surprised me, was just how calm and low the Delaware was! The bridge’s footings were in clear view.  NOTE:  When the Pequest and Delaware are both high, the water of the Pequest is immediately pushed south along the shoreline!!

Second stop, the Paulinskill River from Rt. 46 in Knowlton. The Paulinskill was also overflowing and flooding the area.  Keep in mind this area of the Paulinskill is quite wide with a lot of channels for the water to flow.  I took several photos from the bridge of the Paulinskill flowing into the Delaware.  This was not spectacular. The Delaware was normal and the Paulinskill’s water turned fairly quickly joining the flow of the Delaware.

I am now traveling up top my third stop, Big FlatBrook just north of Millbrook Village. I get onto I-80 and go into the Water Gap and will take Old Mine Road up through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area.  On my journey, I notice the streams running off the mountain in Worthington State Forest and the National Recreation Area are not flowing heavy at all. So I guess the storms didn’t come this far north?  Bottom line, by the time I reached the Flatbrookville Bridge over the Big Flatbrook it was at its normal flow.  I decided not to take a fairly long walk to witness the two rivers merge.

While my photos are not all that great concerning this incident, I am hoping this story and my actions create an interest and understanding in each of you, about summer storms and their limited areas of impact.  I am also hoping that you all have areas in ‘Your neck of the woods’ where you might generate your own field trips to observe the rages of Mother Nature!

Enjoy Your Open Space

Charlie Fineran  

Director Open Space

Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission – Chairman

Allamuchy Historical Society – President