Hold On to Your Hats

You are wearing a hat today aren't you? The pressure gradient, the difference in air pressure between the low pressure system passing by this afternoon and the high pressure system that will replace it tomorrow, is very steep today. Steep pressure gradients mean windy weather. A wind advisory is in effect from 9am to 6pm today. Northwest winds will be blowing at 25-35 mph this afternoon with gusts to 50 mph. The winds will continue throughout the weekend, though not at advisory levels. The wind, along with a little rain and snow, makes tomorrow a good day to stay inside sipping hot chocolate. Which reminds us, is the City Bakery having their hot chocolate festival? We haven't heard a peep about it this year.

Every once in a while Gothamist likes to check up on the city's water supply. We didn't know what to expect. Reservoir levels depend on the balance between precipitation, evaporation and water usage. In a cold winter there would be little runoff into the reservoirs because water stays frozen as snow. There would be little evaporation if ice covered the reservoirs. But this winter has been mild, so there would be runoff and evaporation. Combined with how low the reservoirs were last summer (see the shoreline in the satellite image of the Ashokan reservoir above), we guessed that the levels would be slightly higher than normal. Our guess was in the right direction but waaay off.

Currently the reservoirs are at 98.1% of capacity, much higher than the normal of 83.1%. The Ashokan and Cannonsville reservoirs are actually above capacity. Does that mean the DEP has the gates wide open to lower levels? Interestingly, the northernmost reservoir, the Schoharie, is only at 79.1% of capacity. Fun fact: On Wednesday the city used 1.03 billion gallons of water, or roughly 125 gallons per person!