Southeastern Massachusetts Magazine

  Very, very few people would say "tropical" if asked to free-associate some words with Pilgrims. However, in 1635, August 25th was about to get very tropical indeed for John Alden, Myles Standish and the gang. The worst hurricane in New England's known history was about to strike them. They didn't have The Weather Channel in 1635, nor did they have Shiri Spear and the FOX25 Futurecast Radar. Long range forecasts were notoriously spotty in 1635, and generally tended to be made along the lines of things like bird migrations and the wrath of a vengeful God. They most likely first became aware of trouble when the skies darkened and the wind began to pick up. Settling near the coast seemed like a fine idea in 1620. Very few of them were aware of the concept of hurricanes, which were not much of a threat to 1600s England. Then... things got biblical. The Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 most likely began as a tropical wave emerging from the West African coast around the Ca...

  The South Shore and Cape Cod were under a high surf advisory on Saturday. We had Tropical Storm Kyle moving south and east of us, high pressure north of us and a steady East wind between them. We got out to a few towns to see what was what. This picture is from Sagamore Beach. We started in Duxbury, pretty much right at low tide. Duxbury is in the midst of a massive seawall replacement project, and this was Near Miss #2 with a tropical system. This is also at low tide, so I may be hasty with the Near Miss. We have people in Duxbury to do the high tide shots for us, so off to the next town... ...Marsh Vegas! Marshfield, like Duxbury, will probably be a bit more compelling at high tide. We were in the Brant Rock Market for snacks about 5 hours before high tide. Anyhow, promises to keep, miles to go before I sleep... ... off to Plymouth. We were still about 3 hours before high tide, so no Destruction Porn today. One more town... Bourne! Bourne is technically Cape Cod, but the Sagamo...

A burgeoning tropical system should totally avoid New England, but there will be some wind and some surf. High Surf Advisory in effect from Saturday, 8:00 AM EDT until Saturday, 8:00 PM EDT. Source: U.S. National Weather Service HIGH SURF ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 8 AM TO 8 PM EDT SATURDAY... * WHAT...Large breaking waves of 3 to 8 feet expected in the surf zone. * WHERE...In Massachusetts, Eastern Plymouth MA, Eastern Essex MA, Barnstable MA, Dukes MA and Nantucket MA Counties. In Rhode Island, Block Island RI County. * WHEN...From 8 AM to 8 PM EDT Saturday. * IMPACTS...Dangerous swimming and surfing conditions and localized beach erosion. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Inexperienced swimmers should remain out of the water due to dangerous surf conditions. &&

  After a two year absence, the Mayflower II returned to Plymouth. She had been in Mystic, CT for repairs. A large crowd gathered to welcome home the flagship of Cape Cod Bay. There were a thousand or two people milling around, plus every boat on the South Shore. Every boat on the South Shore... including M2 Just like in the 1600s, she had to weave through a bunch of Boston Whalers.

  The Mayflower II is at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy through Monday morning. You can slide on down and visit it, although no one is being allowed on board. MMA is in the village of Buzzards Bay, in the town of Bourne. The Mayflower II has been in Mystic, Connecticut for quite some time, undergoing repairs. They left last week, made it to MMA today, and move on Monday. You can't go on board, but you can get pretty close. She goes up the Cape Cod Canal on Monday morning. She'll be back home in Plymouth on Monday. She's better late than never for Plymouth's 1620-2020 anniversary. 

Tropical Storm Isaias didn't do much damage in SE Massachusetts, landfalling in South Carolina and never hooking back to sea to come at us. This is good news for everyone in Massachusetts, and even the storm-chaser guy is happy that we didn't get a direct kick in the teeth from Isaias. 2020 has been strange enough. We did go to the western coastal range of our coverage area. We consider Tiverton, RI and Little Compton, RI to be part of Massachusetts, or at least the South Coast. We'd throw Newport in, in a pinch. Our photographers did their level best, and we shall now share for you what we got. We started in (Straight Outta) Little Compton. South Shore Beach was facing right into the wind, and was getting swells. She was just too far away from the storm center for any massive pictures. Little Compton did take the Highest Wind Speed award, and we were in 4 towns/cities. Yes, we have a hand-held anemometer, and no, none of us are weathermen. We were somewhat limited by the t...