Category Archives: Weather

Rain? Healthy? What?!

Admit it. When you hear the pitter-patter of raindrops on your window, or feel wet droplets hit your shoulders and the ground around you, the first instinct you have is to pull up the hood of your sweatshirt or pull out the umbrella from the depths of your bag.  The questions is, why is everyone so afraid of the rain?  Is it because it will mat your hair, or ruin your new faux-leather bag? Or is it because it will make your new Jordan’s muddied and imperfect? Either way, hiding under the rain can actually prevent you from health benefits. Rain water and being in rainy weather can benefit your health.

It’s all about science. Rain water contains negative ions, and for those of you who aren’t science people or don’t see how there can be positives in something with “negative” in the name, negative ions produce a net positive effect on our health. These special ions are created in moving water, and are tasteless, odorless and invisible molecules that we breathe in when we are in environments with moving water.  After entering the bloodstream, they create “biochemical reactions that help to relieve stress, alleviate depression, and even boost our energy” says Patty Peoples of Redlands Daily Facts, an International Sport Science Association fitness nutrition specialist. The greatest thing about it, is that this medication to make you feel good is free and right outside your door (on a rainy day that is), and there are virtually no side effects besides having wet shoes or frizzy, matted hair.

I have always loved rainy weather, and now I know the science behind it.  In fact, I can directly relate to the part about relieving stress just by being outside in the rain. It is also comforting that I am not the only one who says that rain makes them happy, because whenever I tell someone I love when it rains, I receive the “Are you serious?” face.  I think that people should take advantage of the positive effect of rain and negative ions more often, especially because it boosts depression and relieves stress. Next time the sky is overcast and the rain starts falling, I challenge everyone to go outside and asses your mood after 10 minutes in the rain.  Remember, the only down side is wet *changeable* clothing.

~Ali

 

Typhoon Rolls Through the Philippines, Death left in its Wake.

Typhoon Haiyan is the name of the deadly typhoon that hit the Eastern Philippines shores on Friday, November 8th. The dead littered the streets along with completely destroyed buildings and homes. This typhoon reached 170 mph when it first it but the winds died down when it got into the central area of the Philippines to about 74 mph. The government’s main priority is to restore power and communications in isolated areas and make sure relief groups are reaching the people that need it. There is an estimated more or less than 1000 people dead, but since time has passed since the article I read, it is most likely to have climbed a few thousand more as rescuers could get to the cut off areas by flooding.

I have had some time to watch home video footage of tsunamis and tornadoes off of YouTube, and let me tell you I have seen how scary it is to be in a situation like this. People hear stories like this all the time, but not many have actually experienced a real live situation. The video I watched was about a man and his wife and daughter, hiding in a closet as a tornado ripped up their house. The woman was crying the entire time, and thank god none of them were hurt. He showed the viewers the aftermath of his home, and showed how cars and other pieces of houses were blown up into their house. Their entire house was destroyed, and it was truly a scary experience for me just watching what they went through. I now have a better glimpse of what happened and how these people dealt with Typhoon Haiyan.

~Colin

Winter Storm Nemo Takes Out Northeast

Now finally recovering from Winter Storm Nemo, many are still shocked by the superstorm. On February 7th, 8th, and 9th, 2013, two powerful storms both heading for the New England states collided in a massive blizzard. Nemo, named Blizzard Charlotte in Connecticut, hit hard as towns like Hamden and Milford racked up as much as 38”, leaving many stuck in their homes. 18 deaths from this were also reported in th U.S. and Canada. Some main roads, side roads, and exit ramps were still not plowed even a few days after the storm. Luckily, plows came to the rescue on Monday and Tuesday so now people can get around. The snow wasn’t the half of it. Howling winds on Friday night caused 4-7 foot drifts around houses and buildings. Thankfully, almost everything is back to normal as towns and cities are almost cleaned up.


Winter storm Nemo, in my opinion, was the worst single storm in my life. Many cars, buildings and houses were covered and a lot of them caved in, 16 houses reportedly caved in by Monday morning. I think that if we were more prepared, Connecticut would have not been so bad as to cleaning up. Cheshire was hit hard, but Hamden and milford were bad. both had close to 38” of snow, and since we live near those 2 towns then this shows that the lower part of CT was the worst. In conclusion, this was a terrible storm but luckily we are recovering.

~Joe Degennaro

Hurricane Sandys’ Effects on New Jersey

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On October 26th 2012 New Jersey was hit by a devastating hurricane.  Jersey lost thousands of jobs and state revenue growth slowed to a crawl in November. Jerseys labor market and its $31.7 billion state budget, both of which were under stress even before the storm hit. Jersey’s unemployment rate clocked in at 9.6 percent in November, continuing to slope down from an August peak of 9.9 percent. In October job losses were revised down from 11,700 to only 1,000. Sandy affected New Jersey economically and it damaged Jersey physically.

Hurricane Sandy had a devastating outcome on a lot of people, but especially ones in New Jersey. I believe that the National government should give the state of New Jersey more financial aid. I think this because people are still struggling to get back on their feet.  People need to support their families while still not at work.  How are they supposed to do that if they lost all their money, job and house to Sandy? I also believe that the government should be more generous with simple state jobs. People are in need of jobs to make money to keep themselves and their families alive. This government is so selfish when it comes to a devastating time. It is an outrage really, if you think about it. I mean how would you feel if someone took away your house, money, and job?  Not so good would ya.  The government should open up their eyes and look at the reality.  

~Alyssa Stevens

 

Snow Storm Nemo

  

 

Some people call it the blizzard of 2013. Being the first Nor’easter of this winter, snowstorm Nemo was the largest storm residents in the Northeast have seen in a long time. Some states received more than two feet of snow and schools were closed for several days. The roads were a narrow as most driveways. Bulldozers were on the sides of main roads attempting to widen them. Some effects of the storm included driving bans, power outages, or even flooding. Even now, over a week after the storm hit, people are still shoveling their sidewalks, driveways, roofs, porches, and decks. Plows are still clearing roads. Nemo left a big mess that everyone is still trying to clean up.

If  anyone is looking for a better way to keep your family and house safe during the next big storm we have, here’s some advice. 1) You should try to keep up with the snow. For example every two hours you can go outside and shovel everything off. This way you won’t have to deal with so much snow at once. 2) Make sure you shovel your roofs. So much snow sitting on your roof will weigh a lot. The roof can cave in under that much stress. I would suggest purchasing a roof rake to help get the snow off your roof. 3) Lastly, to avoid flooding, you should should shovel out the snow from around where the gutters drain the water. If you don’t do this the water will get trapped and seep through the ground into your basement. I hope these tips help for the next storm.

~Mike Quint

Looking Back on Irene

Looking back on Hurricane Irene, it really didn’t happen too long ago. It was an eight day hurricane that started on August 20, 2011 and ended on August 28, 2011, which was around the time that we all remember when it hit us in Connecticut. And the truth was, we really didn’t get the worst part of the hurricane either. Even though the hurricane caused the first day of school to be canceled, when the storm got to Cheshire, it was actually starting to die down and was hardly what it used to be early on. Even so, the storm still caused some major damages in Connecticut anyway. Throughout Connecticut, 20 homes in East haven were destroyed and 5 more beyond repair along the Long Island Sound. In addition, and estimated half the state, that’s about 750,000 people lost their power for up to a week during and after the storm.

Weather is certainly unpredictable and sometimes very devastating. One of that last things that people in Cheshire would expect to happen is for a hurricane to hit. Even inland in a place like Cheshire, a storm like this can cause a lot of damage. That is why is is extremely important to be prepared for something like this to happen. Just having a generator when something like this hits can save you from days without power. To watch out, and keep track of storms like these easily, all you have to do is watch the weather channel on TV, weather reports on the computer, or even when power and cable are out, you can still tune into an emergency weather broadcasting channel on a radio.

~David Amann

7.0 Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Japan

On January first, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake rattled Japanese citizens. The earthquake hit at 10:58 IST, as Emperor Akihito led the country’s New Year celebrations.  He was asking the Japanese to work together and make a new Japan after the earlier earthquake and tsunami disaster of in March, 2011. Emperor Akihito said: “Our country is now going through difficult times because of the earthquake and other factors, he said.” There were no known fatalities and little damage; but specific details were not available at the time I wrote this. These are links to websites that will give further information on the unfolding events and are two sources I used to write this blog.

I think that this caused such a stir in Japan, because of last year’s earthquake and tsunami on March 11th, 2011.On the 11th a magnitude 9.0 earthquake devastated Tohoku, Japan. The March Tohoku earthquake was the most powerful known earthquake ever to have hit Japan, and it triggered a powerful tsunami and eventually, a nuclear crisis. Last year, when the tsunami and earthquake hit northeastern Japan, it left thousands of people dead or missing. I think that the people of Japan are frightened of re-living that horrible day in March of 2011. They are afraid that this earthquake will take them back, back to the time when they lost so many loved ones, homes, and jobs.

~Matt Stayner

A White Halloween ???

Summer has just ended about two weeks ago. Expecting some nice fall weather? Well its not going to happen because of snow. Yes, snow. Who would have guessed that three days before Halloween, Connecticut and other states will get about 10 inches of snow. Usually, this happens around the of middle December. In previous years, I found it rare to get snow in November. But in October?! Plenty of schools already lost a day(s!) of school during hurricane Irene, and missing more because of this wretched storm. This means that five days will get piled on to the end of the school. Not to mention, this is even before winter!

As you fellow people of Connecticut remember how many days of school we lost last year due to snow. Yeah sure, we missed school but being trapped indoors with no electricity and for some, no running water!   We can agree that having snow like this isn’t fun as it used to be when being a little kid. The reason this snow storm occurred was because warm moist air from the Atlantic ocean collided with cold dry air from Canada, creating a rare storm to cause 10 inches of snow to slam northern New England. This historic weather event will always be remembered.

Nick Roche

The Big Splash

All of you know about the big event that  gave us an extra day of summer. But if you don’t I am talking about Hurricane Irene.Okay so what  was a hurricane doing all the way up here in Cheshire, CT? Well I can’t answer that question but I can talk about,” were we prepared and did people take the right precautions at the right time”?  In  many ways yes we were prepared but in many ways  we were not prepared for the storm that hit us on  August 27, 2011. People took many of the right precaution’s in preparing for this event but were they done in time? I think yes. People knew what was going  to hit them and they were smart about it, like boarding up their windows or going to a shelter for a few days. But people did get caught up in some  bad situations  like  being stuck at an airport for a day or two, or not having any food , and having flooding in their homes.   Yes, going to an airport the day before the hurricane hit is just plain silly , but still,  were people really suppose to know about what would happen, how bad it would be?  Which brings me to  my next question.

Did the government put to much downplay on this situation? Meaning,  was this situation not emphasized enough. I think that there was just  a little too much down play on this hurricane. I understand that the government wanted to make sure nobody got overly  freaked out or scared but with an event like this, was it really worth losing the lives  of loved ones to a fallen tree? 8 people were reported dead  and over 2 million homes were without power for days or weeks. If the government didn’t downplay Hurricane Irene those precious life’s may not have been lost and maybe some of the power outage could have been prevented. Now think about it, would you rather have the government downplay a catastrophic event or tell people exactly what is going to happen so you can take the right precautions into keeping yourself safe?

Thank you for reading my ideas and opinions on Hurricane Irene . But I would like to hear what you have to say. I hope this has all made you think about this event but also about what else is happening in the government .

~Caitlin Gibb

What Will the Winter of 2012 Bring?

I think everyone can agree that the winter of 2011 was unforgettable. New England winters always have their fair share of messy weather, but when the total snowfall accumulated to over 5 feet (breaking a record set in 1945 for the snowiest month), the situation became downright dangerous. Not only did the countless storms result in car accidents, tree collapses, and fallen power lines, but further issues were only yet to come.This unusual predicament left people scrambling for “roof rakes” when roofs started collapsing under the unbearable weight of snow and frozen sheets of ice. It even got to the point where schools in Connecticut struggled to find enough days in the spring to make up over 10 snow days (in some situations). But, obviously, life goes on, and the winter of 2011 was followed by a beautiful spring, summer, and fall. But, when winter returns, what is in store for us?

Well, although it seems like nothing could get much worse than the harsh weather previously brought to us, with conditions that may or may not be brought by La Nina, we could be facing another brutal winter, with temperatures a bit lower than usual, and the total snowfall significantly higher than average. All in all, I highly doubt that Connecticut will see worse conditions than we’ve already experienced.

~Gabby Batista