So, how are those of you being affected by Hurricane Earl faring?  Here in New York City, we only got very windy conditions today; zero rain, and actually a very pleasant drop in temperature from the hot 90 degree days we've had earlier in the week.

Hope those getting hit harder are coping okay.

Pretty much the same story here in central PA. The drop in tempature was nice but the wind had a real cold bite to it though.

Chicago has freaking awesome weather right now.  Cool and breezy - lovely reprieve from what we've been having.  Here's hoping those in the path of the hurricane weather it without too much damage.

I was in NYC last night and it was amazing.  Perfect weather imo.

Just super windy and mostly cloudy here in upstate NY today.  Yesterday we had gusts up to 40mph or so, not nearly as extreme today.  No rain though.

Can I blame you guys and your fair weather boasting for the storm that ripped through New York today?

I don't have an adjective to describe it.  I've lived in New York for most of my life, and I don't recall having ever before witnessed a storm even approaching the intensity of today's.  I was lucky enough to have been indoors during the sudden torrent, but driving through the tree-lined streets of Queens afterwards was surreal:  The amount of debris on the roads was staggering, several times I had to turn off of a street because a whole tree or a light pole had fallen across it, and people were outside on every block to assess the damage and take in the situation.

This storm probably would've elicited a yawn from Midwesterners accustomed to ferocious weather, but as a lifelong city boy I'm a bit shell-shocked.

God, yes.  I'm in Queens myself, and that tornado-esque storm hit with zero warning.  I was at work, and it managed to shatter four of our windows over at New York Hospital.  Main Street was a complete clustercuss, and my neighborhood has several downed trees, and two bent light posts.  I took a few shots, here and here.

Check out some of the NY Times reader photos too:

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/0 … ORM-2.html

Shell-shocked doesn't even begin to describe today.  Looks like Armageddon right now, what with the darkened light posts, sirens on every corner, police blocking highways every which way, and gridlock that stretches on for miles.

I'm with all of you on that.  Just crazy.  I live in BK, Bushwick, and it was just pandemonium here.  Crap all over the street, Wyckoff Heights hospital is a mess,  people in the streets taking pictures, trees downed everywhere.  The wild thing is that all the damage was done during a span of like 3 minutes, if that.  Then it passed.  Craziness...

it's a murse!!

Seinfeld might call it a European Carry-All. 

In any case, way to miss the forest for the trees.

..... Trees.  Damn it.

I thought a murse was a male nurse? Isn't that a manbag?

Pretty much a Yes for that, having trees down on the streets and sudden tornado-force winds happens to us multiple times a year.

its like the phoenix people who post youtube videos of rain,, wooooooo check it out!!!!