Put-in-Bay Holiday Lights Herald Advent Season

Put-in-Bay holiday lights brighten DeRivera Park thanks to the Put-in-Bay Recreation Committee and Michelle O’Donnell’s leadership on the decoration committee.  Ms. O’Donnell has developed the traditional display with new figures and lighting effects.  DeRivera Park holiday lights project a healthy and vibrant Christmas spirit on South Bass Island.   Thank you, Islanders, for celebrating the joy of the season!

Thanksgiving Week Environment at Put-in-Bay Still a Treasure to Behold

Kaleidoscope

Kaleidoscope, by Berni Steinbach

Thanksgiving Week is upon us.  Make time for comfort and rejuvenation!

The proverbial time for reunion, appreciation, and sharing feels subdued this year.  Indeed, a poem entitled, “November,” penned in the last century by Ruby Archer, captures the draining sentiment many know as 2020 winds down:

 

Our twilight month November is,
The evening of the year.
The brilliant summer noontide left
A pallor soft and clear.

From political weariness to health concerns to media fatigue to financial stress, 2020 will be remembered as a time of mixed emotions with a few brief shining highlights–and the latter not even for many.  However, amidst the dark and gloomy one can make space in one’s sensibilities for persistent treasures around us.  The people who care for us, the people we love, the people who extend helping hands, the people who remain strong and steadfast during trying times–all brighten our internal landscape.

It must be noted, too, how profound an impact the physical environment has upon us.  It is so easy to mentally bypass the blossoms, the fields, the lanes, the structures all around, wherever we go or wherever we stay.  A deliberate look beyond the dashboard, beyond the computer screen, and past the cellular telephone brings an epiphany of sorts.  Yes, the eyes can take in the geometry and color of the environment and deliver to our perception a revitalized sense of presence.  John Muir wrote in 1911, “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”

In this context, I encourage you to re-discover the treasures which bring us all, collectively, into a realization of thanksgiving.  Peace and health be yours!

Photos by Donna Steinbach

Put-in-Bay Weather Explained

Wind intensity snapshot on 15 November 2020

Put-in-Bay weather is changeable, to say the least.  Hereabouts, as elsewhere in the United States, one often hears the refrain, “Just wait ten minutes . . .”  However, the dynamic forces which affect Lake Erie are known for creating incredible natural drama.  Sunrises, sunsets yes, but also water spouts, gigantic ocean-like swells, flooding, low-water advisories, rip currents and near hurricane force winds.  TV newscasters and National Weather Service broadcasts typically highlight the fundamental data.  However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) presents detailed reports which clarify the complexity of our environmental experience.

Sunday, 15 November 2020, is one particular day of interest in this context.  NOAA puts it this way:  “On Sunday, November 15th, a very potent upper level trough and strong 160 knot jet streak resulted in a deepening surface low down to 980 mb  moving northeast across the Great Lakes region. The wind field ahead of this trough was particularly intense with upwards of 120 knots at 500mb and 70 knots at 850mb.”  Standard surface pressure is 1013.2 millibars or 29.92 inches on the barometer.  Divide the pressure value by 33.864 to get inches mercury.

For detailed analysis, including charts and photographs, visit https://www.weather.gov/cle/event_HighWind_Severe_20201115