Pointing to big rocks that have tumbled onto his property, Maupin fears the mountain could slide.
PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE

With rocks already starting to slide down terrain so steep it’s easier to climb than walk, a man who survived mountain-ripping Hurricane Camille 40 years ago now worries that a neighbor’s logging project could do what Camille couldn’t: bring the surface of Dudley Mountain crashing down through his home.

“When I see this,” he says gesturing to the logged property above him, “I get irked.”

Maupin says he’s worried— especially with hurricane season here— that a severe rain could cause cause the felled forest above him to liquefy, as happened in Nelson County during the 1969 mega-storm that killed 126 people.

And Maupin’s further irked at what he calls a “lackadasical” attitude by the county and the forestry department in enforcing laws about logging and land clearing, and he says that (more)

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Hardly a road or bridge was undamaged in Nelson County.
PHOTO COURTESY OAKLAND-NELSON COUNTY MUSEUM OF HISTORY

While others celebrate the 40th anniversary of seminal 1969 events like Woodstock, Nelson County pauses for a more somber remembrance: the hellish night of August 19-20, 1969, when Hurricane Camille dumped more than 27 inches of rain in five hours and slid mountains, flooded streams, and took the lives of 125 people

One of the first confirmed deaths was below Wintergreen, where a 40-mph debris flow slammed into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Hawes Ewing. At 10am Wednesday, August 19, some of the people involved in rescue and recovery, such as Dr. Bob Raynor, who worked on identifying the dead (eight were never identified), will gather at the historic marker at the bridge on 151. Author Earl Swift, who wrote The Tangierman’s Lament, will interview survivors. (more)

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Days of rain soaked this mossy bridge in Ivy.
PHOTO BY HAWES SPENCER

Folks waking this morning to the sight of blue sky and shining sun may wonder, could today be the end of the rainy streak? According to Jerry Stenger in the state climatology office at UVA, probably not. There’s been measurable precipitation for six consecutive days; more rain is called for today and tomorrow, with thunderstorms possible both days. If rain does continue to fall through Saturday, May 9, it’ll be the first eight-day precipitation streak since one in December, which brought just over an inch of rain. This time around, we’ve already gotten over three inches. Eight-day streaks occur in two of every three years, according to Stenger, and don’t come close to the record precipitation streak of 14 days in November, 1956.

The early May rainfall puts us two inches above average for the month-to-date, but, due to the dry winter, total rainfall for the year is still three inches below average.

Story last updated Friday, May 8 at 10:32am–ed.

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Author Stefan Bechtel reads from his book Tornado Hunter: Getting Inside the Most Violent Storms on Earth at the New Dominion Book Shop on May 20 at 12:15pm.  Bechtel, also the author of Roar of the Heavens, which tells the story of Hurricane Camille’s devastating effect on Nelson County 38 years ago, turns his attention to tornado chaser Tim Samaras, and takes us on a journey inside one of nature’s most deadly phenomenons.

Stefan Bechtel is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and serves on the board of the Center for Creative Voices in Media, a fierce and effective nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of independent voices in film, television and printed media.

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This National Weather Service map shows that snow in Albemarle ranged from about two to eight inches.
NWS

Charlottesville public schools, Albemarle public schools— even Charlottesville Circuit Court and its City Council— have folded up the proverbial tent due to the now-rapidly melting snow. It was pretty this morning when it fell.

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Follow the spinning winds and tracks.
NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER

In advance of Tropical Storm and probable Hurricane Hanna, Governor Tim Kaine has just declared a state of emergency due to high winds and probable coastal flooding, but it looks like Charlottesville/Albemarle may not get much more than a solid soaking, now that computer models are showing a pathway that avoids a direct hit on Central Virginia.

“The track has been moved much farther to the east,” says climatologist Jerry Stenger. “And it shows signs of becoming less organized with no distinct eye. This all works in our favor.”

He believes Hanna may still hit the coast as a weak Category 1 hurricane, but he thinks (more)

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Ahoy, here come Hanna, Ike, and Josephine.
GRAPHIC BY WEATHER UNDERGROUND

As if Charlottesville won’t get a thorough enough dousing this weekend from Tropical Storm Hanna, two more potential hurricanes, Ike and Josephine, already lurking in the Atlantic Ocean, also appear headed in this direction.

Hanna, drenching the island nation of Haiti today, appears to be widening and will slam into the East Coast somewhere around 6am this Saturday near the border between South and North Carolina, says Jerry Stenger, the UVA climatologist.

“We will probably not see the rain until closer to noon on Saturday,” says Stenger, predicting Charlottesville rainfall will measure between one and three inches.

“It’s entirely possible that some higher elevation locations, like the eastern slopes (more)

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Some possible tracks of Hurricane Hanna.
WEATHER UNDERGROUND

The City of Charlottesville isn’t taking a break on Labor Day— instead, it’s warning citizens not to get so fixated on watching Hurricane Gustav on the Gulf Coast that they forget that another major storm could be heading to Central Virginia.

“It is never too early to prepare,” says City spokesman Ric Barrick, speaking this afternoon of what has just been reclassified from Tropical Storm Hanna to Hurricane Hanna.

“All the computer models that we see”– and Barrick has experience as a television meteorologist– “are pointing toward a strengthening storm.”

Barrick recalls that the City opened several shelters five years ago when heavy winds and rains robbed thousands of citizens of electricity during the onslaught of what had been Hurricane Isabel. With Hanna’s first rains in this area expected Saturday morning, Barrick is urging (more)

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The thunderstorm that blew threw Greene County June 16 left behind a lot of hail, as these photos of Pirate Pete’s Miniature Golf by former Hook staffer Jeanne Siler indicate.

The mid-afternoon storm dropped so much hail that the Virginia Department of Transportation reported that it resorted to snowplows for clearing County roads. Additionally, Route 810 and Route 630 were closed due to high water, VDOT reported. While Greene County had no damage to public facilities, several businesses, such as car dealerships and Blue Ridge Trailers, reported hail-related losses.

Home of the pirate, Highlands Golf Park “lucked out,” according to Gretchen Scheuermann, one of the owners.

“Two cars in the driveway were dinged up, but in terms of our facility, there weren’t any broken windows or damaged siding,” Scheuermann says. “It was just kind of a mess.”

Indeed, the park was up-and-running immediately, as golfers were back on the course the following day despite wet facilities and some left-over hail.

Pirate Pete, of the miniature golf course, underwent some recuperation, in the form of a new paint job, as his wood and resin body retained some dings after the storm. “The pirate survived,” says a relieved Scheuermann.
–updated 10:09am, June 24

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DES MOINES, IOWA— As the Des Moines River rose, the University of Virginia track and field team— in town to compete in the NCAA Track and Field Championships– joined citizens in daily ventures downtown to witness Iowa’s historic weather. Running downtown revealed overflowing sewer drains, restaurants desperately trying to stay in business while pumping water out of their basements and kitchens, and the ubiquitous sights of sandbags along streets, buildings, and bridges.

“Seeing the before and after effects of the flood was amazing,” says UVA third-year and newly-minted All-American discus thrower Billie Jo Grant. “To see how the city was affected economically, in addition to all the flooding, showed the depth of the effects natural disasters can have.”

The four-day athletic event was projected to bring in millions of dollars in revenue for local hotels and restaurants, and although the games would eventually go on, the evacuation of the some hotels, including the Embassy Suites along the Des Moines River meant that 12 schools (not UVA) had to find other accommodations.

Several teams, such as the University of Washington and the University of South Carolina, took time (more)

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A fire that started with a June 1 lightning strike 300 miles away in eastern North Carolina’s Great Dismal Swamp is now blowing smoke this way.

Currently Charlottesville’s visibility is three miles, says Steve Rogoski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. He’s at Dulles International Airport and can see the smoke there, where the visibility is four to five miles. “Overnight, smoke may contribute to a little fog,” he says. A cold front coming in tomorrow from the west should dissipate any remaining smoke.

Charlottesville government spokesperson Ric Barrick says the city has received “numerous” calls from citizens wondering what’s burning. He recommends that those with respiratory illness limit their time outdoors.

“When we went on tour [at Monticello] this morning, they said it was smog,” says Gene Buczynski, who’s visiting this weekend from South Bend, Indiana. Buczynski hasn’t noticed the scent of burning wood in the air— and he says his nose is very good.

Others have caught whiffs of the burning forests, and the air quality in North Carolina is so bad that the state has declared a Code Red in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Triangle area, and a (more)

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NBC29 says 7,000 Central Virginia households lost power this afternoon. This pine tree, which fell from the property of the Fry’s Spring Beach Club, fell through utility lines— including electric wires— to close a lower stretch of Jefferson Park Avenue.

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