StormBlog Update: RIP Ophelia!

Well, it's past Midnight, at the time when Ophelia was supposed to bring the worst of her weather our way. What's it like outside right now? Moderate rain, winds at approximately 20 MPH, with occasional 30 MPH gusts in squall lines. In other words, tamer than most Nor'Easters.

So what happened? Well, it turns out that the ocean water was quite cold near the NS coast this year. Add that to the fact that Ophelia charged up the Scotian Shelf and hit land near Yarmouth instead of clinging to the Gulf Stream until the last minute (which is what Juan did in 2003), and you get a storm that disintigrated into an extratropical system almost instantly after landfall. This explains the lack of sustained high winds, with no organized thunderstorm activity within the system.

Our area wasn't totally untouched however, as my brother called an hour ago to tell us that his power went out. It seems like an isolated incident however, so he should have it back shortly!

If any other developments occur within the next couple of hours, I will update the blog ASAP.

This is Stormblogger James Shannon reporting from Havre Boucher, NS!