The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park is a New York City institution. For 50 years, thespians have alighted in Central Park to perform for all New Yorkers (the tickets, gloriously, are free.) And now actress Emily Bergl, who portrays Adriana in “The Comedy of Errors,” is part of this grand tradition — even the part where she gets drenched, as there is hardly ever a cancellation due to weather.

June, so far, has not had the nicest weather for performing at the open-air Delacorte Theater. How have you handled the weather?
We did it on Thursday [June 6] and it rained every second of the performance. There is a point in the show where I fall down flat on my face and I actually came up with rainwater in my mouth. Unless it’s a tropical storm with a name, like Andrea, where we had to cancel that night’s performance, we are doing the show.

Has it been fun, even in the rain?
Every time I walk into Central Park, I want to sing. It’s absolutely magical. We have such a wonderful company — we laugh all day long. It’s one of the things that makes living in New York so special. But it’s also very hard work.

Does speaking in old English use a different part of your acting brain?
In a lot of other plays, you naturally know how to say the lines to make people understand them. But with Shakespeare, you have to think more about how to communicate the message. We’re doing a broad comedy, so we can be bold and brave in our physical choices. I was jealous of the men doing all of their fights, so I managed to introduce some physical comedy for myself.

How do you describe “The Comedy of Errors” for those who might not know this work of Shakespeare’s?
I would say it is a hilarious comedy about mistaken identity with tons of heart. And, well, me.

The tickets are free, but the line to get them starts very early. Any insider tips on getting in?
A lot of people think they have to wait in the ticket line in the morning. But what they should do is get in the cancellation line, so you don’t have to go at 6 a.m. I have gotten tickets in the cancellation line. And, hey — the food is so good, even if you don’t get in, you can have a glorious picnic in Central Park.

If you go

“The Comedy of Errors”
Through June 30
8:30 p.m.
The Delacorte Theater
Central Park
www.shakespeareinthepark.org

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Tropical Storm Andrea moved briskly along the South Carolina coast Friday, bringing drenching rains and threatening to spawn tornadoes as it churns up the eastern seaboard, forecasters said.

Andrea, the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, weakened slightly a day after lashing parts of Florida and southern Georgia with driving rains and high winds.

On Friday, Andrea carried top sustained winds of 45 miles per hour and was centered 35 miles north-northeast of Charleston, S.C., the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm gained speed overnight and was expected to move quickly up the East Coast, said Jack Beven, a hurricane specialist at the Miami-based center.

“It’s likely to continue a fast motion towards the Northeast during the next day or so,” he said.

In South Carolina, authorities said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. Scattered power outages were reported in the state, with 2,500 customers losing service.

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the Atlantic coast from South Carolina to Virginia, including the lower Chesapeake Bay, and forecasters warned tropical storm conditions will continue to spread northward.

Andrea could spawn tornadoes in coastal areas from North Carolina through Virginia, the hurricane center said.

The storm buffeted Florida’s western coast on Thursday, fueling several tornadoes, including one that ripped a roof off a restaurant in the city of Gulfport. After swirling over the Gulf of Mexico, the storm made landfall over the Big Bend area, where the Florida peninsula joins the mainland.

The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30.

The U.S. government’s top climate agency warned in an annual forecast last month that this year’s season could be “extremely active” with 13 to 20 tropical storms, seven of which are expected to become hurricanes.

Three to six hurricanes could become major at Category 3 or above, with winds of more than 110 mph, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

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On the eve of what appears to be a blistering weekend, the state Department of Environmental Conservation issued an air quality health advisory.

The advisory issued Friday for the New York City metropolitan area comes as temperatures are creeping into the 90s.

The advisory was issued for Friday and Saturday.

Summer heat can form ground-level ozone, a major component of smog, according to the DEC.

Officials recommend that children and anyone with respiratory disease limit strenuous outdoor activity when ozone levels are highest, generally the afternoon to early evening.

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Though New Yorkers wouldn’t know it from the largely damp and chilly Memorial Day weekend, summer heat in Manhattan could be turning deadly, according to a study out of Columbia University.

Worse yet: the study found the greatest increase in temperature-related deaths would occur during typically pleasant May and September.

Researchers at the university’s Earth Institute and the Mailman School of Public Health are apparently warning that deaths in Manhattan linked to warmer temperatures due to global warming may result in a 20 percent increase in temperature-related deaths by the 2020s.

In some worst-case scenarios, according to the Earth Institute, the rate of heat-related deaths could rise by 90 percent by the 2080s.

While global warming could also bring rising winter temperatures, scientists say, the rise in heat deaths would likely not be offset significantly by a decrease in cold-related deaths. Annual net temperature-related deaths may still increase by a third.

This Manhattan-focused study is reportedly one of the most comprehensive studies so far on adverse health effects associated with rising temperatures as it combines data from all seasons and looks at multiple scenarios in one localized area—an area that happens to be the most densely populated county in the United States. 

A coauthor of the study, Earth Institute climate scientist Radley Horton, pointed to the 55,000 deaths that occurred during the record 2010 heat wave in Russia, and the 70,000 deaths that occurred in 2003 in central and Western Europe.

“This serves as a reminder that heat events are one of the greatest hazards faced by urban populations around the globe,” Horton said.

Heat apparently becomes concentrated in cities, as the pavement and buildings absorb it during the day and give it off at night. 

2012 was apparently the warmest year on record in Manhattan. While projections for the future vary, the study anticipates steep average increases: 3.3 to 4.2 degrees Fahrenheit by the 2050s, and 4.3 to 7.1 degrees by the 2080s.

The study looked at two potential futures: one where global population growth happens alongside minimal efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions; the second assuming slower population growth and advances in technology that could decrease emissions by 2040. Their baseline for temperature-related deaths was the 1980s, when as estimated 370 Manhattanites died from excessively hot temperatures and 340 died from extreme cold.

In both scenarios, the study anticipated increased mortality. Varied results were credit to the unpredictability of the future of greenhouse gas emissions, but researchers said the best-case scenario would involve a 15 percent increase in temperature-related death; worst-case would be an increase of more than 30 percent.

Senior author Patrick Kinney, an environmental scientist at the Mailman school, said the situation could be affected, positively or negatively, by how New York adapts its infrastructure and policies to a warmer world.

“I think this points to the need for cities to look for ways to make themselves and their people more resilient to heat,” he said.

The Earth Institute noted that New York already takes steps to mitigate warming by planting trees, making roofs reflective, and opening cooling centers in the summer time where people can seek refuge in rising temperatures.

Hot tips from the Department of Health

The Department of Health advises New Yorkers without home air conditioning to call 311 to find their nearest cooling center during a heat wave, or go to a nearby library, museum or department store. Hydration is important, but drinks with alcohol, caffeine and lots of sugar should be avoided.

While the DOH advises people to use air conditioning during the summer, the department also warns that the city is vulnerable to power outages during a heatwave, so thermostats should not be set below 78 degrees, and water should be used conservatively during extreme weather. Cool showers are recommended, but sudden temperature changes could cause dizziness or sickness.

Follow Danielle Tcholakian on Twitter @danielleiat

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Governor Chris Christie flexed his noble muscle today and saved a classroom of terrified children from the dangers of a daunting arachnid.

Christie tweeted earlier in the day that his daughter’s 4th grade class was visiting the State House. What began as field trip meant to mold the inquiring minds of our nation’s youth, quickly unraveled at the unexpected intrusion of an eight-legged trespasser.

But tough-talking Christie set out once again to prove his bite is just as fierce as his bark – and it was all captured on video, making this tale that much more titillating..

“Where is he?” Christie demanded, as the children crowded a desk where the spider was spotted. “There he is,” Christie jeered, before he used his palm to squash the spider, which dared terrorize the children of New Jersey.

The room erupted in applause and the governor was heralded as an immediate hero. Christie basked in the limelight, declaring, “That’s the fun part of being a governor. Any bugs on your desk, you get to kill them, and not get in trouble.”

Is Christie trying to upstage Newark’s mayoral hero Cory Booker, who has literally been known to receive second degree burns while saving people from a burning building?

Is the room for two heroes in New Jersey? Only time will tell…

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A cold front marched eastward across the United States on Friday, threatening to bring heavy rain and thunderstorms from Florida to the Northeast and snow to New England.

It was part of a broad storm blamed for at least three deaths as it moved across the nation earlier in the week.

The system will bring much cooler temperatures to the East Coast during the weekend, forecasters at the National Weather Service said.

“Mixed wintry weather is also expected for parts of the Great Lakes and into northern New England, where the air is cold enough for that,” the forecasters said.

The storm brought heavy snow to Colorado, South Dakota and Minnesota earlier in the week. In Nebraska, the state patrol said 37-year-old Lisa Conrad, of Berea, died from exposure Tuesday after abandoning her disabled car and trying to walk to her home a mile away during a blinding snowstorm.

The system spun off a tornado that killed one person and injured five in Mississippi on Thursday, and brought, hail, damaging winds and twisters to Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.

High winds and heavy wet snow downed power lines in several states, and outages persisted Friday in nearly every state from Missouri eastward.

A utility worker in Ameren, Miss., was electrocuted Thursday while helping restore power knocked out by the storm in the St. Louis area, the company said.

Missouri was hardest hit with about 5,000 electrical customers without service Friday, while 3,000 were without power in North Carolina, utility companies said.

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At least one person died Monday after a blast of wintry weather caused dangerous conditions on city roads.

Seven others were injured, the New York Post reported.

A 27-year-old man died about 7:15 p.m. when he lost control of his 2007 Nissan Murano and struck a tree, police said. He was driving eastbound on Francis Lewis Boulevard in the Cambria Heights section of Queens. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The accident is believed to have been caused by the weather, the Post reports.

A three-car pileup in the Bronx injured another seven people. The accident occurred on the 145th Street bridge by Harlem River Drive in the Bronx about 6:40 p.m. The injuries were not life-threatening.

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Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a state of emergency late this afternoon regarding Winter Storm Nemo.

“As this winter storm unfolds, bringing heavy snow and high winds to parts of the state, I strongly urge all New Yorkers to exercise caution, avoid travel, and stay indoors,” Cuomo said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg warned New Yorkers to stay off the streets today as Winter Storm Nemo arrives in the city.

Snow began this morning, which has since turned into heavy rain and will morph back into snow sometime between 3 and 7 p.m., he said.

The mayor advised New Yorkers to opt for a warm Friday night at home.

“Stay off the city streets,” he said.

He even had a few suggestions.

“Tonight, what’s a good idea?” he said. “Cook a meal, stay home, read a good book, watch a movie. Just take it easy.”

Bloomberg said he met with Sanitation Department officials this morning, checking equipment. Sanitation workers are on 12-hour shifts, he said, with about 1,700 snowplows and 450 salt spreaders.

“They had one plow that if we had 10 feet of snow, it would blast right through it,” he said, adding, “I don’t think we’re going to need that one.”

The FDNY also has dispatched 100 extra ambulances, he said.

“You can’t take nature too lightly,” Bloomberg said. “It’s certainly not going to be a Hurricane Sandy, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get badly hurt or killed if you’re not careful.”

As for his plans? “I will be home tonight,” he confirmed, elaborating, “Will I cook or get something from the Greek diner down the corner? I haven’t thought about that yet.”

The NYPD asked New Yorkers today not to call 911 for downed trees, blocked driveways or other non-life threatening conditions, instructing instead to dial 311.

The major winter storm with dangerous winds is expected to barrel through the Northeast tonight, and could drop more than a foot of snow on the city.

The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for New York City, Long Island, northeast New Jersey, southern Westchester County, and large parts of New England.

Original forecasts had indicated that the city could get approximately six to eight inches of snow, but officials now say 12 to 20 inches of snow is possible for the city, with wind gusts exceeding 60 mph, according to The Wall Street Journal. More than two feet of snow is likely for much of New England.

Coastal areas of the city could see storm surges of three to five feet.

More than 2200 flights have been canceled and Amtrak has suspended some service northbound service out of New York and southbound service out of Boston, The New York Times reports.

Snow is expected to fall heaviest tonight into tomorrow morning.

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Get ready for snow.

A winter storm is headed New York’s way, and some predictions estimate that half a foot might fall on the city.

The nor’easter, named Nemo, is the 14th named winter storm of the year, according to the Weather Channel.

Forecasters say as much as two feet of snow might fall, but probably in places other than in New England, such as Boston.

The National Weather Service reports that snow is likely Thursday night, beginning after 3 a.m. and becoming gusty with rain and snow throughout Sunday.

Follow reporter Alison Bowen on Twitter @reporteralison.

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“It has evolved into a full-fledged blizzard around the Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas border area,” said Alex Sosnowski, meteorologist for Accuweather.com. “It’s a pretty nasty storm.”

The storm marks a major change from the mild December so far in most of the nation. Many parts of the country could see a White Christmas. More storms are expected in the middle of next week.

Winds as high as 66 miles per hour (106 km per hour) were blowing dust and sand in western Texas, causing a string of traffic accidents along Interstate 27 north of Lubbock on Wednesday afternoon. More than 20 cars were involved in accidents that killed one person and injured 17 others along a 5-mile (8-km) stretch of road.

Corporal John Gonzalez, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, said the fatality involved a semi-trailer crashing with a sports utility vehicle, killing the person in the SUV.

The injuries to the other 17 people were minor to moderate, he said.

“You could hear them in the dirt” crashing, Gonzalez said. “But you couldn’t see them. You couldn’t see nothing out there. Couldn’t see the front hood of your vehicle.”

In western Nebraska, the State Patrol closed a 146-mile portion of Interstate 80 between Kearney and Ogallala Wednesday evening because blowing snow reduced visibility and caused treacherous driving conditions.

The patrol said extremely dangerous weather conditions were forecast through the overnight hours across a good portion of the state, and travel was not recommended.

WHITE CHRISTMAS?

In Colorado, Interstate 70 was closed east of Denver to the Kansas state line due to high winds blowing snow into drifts and reducing visibility, said Mindy Crane, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Several other roads in eastern Colorado were closed because of the blizzard conditions, she said.

Crane said a stretch of Interstate 70 in the mountains near the ski resort of Vail was closed temporarily on Wednesday so crews could do work to prevent avalanches.

Blizzard warnings have been issued Wednesday in parts of Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan, meteorologists said.

The heaviest snow is falling at a rate of up to an inch per hour in parts of Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado. The worst of the blizzard is expected to hit communities from Omaha, Nebraska, to Green Bay, Wisconsin, Wednesday night into late Thursday, according to Accuweather.com.

In Chicago, the storm is expected to begin as rain and later change to snow Thursday, Sosnowski said.

Heavy snow and high winds were expected anywhere from the central plains into the Midwest/Great Lakes regions through much of the day Thursday, the National Weather Service said. Hazardous travel conditions were expected through Thursday and into early Friday.

Moisture off the Gulf of Mexico is expected to cause rain in the lower Mississippi River Valley Thursday, pushing east into the southeastern states Friday.

In the West, a system along the Pacific coast will bring scattered snow and rain showers into the northwestern states, according to the weather service. Over a foot of snow is expected in the higher elevations of the Washington Cascades and upper Rockies.

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The unseasonably early winter storm dumped more than a foot of snow on parts of Connecticut and slapped the region with 50 mph winds, plunging another 300,000 homes and businesses back into darkness and creating a new commuting nightmare for a region whose transportation system was still under repairs.

The bitter cold, rain and powerful winds added to the misery of disaster victims whose homes were destroyed or power knocked out by the massive storm Sandy that smashed ashore on October 29 with epic flooding.

“God hates us!” the New York Post said in a front-page headline. Some 3 to 6 inches of snow fell on the city.

Sandy’s death toll in the United States and Canada reached 121 after New York authorities on Wednesday reported another death linked to the storm, in the hard-hit coastal neighborhood of the Rockaways, a barrier island facing the Atlantic Ocean.

Some 300,000 customers from the Carolinas to New York lost power, though roughly 250,000 were restored before morning. In all some 662,000 remained in the dark after the back-to-back hurricane and nor’easter.

New York distributed space heaters and blankets to residents without heat or power and opened shelters to those in need of a warm place to sleep.

EVACUATIONS AND DISRUPTIONS

New York and New Jersey evacuated the most vulnerable coastal areas ahead of the nor’easter storm.

New York City officials urged people whose homes have been flooded by Sandy to relocate to the homes of friends or family members or to go to city shelters.

Some were unwilling or unable to leave their homes. That included Christine Jones, a 73-year-old resident of coastal Far Rockaway in the borough of Queens who said she and many of her neighbors planned to stay in their cold, dark apartments.

“They’re scared they’re going to be robbed,” said Jones, whose evacuation options were limited since her 1999 Buick was flooded by Sandy’s storm surge. “The teen-age boys … they try to break in.

Commuter bus and train services had been disrupted by the storm, with the Long Island Rail Road briefly shutting down all operations to the city’s eastern suburbs on Wednesday night.

All of the region’s major airports experienced canceled flights and delays on Wednesday due to the storm, and gasoline remained in short supply, though four companies told the United States they intended to take advantage of a rare waiver allowing them to use foreign-flagged ships to transport oil products to the storm-hit region.

Across the region, people waited for a return of power and warmth.

Diane Reinhardt, a 64-year-old retired teacher, said she had traveled from her home in Brooklyn to the south shore of Long Island to check on her 93-year-old mother, whose home had been without power since Sandy hit more than a week ago.

“They’re just at wit’s end,” Reinhardt said of her mother and brother. “They feel like they’re never going to get power back and it’s never going to get warm again.”

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The slow-moving but powerful Category 1 hurricane was felt along the Gulf Coast, threatening to flood towns in Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana with storm surges of up to 12 feet and winds up to 80 miles per hour.

“All of the levees are holding and are very strong,” New Orleans Mayor Mitchell Landrieu told local radio.

Emergency management officials in low-lying Plaquemines Parish reported the overtopping of an 8-foot (2.4-meter) high levee between the Braithwaite and White Ditch districts southeast of New Orleans.

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said about 2,000 residents of the area had been ordered to evacuate but only about half were confirmed to have gotten out before Isaac made landfall late on Tuesday.

Isaac was wobbling west-northwestward near 6 mph, a pace that increases the threat of rain-induced flooding.

“On the east bank right now, we have reports of people on their roofs and attics and 12 to 14 foot of water (in their homes),” Nungesser told CNN.

“This storm has delivered more of a punch than people thought,” he added.

Plaquemines Parish, which stretches southeast from New Orleans, is cut in two lengthwise by the Mississippi River as it flows to the Gulf of Mexico. Much of it lies outside the greater New Orleans levee system, and construction projects to bolster protection are not yet complete.

It was not immediately clear how many people may have been stranded in the area, as driving rain and hurricane-force winds prevented a full-scale search.

“The sheriff’s deputies are over there but all the roads are unpassable … We don’t know if some people are left behind and now we can’t get there and there is no way we can operate a boat or an air boat in these winds,” Nungesser said.

Isaac was the first test for multibillion-dollar flood defenses built after levees failed under Katrina’s storm surge, leaving large parts of New Orleans swamped and killing 1,800 people, the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.

Hundreds in and around New Orleans drowned in 2005 and many survivors waited for days to be plucked from their rooftops by helicopters. New Orleans endured days of deadly disorder and widespread looting.

U.S. Army National Guard troops, many wielding automatic assault rifles, were bivouacked with military vehicles in and around the so-called Crescent City as Isaac approached on Tuesday.

While not nearly as strong as Katrina – a Category 3 hurricane when it slammed into New Orleans on August 29, 2005 – Isaac was a threat that authorities said should not be underestimated.

Rainfall accumulations, potentially totaling as much as 20 inches in some areas, were expected to trigger widespread flooding.

WIDESPREAD FLOODING

Some 409,000 Louisiana customers of utility Entergy Corp were without power as of Wednesday morning, the company reported. It warned that it would be unable to begin restoring power until winds drop below 30 miles per hour.

At 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT), Isaac was about 50 miles south-southwest of New Orleans and packing top sustained winds of 80 miles an hour, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

It said hurricane force winds extended outward up to 60 miles from the storm’s center.

Isaac killed at least 23 people and caused significant flooding and damage in Haiti and the Dominican Republic before skirting the southern tip of Florida on Sunday and heading across the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

It spared Tampa, Florida, where the Republican National Convention is being held. But it forced party leaders to reshuffle the schedule and tone down what some might have seen as excess celebration about Mitt Romney’s presidential nomination as Gulf Coast residents faced danger.

Oil production in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico nearly ground to a halt and ports and coastal refineries curtailed operations.

Energy companies along the Gulf Coast refining center braced for the storm’s impact by shuttering some plants and running others at reduced rates ahead of Isaac’s landfall.

Intense hurricanes such as Katrina – which took out 4.5 million barrels per day of refining capacity at one point – have flooded refineries, keeping them closed for extended periods and reducing fuel supplies.

This time, though, the U.S. Department of Energy estimated that only 12 percent of the Gulf Coast’s refining capacity had gone offline. Louisiana usually processes more than 3 million barrels per day of crude into products like gasoline.

Perceptions that the area’s oil facilities would not sustain major damage, and that production would quickly bounce back, pushed international benchmark Brent crude down 74 cents early Wednesday, toward $111.84 a barrel.

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But some New York City naturalists warn that an unusually warm winter isn’t always good news.
As today’s weather attests, winter in New York City this year was not much of a winter at all. In fact, Central Park had its warmest February on record, with temperatures averaging 40.9 degrees.
Meanwhile, there have been just 7.4 inches of snowfall this winter, compared to 61.9 inches a year ago, according to the National Weather Service.

Some flowers — including daffodils, crocuses, snow drops, winter jasmine and Japanese flowering apricots — have taken advantage of these conditions to bloom up to a month earlier than usual.

“They feel that winter is over, spring is here, bring on summer,” said Todd Forrest, vice president for horticulture and living collections at the New York Botanical Garden.

Daffodils and crocuses usually begin flowering in March, but this winter their blooms appeared in early February, according to Doug Blonsky, president of the Central Park Conservancy. But inordinately early blossoms are often susceptible to damage from late frosts, Forrest warned.

In other bad news, this may also be a banner year for mites, scale insects and other garden pests, whose populations are normally kept partially in check by winter cold spells. And since the ground never really froze, squirrels have been having a field day eating tulip bulbs, Forrest said.

“Those of us attached to our native wildlife and native plants do prefer our winters to be more normal,” he said.

Warm temps not good for all

new york. A warm winter is not good news for all insects, such as those that use snow as an insulating barrier during hibernation. But others may be able to access new food sources this spring, much to the chagrin of the city’s gardeners.

“In normal cold winters, the insects may not emerge early enough … to begin feeding on tender plant parts,” Lou Sorkin, a member of the New York Entomological Society, said in an e-mail. “A little later in the season, when insects normally emerge, the parts are tough and too difficult to chew or penetrate.” 

The post The ups, downs of warm winter appeared first on Metro.us.

New York City reached a high of 63 degrees on Wednesday, according to Weather.com, just 4 degrees short of the record high.

New Yorkers took advantage in Central Park, reading and picnicking in the park.

Thursday won’t be as balmy at 51 degrees, but we’re not complaining.

All photos my Emily Anne Epstein/Metro

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“As long as there’s fire in people’s bellies, they’ll stay warm,” said protester Evangelina Jimenez, 33, of Portland, Ore, who was bundled up in two sweaters, three shirts, a jacket and two pairs of jeans.

“The last couple of days were pretty rough,” admitted Miami native Lily Casteanedo, 22. “But it’s not going to stop us.”

Not all protesters share that conviction: A few have fled Zuccotti Park for the winter, according to Jimenez. About one in five protesters packed up and left this weekend to avoid the snow and ice, reports claim.

Protester Michaela Weber, 18, has been camped out for three weeks, but says she doesn’t know how much longer she can take it.

“I’m from Florida and I’m already sick and have an ear infection,” Weber said. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay through the winter.”

Without generators, protesters are using metallic “space blankets,” hand warmers and layers of clothing to shield them from the weather.

Others use plain old body heat.

“I’m staying here with my girlfriend, so we use body heat to stay warm,” said protester Nelson Cespedes, 18, of Washington Heights. “I almost went into hypothermic shock, but I’m going to stay as long as my body will allow it.”

Pedal power skirts crackdown

The FDNY confiscated fuel-powered generators from the OWS camp on Friday, saying they were a fire hazard. But one generator passed muster — one with wheels.

“We’re powering batteries with the bike,” said Brooklynite Keegan Stephan. “This is the one generator they can’t take.”

The batteries are used to power computers and small electronics, said Steven Ma, 27, a bike mechanic from Brooklyn. Each battery holds 100 volts of electricity, but four hours of biking yields only 25 volts, he said.

“We would need 10 people to power a hair dryer,” said Ma.

More on Occupy Wall Street

Protesters take measures to deal with homeless in Zuccotti Park

OWS demands free subway rides for the jobless

Protesters march in solidarity with Occupy Oakland

Follow Emily Anne Epstein on Twitter @EmilyatMetro.

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So far this year, the city has weathered a tornado that touched down in Brooklyn last September, heavy snowfall and a hurricane that was downgraded to a tropical storm but still wreaked havoc on parts of the city and the surrounding area.

“We’ve seen the rainiest day and rainiest month ever,” Bloomberg said. “A tornado. A hurricane. The snowiest January on record. And 16 blistering days of 90-degree-plus heat.”

Speaking at the New York Academy of Sciences in 7 World Trade Center, Bloomberg said the weather patterns could be coincidental. But perhaps not.

“Perhaps, they’re warnings of what the future holds, unless we act now,” the mayor said.
Bloomberg spoke alongside former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who called climate change “something that is easy to solve.”

Blair acknowledged that while not everyone believes that the Earth is growing warmer, action still needs to be taken soon. “It is sensible to act,” he said.

Follow Alison Bowen on Twitter @AlisonatMetro.

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The powerful storm is expected to be downgraded to Category 1 by the time it hits New York. But that doesn’t mean it can’t do plenty of damage, expected to bring with it six to 12 inches of rain and heavy winds, according to meteorologists.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is urging New Yorkers to prepare themselves for the worst possible scenario, warning that evacuations may be called for in low-lying areas like Coney Island, Manhattan Beach and Battery Park City. About 270,000 New Yorkers could be affected by an evacuation order.

The mayor said he would make the decision to evacuate by 8 a.m. Saturday. But he urged New Yorkers who live in evacuation zones to stay with friends or family this weekend as a precaution.

“At this point, people need to be prepared for a significant event and they must listen to authorities,” warned Brian Ciemnecki, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “They don’t ask people to leave for no reason. Their lives could be in danger.”

He predicted Irene will bring winds between 75 and 85 miles per hour when it reaches our area, speeds that can cause some serious damage.

“I would not be surprised if there were windows blown out,” said David Stark, another meteorologist. “With that wind speed, that’s certainly a possibility.”

High winds can also bring down branches and trees in city parks.

Pack a ‘go bag’

How can you prepare? Mayor Bloomberg is encouraging all New Yorkers to pack a “go bag” complete with drinking water, a flashlight, important medications, car and house keys and important documents like passports and any other IDs.

It may also be a good idea to add in a first-aid kit complete with things like latex gloves, scissors, tweezers and cleansing agents.

Keep a three-day supply of nonperishable food. Two to three gallons of water are recommended per person for a three-day supply. 

Will the subways run?

The MTA is expecting to shut down all lines in the event of severe wind and rain this weekend. Officials said they are prepping facilities by clearing drains, securing work sites and bringing on extra personnel. An MTA representative told Metro that the agency shuts down outdoor trains if wind speeds exceed 39 miles per hour. Check mta.info for the latest updates before you travel this weekend.

Evacuation destination

Find out if you live in a hurricane evacuation zone by entering your address at www.nyc.gov or calling 311. Register for alerts at nyc.gov/notifynyc. Updates are available via e-mail, SMS, and phone and the city will also distribute evacuation alerts through the media and on Twitter.

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Meteorologists at the National Weather Service said Hurricane Irene could be the worst storm the city has seen in 20 years. With the foot of rain it’s expected to bring, experts are bracing for both flooding and ocean surges.

According to the above map of hurricane evacuation zones, created by the city, the entire perimeter of Lower Manhattan is at the greatest risk for flooding. The most at-risk areas — Zone A — stretch from the waterfront to Hudson Street on the west and from the East River to Pearl Street on the east.

Further inland, parts of SoHo, Stuyvesant Town and Chelsea could flood during a Category 2 (and higher) hurricane. Roosevelt Island and Long Island City are also at risk. Experts now predict Hurricane Irene will be a Category 1 storm when it hits.

The under-construction World Trade Center memorial site, set for its grand opening only weeks away, sits in the zone that faces the highest risk of flooding, according to the map.

The NYPD has several helicopters and 33 police boats ready to help in case water strands people in their homes, said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

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There’s still time to assemble a disaster preparedness kit! NSF International recommends these essentials:

– Any family members that require prescription medication should ensure at least a three-day supply of medication is available in their disaster kit
– Extra glasses, contact lens case, and solution
– Antiseptic
– Assorted sizes of safety pins
– Latex gloves
– Moistened towelettes or other cleansing agent, such as soap
– Non-prescription drugs (pain relievers, antacids, etc.)
– Scissors
– Sterile adhesive bandages/gauze pads
– Tweezers

Tools and Emergency Supplies including:

– Battery-operated radio with extra batteries
– Non-electric can opener, utility knife
– Cash, an extra credit card, or traveler’s checks
– Disinfectant, such as household chlorine bleach
– Fire extinguisher
– Flashlight and extra batteries
– Matches in waterproof container
– Paper, pen, or pencil
– Personal hygiene items, soap
– Plastic bucket with tight lid
– Plastic garbage bags, ties (for personal sanitation uses)
– Plastic storage containers
– Pliers, shut-off wrench (to turn off household gas and water)
– Whistle

What about your home and property? The NYC Department of Buildings has some tips that everyone should remember ahead of the storm:

– Bring inside loose, lightweight objects such as lawn furniture, potted plants, garbage cans, garden tools and toys.
– Anchor objects that would be unsafe outside, such as gas grills or propane tanks.
– Close up and secure patio umbrellas.
– Secure retractable awnings.
– Clear rooftop drains, gutters and leaders.
– Secure all windows.
– Remove aerial antennas and satellite television dishes.

The post Hurricane Irene: Are you ready? appeared first on Metro.us.

Bulldozers pushed through rubble in Joplin and search teams pressed through a 6-mile path of destruction looking for survivors and likely more victims, authorities said. At least 823 were injured by the tornado that hit Sunday at dinnertime, and an estimated 1,500 remain missing.

Eight died in Oklahoma, while Arkansas officials confirmed three deaths, and two deaths were confirmed in Kansas from a line of several tornadoes that roared across the Midwest overnight.

As the storm system moved eastward, Arkansas, northern Mississippi, southern Illinois and Indiana were at the highest risk for devastating tornadoes.

In Newcastle, south of Oklahoma City, a storm blew the steeple off Jesus Alive Church and flung it nearly 100 yards away, where it landed on the doorstep of the longtime pastor’s 86-year-old mother, Lovina Frizzell.

“I said ‘Oh, my goodness, there’s the steeple,’”‘ Frizzell said. “Yes, it’s quite a mess.”

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U.S. weather officials said the tornado that hit at dinnertime on Sunday may have been the single deadliest in the country since 1953.

Rescue crews from throughout the region worked all night and into Monday morning in the town of about 50,000 people, searching for anyone still alive in the rubble.

An unknown number of people were injured and officials said they expected to find more bodies as they dig through collapsed homes and businesses.

The tornado blew the roof off St. John’s hospital where about 180 patients cowered, and some 2,000 homes and other buildings were destroyed. It flattened whole neighborhoods, splintered trees, flipped cars and trucks upside down and into each other.

A number of bodies were found along the city’s “restaurant row,” and a local nursing home took a direct hit, Newton County Coroner Mark Bridges said.

“It is a significant tragedy,” said Missouri Governor Jay Nixon. “We’re working on all cylinders. We’ve got to get an active and complete search … to make sure if there is anyone still alive in the rubble that we get them out.”

The city’s residents were given about 20 minutes notice when 25 warning sirens sounded throughout the southwest Missouri town around 6 p.m. CDT, said Jasper County Emergency Management Director Keith Stammers.

But the governor said many people likely were unable to get to shelter in time. “The bottom line was the storm was so loud you probably couldn’t hear the sirens going off.” He declared a state of emergency and called out the Missouri National Guard to help.

“The loss of life is incredible,” said Joplin Mayor Mike Woolston. “We’re still trying to find people. The outlook is pretty bleak.”

Two refrigerated trucks were brought in to serve as a make-shift morgue at a local university and more were being brought in to handle the additional bodies expected, the coroner said.

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More than 600 tornadoes formed in all of April, compared with the previous record of 267 set in 1974, the agency said in a statement today. That makes April 2011 the most active month ever, breaking the record of 542 tornadoes in May 2003.

“So far, there have been an estimated 881 tornadoes in 2011,” NOAA said. “The annual tornado record is 1,817, set in 2004. May is historically the most active month for tornadoes.”

The deadliest year in the U.S. was 1925 when 794 people were killed, according to NOAA.

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In the deadliest series of storms in nearly four decades in the United States, 128 people were killed in Alabama, the worst-hit state.

In Mississippi, 32 were killed, while 10 people died in Georgia and 11 in Arkansas. Louisiana and Tennessee also reported deaths as the clusters of powerful tornadoes and storms tore a swathe of destruction from west to east.

Some of the worst devastation occurred on Wednesday in Alabama, where a massive mile-wide tornado slammed into Tuscaloosa, home to the University of Alabama, killing at least 15 people, including some students.

Tuscaloosa resident Jannie Ross said she and her family took shelter in the basement of their home when the tornado struck.

"We could hear debris hitting the side of our house, glass breaking and the train sound often attributed to big storms such as these," she told the University of Alabama newspaper, The Crimson White.

"We could hear it destroying everything outside."

President Barack Obama declared a state of emergency for the state and ordered federal aid.
"Our hearts go out to all those who have been affected by this devastation and (we) stand ready to continue to help the people of Alabama," Obama said in a message on Twitter on Thursday.

The storms also forced the Tennessee Valley Authority to close three nuclear reactors at a power plant in Alabama and knocked out 25 high-voltage power lines. Hundreds of thousands of homes have lost power.

"We have never experienced such a major weather event in our history," said the Tennessee Valley Authority, a U.S.-owned company that provides electricity to 9 million people in seven states.

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley declared a state of emergency and said he was deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen. Governors in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee also declared states of emergency.

"We’re in a search and rescue mode. We’re making sure that those that may be out there that are trapped, that we have not found, we are trying to find them," Bentley told CNN.

"There has been massive devastation across northern Alabama. These long-track tornadoes really tear up the landscape as well as homes," he said.

Devastating Damage

Tornadoes are a regular feature of life in the South and Midwest, but they are rarely so devastating.

Images from Tuscaloosa, a town of around 95,000 in the west-central part of the state, showed widespread damage.

"Everybody says it (a tornado) sounds like a train and I started to hear the train," Anthony Foote, a resident of Tuscaloosa whose house was badly damaged, told Reuters. "I ran and jumped into the tub and the house started shaking. Then glass started shattering."

The campus of the University of Alabama, home of the famous Crimson Tide football team, was not badly damaged but some students were killed off campus, Bentley said.

Damage in Alabama was spread over a wide area through the north and central part of the state, said Jennifer Ardis, Bentley’s press secretary.

The highest toll was in Franklin County in the rural northwest part of the state where 18 people died, according to figures from the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

Eleven people died in Jefferson County, home to Birmingham, the state’s largest city, the agency figures showed.

Authorities in Alabama and Mississippi said they expect the death toll to rise as emergency workers attempt rescues and recovery in the storm’s wake.

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AccuWeather forecasters predicted 15 named tropical storms this season, which kicks off June 1 — five more than the annual average of 10 — and said at least three major hurricanes would slam into the United States.

“Long Island is the third most vulnerable hurricane area, only behind New Orleans, and Florida,” said Suffolk County Community College physical sciences professor Scott A. Mandia.

Not only could a hurricane wash away boardwalks and beachfront property, Mandia said it could block 2.8 million people from safety. “Evacuating Long Island would be impossible, because we have a lot of people that would have to take bridges and tunnels to get off the island, and those structures would be impassable.”

The area’s warmer ocean water would fuel a hurricane, Mandia added — and it’s also the reason Long Island has experienced more flooding lately.

AccuWeather meteorologist Henry Margusity said a recent storm cycle of tsunamis, tornadoes and flooding will not end soon. “A severe weather season typically translates into a bad hurricane season.”

What does an active hurricane season mean for LI?

Margusity predicted that a Category 3 hurricane would hit Long Island. “The eastern half of Long Island is particularly vulnerable because it sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean. … It would completely destroy a seaside town. … You won’t be immune to damage if you live inland because of crosswinds that could easily top 100 [mph], which means most rooftops would be gone,” he said. 

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North Carolina accounted for the bulk of casualties and property losses, with 22 people killed and more than 80 others injured. Significant damage was reported in at least 15 counties and power was out to more than 200,000 people.

Seven people died as a result of the storms in Alabama, seven died in Arkansas and one died in Mississippi. Two people were killed in Oklahoma when a tornado flattened buildings.

It appeared to be the deadliest U.S. storm since February 2008, when 57 people died from tornadoes in the south and Ohio Valley, said AccuWeather.com meteorologist Andy Mussoline.

All’s well at nuclear reactors

Dominion Virginia Power said the two nuclear reactors at its Surry Power Station in southeastern Virginia shut down automatically on Saturday when an apparent tornado touched down and cut off an electrical feed to the station.

Backup generators operated normally and both units “are in safe and stable condition,” the utility said in a statement.

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(Also, if it was a person, that would be very scary.)

Also, apropos of little, here’s the Clash’s 1980 hit "Lightning Strikes (Not Once But Twice)":

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(via The Awl)

The post Watch lightning strike the Empire State Building — not once but thrice! appeared first on Metro.us.

The snowstorm pummeled the entire city, but only Staten Island has been richly rewarded with a presidential disaster declaration.

“We were really surprised [no other boroughs were recognized],” said Dennis Michalski, the state’s Office of Emergency Management spokesman.

The declaration gives Staten Island an unspecified amount of funds to reimburse money spent on snow removal, like overtime and equipment.

The Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn were all denied help, a decision that Jumaane Williams, a Brooklyn council member, called “mind-boggling.”

“I don’t understand any calculation that says South Brooklyn residents should not get money,” he said.

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“There has been an increase in the number of complaints that we have received about road conditions and the number of potholes across Long Island,” Michael Martino, a spokesperson for the Dept. of Public Works, told Metro. “From last Friday to Feb. 7 we have received 167
complaints about potholes or other poor road conditions. Out of those 167 calls, 67 were complaints about village county roads.”

The increase in craters has led to Nassau County creating a pothole hot line, 516-571-6900, to which drivers can call and report any new road cavities they may come across.

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Almost 20,000 flights were scrubbed last week alone as snow blanketed U.S. airports. Since Nov. 1, the total flights canceled is 89,884, tallies show.

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Despite the ice, yesterday’s meeting with was more pleasant for Mayor Michael Bloomberg than in 2009, when Chuck slashed the mayor with his teeth.

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