New Hampshire Nature Notes
by Eric Orff
Ivan the Has-been
Monday 09/20/2004
Well, Ivan reached Epsom in force at 3:32 Friday afternoon. I was off on Friday as I worked Saturday and was working outside on my stone retaining wall all day. Through the morning there were dribbles of rain on my windshield as I drove up to New Rye Hill for loads of stones. Hardly noticeable rain all day despite the threat of this hurricane submerging a swath of states to the south of us.
Ivan did manage a brief burst of a shower starting at 3:32 in the afternoon, but he slowed to a dribble the rest of the afternoon as I worked outside until 7:30, nearly completing my wall. It was overnight, perfect timing as far as I was concerned, that Ivan finally let loose with his water canon. It was the sultry air that I noticed most with Ivan. You could almost smell the dank bijou air of the Gulf Coast as Ivan swept over. Despite my open bedroom window offering him a chance to at least stir the sultry air, I woke sweating and shut the window and ran the AC. Ivan the wimp as far as I was concerned. His bands of windless showers alternately sprayed me well into Saturday morning as I attended the New Hampshire Trapper's Association Rondeveau in Holderness. There was hardly an extra leaf on the ground although my rain gauge documented 3.5 inches of rain from Ivan. The Suncook River has bulged a few feet and runs brown colored outside my window this morning. Nothing more than a welcomed warm spring rain would do. Ivan, be gone.
Although the warm rain should have stimulated a procession of frogs and toads I didn't see many. I think the lower slanting sun rules the frogs by now. They will not be fooled to linger long in a warm rain when the sun is telling them it is time to settle down for a 6 or 7 month sleep. Hawks are migrating in huge numbers this time of year. If Ivan did anything, he probably delayed this migration by a few days with his strong south winds. Sunday hawks soared on strong north winds cascading down across the face of New Hampshire all day long. This is "hawk season" in the Granite State.
