Jump to content

Monmouth County Nj After A Storm


Digital

Recommended Posts

Hello,

I've always heard that it is best to hit the Monmouth County sites after a storm. Just started collecting this year, and I've just gone the few times my schedule has allowed.

Question is how long does it typically take for the creeks to reach safe levels after a storm (knowing that every storm is different including the nasty one bearing down on us)? I wouldn't want to take a day off work just to face 5ft of raging current.

Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey, i have been collecting in NJ for about three years now and although i am young i have had a good expierience with storms. I usually go right after(like 6hrs later) or during a storm(not if there is thunder though). For complete saftey however, it is best to go 2-3 days after. Also i have a question of my own. For the more expierienced people, when would you go after a hurricane(Sandy)2, 3, or 4 days? Because i want to go like a day after because my school may be cancelled and i want to take advantage of that...

: )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There is a USGS water level gauge at Hillsdale Road and Big Brook: http://waterdata.usg...d=00065,00060 9.5 feet seems to be about normal. You could monitor that from home.

I've been there when a summer storm raised the brook a foot or more covering bars and moving too fast to be safe (not to mention all the lightning!) and within an hour it was back to normal. Obviously a big storm covering the region may take a lot longer. I've also been there after a large hurricane size storm blew up the coast (late 90s) and despite the complete redistribution of sand, gravel and debris, the collecting was not noticeably improved. In fact there was a great deal of fine silt dropped in huge deep sheets, making it a bit treacherous. It took another rain event or two to clean of the silt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sandy is currently forecast to be a large, slow moving storm, dropping up to an inch of rain per hour and perhaps taking 24 hrs to pass over any spot in its path. I somehow think things will not be back to normal, or close to it, the following day. No fossil is worth drowning for.

Don

Link to comment
Share on other sites

normally, id say 2-3 days to get water levels low enough to scan the bars like i do, but after this storm, if it's as bad as they are predicting, id say 4-5 days. there are going to be many trees down crossing the creek, and lots of big logjams! be careful climbing those.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Since I lived for many years near Big Brook (Like 15 minute Drive) and from what I have seen in the past I would wait at least a full two to three days after the rains have stopped if your going to screen for fossils. and maybe a full day or two if your going to walk and search the gravel bars.....

Tony
The Brooks Are Like A Box Of Chocolates,,,, You Never Know What You'll Find.

I Told You I Don't Have Alzheimer's.....I Have Sometimers. Some Times I Remember

And Some Times I Forget.... I Mostly Forget.




Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the advice. Since I don't have a lot of flexibility in my schedule, would hate to waste a day off only to find the area unsafe. Good luck to all getting through Sandy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

normally, id say 2-3 days to get water levels low enough to scan the bars like i do, but after this storm, if it's as bad as they are predicting, id say 4-5 days. there are going to be many trees down crossing the creek, and lots of big logjams! be careful climbing those.

So on next saturday maybe??? and in gmr nc there where some big garbage heaps and i climbed over them pretty good

: )

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As many people have already said, safety is your number one priority. As much as I would love to go directly after the storm (not happening though : P), it's not the best idea in the world.

Personally, I'd wait until the power comes back on before making any move towards the brooks. I think it's pretty much certain that the power will cut at some point across NJ, and waiting until it comes back on seems like a good idea if you plan to head out.

What a wonderful menagerie! Who would believe that such as register lay buried in the strata? To open the leaves, to unroll the papyrus, has been an intensely interesting though difficult work, having all the excitement and marvelous development of a romance. And yet the volume is only partly read. Many a new page I fancy will yet be opened. -- Edward Hitchcock, 1858

Formerly known on the forum as Crimsonraptor

@Diplotomodon on Twitter

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's been said, but I would like to reiterate that the storm's aftermath, in those wooded streams, is likely to be a difficult (and dangerous) unstable jumble of downed trees.

"There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley

>Paleontology is an evolving science.

>May your wonders never cease!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...