Sudden Chill – Here and There

The lunar eclipse here along the New Jersey shore last night was stunning – but so was the windy and frigid weather following a dramatic arctic cold front, …making my camera and my fingers frozen.

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Above: Just prior to the eclipse, a maximum full moon.
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Above: Earth’s shadow covering half the moon

After I admitted defeat with the cameras, I went back outside with just my heavy gloves and binoculars, where the fully eclipsed moon, high above, was awesome, beautifully colorful and surrounded by the winter stars.

As the earth’s shadow is cast upon the lunar surface, its temperature drops hundreds of degrees. Here at our house, it seemed the temperature dropped just as much, from 50 degrees (F) at about noon yesterday to 7 (F) degrees this morning, with a wind chill of at least -11 degrees as shown below at 7:21 AM.

 

Thanks for viewing, and Comments are always welcome. M 🙂

 

Park Police Escort – The Dilemma of the Capture

This Post Contains Four Images

Two images captured of the New York skyline were featured on my previous post. To change perspective, I  drove closer to the George Washington Bridge, now 1/2 mile (.8 km) south, for this view from the edge of the Hudson River as twilight was approaching.

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ABOVE, Left to right;                                                                                                     CitiCorp Center, 7.1 mi. (11.4 km,) Height 915′ (279 m) opened 1977

432 Park Residential Building, 6.9 mi. (11.1 km) – 1396′ (426 m); 2015

Chrysler Building, 7.6 mi. (12.2 km); 1046′ (319 m); 1930

Met Life Building (Pan Am), 7.1 mi. (11.9 km); 808′ (246 m); 1963  

Riverside Church, 3.3 mi. (5.3 km), 392′ (111 m); 1930 with Grant’s Tomb, 1897

Comcast (GE, 30 Rock, RCA) Building, 7.1 mi. (11.9 km); 850′ (260 m); 1933 (far right) 

North River Treatment Plant, 2.3 mi. (3.7  km); 1985 (on river)

George Washington Bridge, 0.5 mi. (0.8 km); road: 212′ above Hudson; 1931

To keep from dying (the wickedly cold wind chill was brutal,) I was now shooting from my car, with the telephoto extending out the window for support.  Since I thought no one else was in the area, I had driven off  the road to a snow covered grassy area near the water.

Busily shooting away, I didn’t notice the Palisades Interstate Park Police cruiser,  headlights on, approaching slowly from the road. It was now well after sunset, and the park was officially closed – a fact that had escaped me. For several reasons I was grateful for their leniency and appropriate scrutiny followed by a cordially-offered wave of approval. I’m sure the barrel of my lens pointed at the GWB could have been likened to something a little more threatening.

Giving me a few more minutes as the skyline grew increasingly more impressive, they eventully escorted me up to the top of the switchbacks where I drove to the Rockefeller Lookout, 2.3 miles further north and 400 feet (122 m) higher, on top of the cliffs. 

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ABOVE: The GW bridge cable and roadway lights are now visible in the lower part of this image, as seen from on top of the Palisades.

731 Lexington, 9.0 mi (14.5 km) from lookout, 806′ (246 m);  1985, is lit on top.

Trump World Tower, 9.8 mi. (15.7 km); 861′ (262 m); 2001, at far left.

BELOW: Centered                                                                                                          Empire State Bldg., 10.2 miles (16.4 km)  from lookout, 1220′ (372 m); 1931        

One 57,  to it’s left, 9.0 mi. (14.5 km), 1005′ (306m); 2014

BOA Tower, right of Empire State Bldg. 9.7 mi. (15.6 km), 1046′ (319 m); 2007

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BELOW: a wide shot (as my fingers turned to ice,) 

One World Trade Center -Freedom Tower, seen at the far right., 13.1 miles (21 km) from the Rockefeller Lookout, standing  1776 feet high (541 m), and listed as a 2014 completion. 

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Click or stretch images to see at wonderfully higher resolution.

Acknowledgement  to Wikipedia for info and data

Thanks for visiting, and as usual, comments are always welcome – M 🙂

A Winter’s Day…. Late-Day NYC View From the Frigid Englewood Boat Basin

Located aside the Hudson River, the Englewood Boat Basin is on the New Jersey side, a few miles north of the George Washington Bridge. 

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The icy wind assured there would be no “old friends” on these park benches,

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just  “cold as bones” trees silhouetted before the bridge, and Manhattan beyond.

More images shortly, as twilight and park police crept forth.

Thanks for visiting, and as usual comments are always welcome.