We've been stuck in an unusual wind pattern for almost a week now, with winds blowing from the northeast or the east. Not the wind direction that brings migrants into Cape May, so it's been slow for monarchs, slow for dragonflies, slow for songbirds, slow for raptors. Typically in the autumn we see frequent cold fronts, with winds blowing from the north or from the northwest, and those winds generally deliver lots of migrants into Cape May.
Two days ago we reported that a change of wind direction was forecast for next Tuesday and Wednesday. They've changed the forecast now, and here are the predicted wind directions for the next TEN days:
Today: ENE
Tomorrow: ENE
Monday: E
Tuesday: NNE
Wednesday: NNE
Thursday: NE
Friday: NE
Saturday: NE
Sunday: NE
Monday: NE
More than a little discouraging for those of us hoping to see big numbers of migrants. The good news is that the long range forecast often changes. We'll hope that the weather pattern changes sooner than is currently predicted.
In the meantime, we'll still be out there counting monarchs, tagging monarchs, and presenting educational talks. There should still be some monarchs around every day, we're at the very peak of the migratory season. These tenacious little butterflies fool us sometimes, too, and perhaps we'll see a significant influx on the northeast winds. But more likely it will be a slow stretch of the migration until the wind direction changes.
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