The Monarch Monitoring Project is a long-term study on monarch migration through Cape May, NJ. It is a part of the New Jersey Audubon Research Department, and closely affiliated with the Cape May Bird Observatory.

Friday, October 2, 2015

Sorry we asked!

Last Saturday's blog post was titled, "Can someone change the wind, please?"  I guess we should have been more specific.  The wind has changed, indeed, but not in the way we might have liked.  Sustained winds of 30 mph or more are now predicted for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  That's a big change from last week!  The direction?  Well, that hasn't changed -- north-northeast for Friday, straight northeast for Saturday and Sunday.  There's of rain in the forecast for Friday and Saturday.  Monday's northeast winds are predicted to be "only" 25 mph.

As you might guess, these are not good conditions for monarch butterflies.  We expect a very slow weekend, monarch-wise.  We'll still be out there counting, whatever the weather (census counts of zero are still important data points).  While our 11 am drop-in programs at the Triangle Park are cancelled when it's raining, we'll still have our 2 pm tagging demos at Cape May Point State Park on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  We might not have any monarchs to tag, but at least we can tell the story of monarch migration.

At least it looks like Hurricane Joaquin will pass well to our east and spare our little seaside town from the trauma of a hurricane strike.  Hurricanes are notoriously unpredictable, however, so keep paying attention to the forecasts and weather conditions if you're considering a visit to Cape May.

Long-range forecasts are never terribly reliable, but at this time the meteorologists are calling for a long-awaited return to relatively gentle northwest winds next Tuesday and Wednesday.  If the forecast holds, these could be good days for the migration of birds and monarch butterflies into Cape May.  We'll report back in a few days with any updates to the forecast.

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