Special attention to Kingston here in the early morning of December 23. The rain feels biblical, a proper downpour to inspire dread, thrumming for hours now on the roof. The feel of heavenly judgment enters into it when at 8 a.m. the day’s high of 51° begins to plunge to half that number in ten hours. Two and a half degrees of warmth lost every hour. The rain is likely to continue, which is bad.
The world will be soaked as the mercury drops. Then comes the freeze, referred to as a flash freeze — remember February. The tree branches, the streets, the stairs and flowers, the automobiles will be heavy with ice. Beautiful but extremely dangerous. Remember the days of lost power, darkness and cold.
Hope to dodge the bullet, but prepare. Food and water. Gasoline for generators. Have the blankets ready. There will be no days warm enough with temperatures high enough to melt any ice until Thursday, at best. The next day five days stay below freezing. 8° overnight on Saturday. 13° overnight on Christmas.
A warming center operated by Catholic Charities located at the 2nda Iglesia La Mision Church (80 Elmendorf Street, Kingston) will be open 24 hours a day. The center can be contacted directly at 845-481-4549.
During the February ice storm, warming centers were also opened at The Andy Murphy Center (647 Broadway), as well as the East Kingston Fire Station 1 (868 Main Street.)
The city hall is closed for the holidays.
Before the ice and freeze, before the expected snowfall, there is also the possibility of flooding. An advisory to that effect was released by the City of Kingston cautioning that the water level is predicted to rise beginning at around 6 a.m. and continue to rise above flood stage by 12:00 p.m.
“We encourage all City of Kingston residents who live near the Hudson River or the Rondout Creek to watch the National Weather Service advisories carefully and be prepared for possible flooding,” said mayor Steve Noble. “Some forecasts are predicting this will be the largest storm surge since Sandy.”
Flood or no flood, high tide comes at 12:51 p.m. Abysmal timing, This will be the second highest high tide of the month, boosting the river and creek waters four feet and six inches above equilibrium. Though the moon is in the shadow of the earth, this is one of the two spring tides which come every month, when the moon exerts its strongest pull. The heavy rain will of course cause it to rise up the riverbanks even higher.
According to the City of Kingston, the flooding event is expected to impact businesses and residences near the Hudson River and Rondout Creek. Road closures in these areas due to flooding may be necessary.
In addition to the possibility of tidal flooding, the National Weather Service forecasts that Ulster County, starting today and lasting into tomorrow, December 24, will be impacted by a major multi-hazard storm with snow and heavy rain leading to flash freezing, and high winds. Wind speeds may be anywhere between 35 and 55 mph across Ulster County. The multi-hazard storm has the potential to cause power outages, flying debris and/or loose objects, and hazardous travel conditions.
Central Hudson has also weighed in, preparing residents for outages, proactively readying existing crews while adding 100 mutual-assistance line workers, according to Ryan Hawthorne, vice-president of electric engineering and operations Ryan Hawthorne. “If outages occur, we will be ready to address them as efficiently and safely as possible,” he said.
Dusk arrives when the sun sets at 4:29 p.m., and by then the temperature will have dropped to 25° and the extent of the weather event will be clear.
To luck.
It seems frivolous this morning to go out to Belleayre Mountain for the snow report. The facility is closed today. The precarious position of Bjorn Jorgensen among the three plotting snowmen and the infernal Minerva will have to hang in suspension for a day. When the world itself floods and freezes, fairy tales pale by comparison.
Join the family! 
