October Cape Cod Nor'easter

This is Scorton Shores in Sandwich on Cape Cod during the second of two Nor'easter storms to hit in 3 days. A Nor'easter is a classic New England storm that brings high winds out of the northeast, and since the storm is centered over the ocean as it passes, it picks up a lot of moisture and it generates heavy rains (or snows in the winter). This Nor'easter was especially bad for a fall storm, with 45 mph winds that peaked at high tide, plus it was an astonomical high tide (new moon), which creates unusually high tides even during fair weather. I shot this image just a few minutes before dead high tide, and you can see that the waves had encroached all the way up the beach. The normally tranquil Cape Cod Bay had 10-12 foot swells, and this particular stretch of the Cape was perpendicular to the winds so it took the full brunt. The high winds and cold temps (low 40's) kicked up tons of sea foam, which is the pink-ish layer in the foreground. Jan and I went outside for a few hours during the height of the storm, and then watched the waves kick up on the beach from the safety of our vacation house. It will be interesting to see what washed up on the shore, and what washed away, when this thing finally dies down. In case you're wondering, I have a special rain cover for my camera, and as long as I didn't point the lens in the direction of the wind-driven rain and sand, it stayed nice and dry. It was actually raining pretty hard when I took this shot. View "October Cape Cod Nor'easter" On Black.