Early March, 2018

We watched The Weather Channel’s coverage of Winter Storm Riley, the fierce nor’easter that pummeled the east coast the first week of March. I sat with friends drinking beer at an outdoor plaza and told and listened to stories of notable storms we had lived through. We were quite sure we were far enough away from Riley that we would not suffer any consequences of it.

We were wrong. I noticed on Saturday afternoon that the wind had shifted and was coming from the west. This was unusual.  Winds from the east are far more common during the winter trade winds season. The sky became progressively more cloudy and hazy, and the wind picked up. Sunday morning was cloudy and hazy, and the surf had picked up considerably, The image above was taken on Sunday morning, looking west along the north shore into Old San Juan. Hundreds of Puerto Ricans gathered on walkway along the shore. They watched the surf and took thousands of pictures and videos. I imagine many of the images were sent to relatives around the island, and maybe even to the states.

The high surf lasted from Sunday morning through mid Wednesday. The winds  caused thirty foot waves north of Puerto Rico, and there was heavy surf along the north and west coasts. It was said to be the highest surf observed here in over a decade, and  was worse than in either Hurricane Irma or Maria. The Coast Guard had to rescue a surfer who had suffered a fractured wrist, and had to rescue three other swimmers as well.

As you might imagine, the high surf brought out people to watch and in many cases record what they saw. Some posted their videos to Youtube.  Rincon, a surfers haven on the west coast, experienced 30 foot waves. Watch here. Limestone rocks provide a barrier to the surf at Vega Baja – watch here. Watch the high surf at Isabella, on the northwest coast, here.

As you can imagine, the west winds and high surf caused damages. The road from San Juan heading east along the coast to Loiza was closed because of the tons of sand pushed ashore. The ferry boat terminal in Catano was damaged. Ferry service from there to San Juan was suspended but has since been restored. The Paseo de Princessa, the walkway along the harbor outside the city walls, is now closed, awaiting repairs. The waves were high enough to overtop the walkway and strong enough to undermine the foundation, causing a partial collapse.

Damages to Paseo de Princessa from early March storm. Note sand on walkway, broken concrete barriers, disrupted rip-rap, and , in the lower right, the remains of the destroyed dock.

Paseo de Princessa in better days.

So we were not free from the effects of Winter Storm Riley, Still, I liked watching high surf a whole lot better than shoveling wet, heavy snow.