Phew!

© 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

Staff photo by Jill Brady

Against the wind, Dora Graham Nelson, Christine Haslam and Tracy Mitton make their way back from a coffee shop Wednesday in Monument Square in Portland.

High winds and driving rains nearly blew the old dawg away yesterday. I don't have the weather station installed here at the house (soon, soon), so can't tell you what the maximum gusts were here. But, according to an article on the web site of the Bangor Daily News, unofficial gust recordings of 54 MPH (120KPH) occurred. According to the NOAA National Weather Service site, down the road a piece at the airport they clocked a 57 MPH (127 KPH) gust and wind average sppeds of 37 MPH. I wouldn't be really surprised if same or similar occurred here. We didn't lose power, but lots of folks in-town did. Just lucky, I guess.

According to WABI- TV 5 news, “The strongest gust recorded Wednesday was 76 miles per hour near Matinicus rock.”

And so it goes in Vacationland, where the local tourism board proclaims, “Maine, The Way Life Should Be.”