2-3" of rain today. Flood warnings. Coastal flood warnings. A super moon high tide. "Multiple hazards in effect," declared the National Weather Service.

Really, quite a nice afternoon for a walk.

I've always loved our old bowl-and-chain gutters on the Coastal Ecology Center.

The water wasn't over the Barrier Beach Trail, but it was close. Belted kingfishers and great egrets fished on, unperturbed, in our lagoon. Meanwhile, the beach, at 1:45pm just past high tide, was almost nonexistent:

Waves looked to be six feet or so:

The biggest ones were breaking against the Drakes Island seawall:

Yes, the sea was angry that day, my friends, "like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli."

You'd have to be crazy to go out in surf like that.

Or a surfer.

In the woods, things were a little calmer, but still very wet. Downed limbs and new snags were everywhere:

I don't think we'll be running any kayak trips today.

But the worst appears to be over:

According to our WELLFMET weather station here on campus, we've gotten a total of 74.4 millimeters of rain... uh, 2.9 inches... so far. Wow. Good one.

A wonderful Wednesday for a waterlogged walk.

I'm glad I was at the Wells Reserve, and not in Portland.