When the wind
howls in Montauk, as it did for several of the last days of 2009 and
the first few days of 2010, it makes itself known. Out here at the
Point, it swirled through the trees, branches swayed and snapped, and
things went bump in the night.
I live in an area near the Montauk Lighthouse that is somewhat in
a hollow. The wind sweeps through, making loud sounds that could be
taped for a horror movie soundtrack. It’s a small neighborhood, so
anything that is loose on a neighbor’s house flaps about loudly. On the
overhang of my front deck, something bangs noisily whenever it blows.
My husband and I have tried for years with no luck to figure it out
where it’s coming from. It’s just one of those weird things that can’t
be explained.
At the Lighthouse, Brian Pope, the assistant site manager, told me
the wind speed recorder registered gusts up to 60 miles per hour at the
end of December. It was so fierce it ripped the Lighthouse’s holiday
lights from the building in two sections. By the time the 3,000
twinkling white lights were turned off for the season on Jan. 3, I
noticed, most of them had already been torn from the Lighthouse tower
by the wind.
At that point, I’m sure, Lighthouse officials figured it was over,
so why bother to fix it? But I know that several times while the lights
were up, Looks Good Services, the company that decorated the Light, had
to make trips out east for repairs, all courtesy of the famous Montauk
wind.
While I was up there one day recently I couldn’t help but imagine
what it must be like to live in the Lighthouse during a fierce wind.
The sound effects must be amazing. I’m sure when it blows hard enough a
whistling sound rattles through the hollow Lighthouse tower. Down
below, the waves crash furiously against the shore. I imagine the fish,
those that are still around, cower deep down on the bottom of the sea,
while the ocean’s surface is ripped apart by a good hearty blow from
Old Man Winter.
During that heavy wind period, over 17,000 residents on Long
Island lost power. As far as I know, there were no outages out here in
Montauk. Maybe the electric wires, like us Montaukers, are used to a
good wind.