Weather

Danielle Ouellette tweeted around 11:30 a.m.:

entrance to storrow by cambridge st totally flooded - at least 8 inches of standing water. the rest of storrow is bad too.

Around 1 p.m., Stephen Goldstein updated:

Storrow Dr westbound is a parking lot.

Matt Noyes at NECN predicts that after Tropical Storm Rick belts out Mexico today, its soggy remains will be carried by the jet stream toward New England and drench us on Saturday.

Should be interesting.

Maybe NECN reporters don't want to risk getting swept out to sea, but Rick Nohl and some other weather fans seemed to have no such qualms along the water in Lynn today. Nohl notes his camera was inside a waterproof housing.

Furious waves pounding Scituate.

Storm takes a bite out of Sandwich.

There are large flakes of snow out there, mixed in with the rain. Darnit, we haven't even taken out one of the air conditioners yet.

Rains, high tides flood Morrissey Boulevard.

French Toast Alert Level: Low.

As Channel 4 puts it:

Snow!

OK, just a few flakes here or there, but the French Toast Alert System still needs to get the dust shaken off it, obviously.

Hannah exults in the new month on the calendar:

... I admit: I want to kiss its claret-colored lips in thanks, in praise.

Because, to me, October signals a beginning - of autumn, of the year's end, of the last great shift before the winter settling. ...

The fast-moving storm that just hit Boston knocked down trees across the city, Boston Fireman tweets:

A tree that fell on Cooper Street in the North End blocked the street and hit a couple of parked cars, while plunging trees on Greenville Street in Roxbury and Courtland Road in Mattapan took power lines down with them. A tree also fell across the road at Alwin Street and Dietz Road in Hyde Park.

Deb Geisler recalls what happened the last time we saw as many acorns on the ground as we're seeing now.

This just in from the weather folks at Channel 4:

This sunny stretch continues. In fact, we'll get so much sun that we could see drought conditions in a week.

Todd Gutner reports Danny is "barely a tropical storm" but adds:

This is going to turn into a huge rainmaker for Southern New England ...

Forget Bill and get ready for Danny. E.H. Boston gets excited at the possibility that the newly named tropical storm now off the Bahamas could slam into us this weekend:

... Depending on the track...Boston could be very close to the 'eye' wall in the worst case scenario and see very damaging winds in the city itself (glass skyscrapers). We will have to monitor this situation very closely and really see if 'Danny' can get his act together in the next 24 hours because all the potential is there and the pattern is shaping up for a real New England special. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best. This could be one we are talking about for years to come! ...

Interesting: The last Hurricane Danny also hit Massachusetts, although not particularly hard.

The five-day cone of prediction:

National Hurricane Center's Danny page.

Tom O'Keefe captures the scene from the 70-Smoot marker on the Mass. Ave. Bridge this morning.

Matthew I. captured surfers riding Bill-whipped waves at Rockport.

Steve posts some photos of Bill waves whacking Eastern Point Light in Gloucester.

Surfer photo copyright Matthew I. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

EMTs say people are dropping like flies - and the reason is often inadequate hydration, Channel 4 reports.

Fill in the blank (since I'm too hot to continue typing).

The gloom approaches, as seen from the bridge crossing over the train tracks in Readville.

Around 6:30 or so, I was in Readville, where you could get a very nice view of the this big gray/black blob enveloping downtown - or at least, where downtown was supposed to be - even as the sky over Readville was still mostly blue (with some thunderhead-like clouds building up to the south). Almost looked more like smoke from a huge fire than clouds. Went shopping at the Hyde Park Shaw's (alert Steve Garfield: Looks like they're getting ready to change some of the aisles around!), by the time I got out, around 7, the gloom had enveloped Hyde Park and Roslindale. Wasn't particularly dense, but, man, did it make everything sticky.

When they clear, you can get some amazing views. Sekbaavi took this photo out of her Quincy home office following a storm on Thursday.

Copyright Sekbaavi. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

Wicked Local photos of the aftermath of this afternoon's storm.

Today's flood advisory for the Boston area:

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY...INCLUDING UNDERPASSES. THE WATER MAY BE TOO DEEP TO ALLOW VEHICLES TO CROSS SAFELY...OR THE ROADWAY MAY BE UNDERMINED.

Mish Michaels signed off Channel 4 for the last time last night, but she's promising lots of weather on her new Web site.

Flash flood warnings in effect until late tonight. Yes. Flash floods. In Suffolk County (and the South Shore).

It's been, what, a whole two days now? And aren't we lucky? One to three inches!

Matthew I. captured a lightning bolt hitting the Pru early Sunday (looks even more dramatic on a black background).

Copyright Matthew I. Posted in the Universal Hub Flickr pool.