January 08, 2007
Stinky Jersey or NYC?????
Early this morning, NYC's Office of Emergency Management (OEM) reported it was investigating reports of a gas leak with the help from Coast Guard, and their counterparts in Jersey City. The odor was so strong even in NJ that it affected NJ transit and PATH train service. Local residents in NYC & Jersey City reported nausea and other minor symptoms as a result of the odor. [Doesn't surprise me, there's a heavy industrial area just across the river in the Hoboken area. Even when driving past that area, the odor is overpowering, so a windshift could easily send such odors and fumes our way.]
By late this afternoon there was still no final word on the source of the odor but the investigation continued. In addition to transit disruptions earlier in the day, students were briefly evacuated this morning from several schools in midtown, where the odor in Manhattan was strongest.
Per a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s: "a warm front pushed over the city between 7 and 8 a.m., making it “very possible” that a temperature inversion pushed pollutants – and the odor -– closer to the ground."
So I guess the mystery is now over and we can all return to previously scheduled lives.