How these ancient skills will help you prepare for severe weather in Connecticut

Hurricane season in Connecticut

With autumn arriving in Connecticut, and the heat and humidity finally on the way out, it may be surprising to learn that hurricane season is still in place. While peak hurricane season has passed by September, Atlantic hurricane season began June 1, and officially lasts until November 30.

Depiction of the wind god Aeolus in Botticelli's Primavera

Hurricane and tropical storm risks in Connecticut

In southern New England, hurricanes usually arrive after making landfall in Florida or the southeast states, and then traveling up the East Coast. 

Depending on many factors, from ocean temperatures to wind speeds, and other intervening weather systems, we may experience anything from a true hurricane that brings dangerous winds, elevated seas, and flooding rains, to an intense storm with wind and rain, to a period of seemingly average rain and humidity. 

And sometimes a hurricane will lose power and head back into the ocean before ever crossing into our area.

Fall and winter severe weather risks in Connecticut

Apart from the last gasp of hurricane season, Connecticut can typically expect a range of fall and winter weather from sun and blue skies, to drought conditions, to blizzard, and anything in between. It’s truly a season of change, and atmospheric impacts from human activity have broadened the range of forecasts, and made weather patterns measurably more unexpected and intense.

How permaculture techniques can help you assess risk and prepare for severe weather

As a land- and lifestyle management approach informed by natural systems and indigenous sciences, permaculture design techniques require both broad and deep observation of natural and man-made patterns, forces, and flows at multiple levels, from home, to neighborhood, to broader region. 

So much more than organic gardening and food forests, permaculture prepares and mitigates for storms and other climate risks well ahead of time, rather than merely reacting and responding after the fact. 

This set of ancient habits offers risk assessment and risk management skills that are accessible to anyone, anywhere, resulting in a customized, common sense preparedness plan, not a single checklist of expensive gear.

Observation

Permaculture and other regenerative systems design practices rely heavily on observation, research, and analysis, long before ever making decisions about creating a plan or placing design elements within a site.

Much the way business planning includes SWOT analysis, regenerative design looks at advantages and vulnerabilities, both within the project site and larger patterns in the surrounding region.

Permaculture designers use zone and sector analysis to get a comprehensive view of how external factors such as wind, waterways, weather, and solar exposure impact a home or property.

We also look at how past and present human activity has impacted a project location. Most importantly, we analyze how these all interact, either amplifying ecological harm, or creating positive synergies that enhance the local ecosystem.

Part of that analysis and assessment includes research on weather patterns, climate trends and intensification, as well as man-made factors such as building and road construction that can affect heating and cooling of the immediate atmosphere as well as the movement of water in the surrounding area.

Only then can we start to envision what to add, remove, change or keep on the site, to support the local ecology and minimize harms from human activities.

Redundancies

The design and planning phases then ensure that the elements of the site connect together, mutually supporting their linked functions, utilizing waste and surplus from one element in a related loop.

Redundant systems are built in, especially for elements that directly meet human needs for clean water, food production, energy, and safe waste management,

These backup systems are intended to ensure systems can continue to function if any one element is damaged or compromised in some way.

This can include a gas powered generator to provide electricity during an outage, but also includes everything from first aid skills if you can't access an urgent care clinic for common issues, to a store of vegetable seeds to grow nutritious foods, and so much more.

Maintenance

Finally, permaculture design always involves regularly scheduled maintenance. Using the precautionary principle, routine maintenance means that outside risks or damage is prevented or repaired early on.

This is particularly important in managing negative impacts from storms, extreme weather, or other natural perils - we want to be sure that our protective and productive systems will continue to work when we need them the most, to keep people, property, and natural systems safe.

This can be as simple as cleaning dryer vents and gutters, clearing debris from storm drains, or as intensive as replacing roofing materials, or carrying out a comprehensive forest management plan on a larger rural property.

Layers of observation offer layers of preparation

With so much effort invested into risk assessment and planning, permaculture practice techniques offer a thorough look at any vulnerabilities - and advantages - around your home, to help you be well prepared for storms and other extreme weather.

And because it's customized to your location, it's much more effective and helpful than a generic checklist or public service message.

Check back here soon as I expand on this topic to help you prepare for winter weather in the Northeast.