Manhattan Smells Worse than Usual this Morning

[J Larsen]

The odor in the lobby of my office building will knock you on your butt, and my office itself is none to pleasant.

Gas-Like Odor Permeates Parts of New York City

By CHRISTINE HAUSER and SEWELL CHAN

Authorities were investigating widespread reports today of a strong odor similar to natural gas that permeated parts of New York and New Jersey during the morning commute.

New York City agencies and the United States Coast Guard were responding to numerous calls on emergency telephone lines. Fire trucks raced around in search of the odor.

The smell was reported from Manhattan’s midtown to Battery Park City, and strong odors were reported in Jersey City, said a spokesman for New York’s emergency management office, Jarrod Bernstein.

Some office workers were evacuated from their buildings, and a woman was taken away by ambulance, apparently overcome by the smell, New York 1 television reported.

Consolidated Edison, the natural gas supplier for the city, said it was investigating. PATH train service between New York and New Jersey was suspended.

There was no immediate confirmation about the cause of the odor. Mysterious odors come and go in the New York City area, sometimes never identified.

In August, a pungent smell wafted through Staten Island, alarming hundreds of residents. The City Department of Environmental Protection dispatched a hazardous materials crew, using equipment to test air quality for “volatile organic compounds,” which are emitted from a range of products from stored fuels to aerosol sprays to paint.

But the investigation into its source proved fruitless.

In a city scared of terrorism, pungent odors, sweet or sour, can raise vague worries about some kind of chemical attack.

In October 2005, an extraordinary sweet smell wafted from downtown Manhattan to the Upper East Side, Prospect Heights in Brooklyn and parts of Staten Island.

At that time, too, city authorities were rallied. The city’s Office of Emergency Management contacted the Police and Fire Departments, state emergency response agencies in New York and New Jersey, and the United States Coast Guard, which communicated with tugboats and container ships at sea to determine whether the odor was being detected there. The cause was not determined.

[7/4]

Good thing the wind is blowing towards NYC this morning. Probably stink from the Bayway refinery or something like that.

[J Larsen]

I disagree. I think it is pretty clearly coming up through the ground, becuase it is worst in the lobbies of large buildings. I don't think it is wind driven.

[7/4]

Ah...that's strange. I that since they could also smell it in Jersey City, it blew into town.

[J Larsen]

I'm going to backpedal a little. It is obviously coming up through the ground (otherwise the lobby effect is unexplainable), but once it comes up through the ground it can be blown around - however I would expect the effect to not be that strong because it should continue rising after it is freed from enclosed spaces.

[brownie]

The Apple is rotten

[Aggie87]

Curiously, downtown Austin is now roped off too, as there have been apparently large numbers of birds found dead. Hopefully no correlation, or attacks, in either case.

Maybe Aric/ContemporaryLadyinSF was on to something, with the bird flu thing...

[Scott Dolan]

Bloomberg claims it's from a gas leak in the Village.

[7/4]

Bloomberg claims it's from a gas leak in the Village.

from the NY Times:

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said in a news conference around 11 a.m. that the city had yet to pin down the source of the smell and that information was changing frequently. But he said a construction-related gas leak at Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village this morning was a small one of the kind that occurs frequently in the city, and could not account for the widespread smell.

Check your facts before you post them Scott.

[Scott Dolan]

Yeah, I forgot to add that last part in. They've been showing his press conference on CNN like every five minutes this morning.

[7/4]

a likely story.

[Randy Twizzle]

When all is said and done, they'll find some way to blame it all on New Jersey.

[ghost of miles]

You know this is going to provide so much fodder for late-night-TV hosts.

[Jim Alfredson]

I'm sorry guys, I let a pretty bad one this morning. I didn't think it would get all the way to NYC, though. Must've been that chili last night.

[clifford_thornton]

Curiously, downtown Austin is now roped off too, as there have been apparently large numbers of birds found dead. Hopefully no correlation, or attacks, in either case.

Maybe Aric/ContemporaryLadyinSF was on to something, with the bird flu thing...

Those grackles have GOT to go...

[Scott Dolan]

a likely story.

The worst part being that I turned on CNN for some actual news. And even though they kept claiming they didn't know the actual cause, they damn sure didn't bother reporting any real news while the investigation continued.

Oh well, I guess it's better than those daily press conferences about those hikers missing in the mountains.

"We're still looking, baby!"

Note to major tv media outlets, if you've got nothing new to say on a subject, how about telling us about another one?

Edited January 8, 2007 by Scott Dolan

[J Larsen]

What I don't get is how they can be so sure that it isn't dangerous if they can't even figure out what it is.

[Scott Dolan]

Kinda what I was thinking.

[jodigrind]

The whole thing is really messed up--I was in the subway station on 14th and 6th around 9:00 A.M. this morning (where the smell was probably at its strongest). Smelled like a bad gas leak combined with sulpher --not fun. I felt a little lightheaded throughout the morning, but am better now.

I'd really like to know the true cause of this--the smell was pervasive all the way into midtown.

[gslade]

When all is said and done, they'll find some way to blame it all on New Jersey.

I see two people were sent to the hospital

in Jersey, Hmmmm! the culprits

and where was Lon, Austin maybe Hmmmm

doing some wholesale bird hunting

[jazzbo]

No, Lon was at the cancer clinic with his wife first thing this morning, then at his desk NORTH of the Congress Avenue zone in question (about fifteen blocks north) since.

So far as far as I can tell no one knows yet why the birds have died.

[gslade]

Now I see them reporting a major chemical leak

in Surgarland??

[Spontooneous]

Quote attributed to Bloomberg on NPR news:

"The gas will pass."

(I didn't make this up.)

[J Larsen]

When all is said and done, they'll find some way to blame it all on New Jersey.

Looks like Randy wins the prize; the radio just said it was from a chemical facility along the Jersey shore.

As for my original theory, they are saying that a temperature inversion yesterday morning (hot air on top of cold instead of the other way around) trapped the odor close to the ground. Looks like it was wind driven after all.

[7/4]

When all is said and done, they'll find some way to blame it all on New Jersey.

Looks like Randy wins the prize; the radio just said it was from a chemical facility along the Jersey shore.

As for my original theory, they are saying that a temperature inversion yesterday morning (hot air on top of cold instead of the other way around) trapped the odor close to the ground. Looks like it was wind driven after all.

Read the thread again. This is what I wrote in the first place, except they think it came from Secaucus - not Bayway.