The end of the week brought torrential rain, winds and a sharp drop in temperatures. A notable feature of life on the river was the large number of tugs with empty barges at anchor. In addition to the St. Emilion which had been here for a few days and Teresa which has been here for well over a week, we had Mako, Morgan Reinauer, and Curtis Reinauer all lined up south of the bridge on Friday morning, and then Coho, Chincoteague, and Kristin Polling swinging with the tides up by Yonkers. Whether this reflects a preference not to be pushing a loaded barge through the heavier weather or a dearth of late winter cargos, or some combination of the two, is not clear. By 2:30pm on Friday, St. Emilion had weighed anchor and headed for Cateret NJ on the Arthur Kill, presumably to pick up a new cargo.

The cruise ship Norwegian Gem managed to get in to Pier 88 Thursday evening before the rain, returning from the Caribbean. By 5pm Friday she was heading back to sea, destined for Puerto Rico.